Hi my name’s marie i’m one of the antenatal education midwives um you have been prescribed a blood thinning injection to prevent clots called an oxoparent the doctor will have prescribed the dose and how often you should take this it is important that you administer the injection at the same time every day so i’m now going to demonstrate how to give this yourself
At home so first off gather all your equipment your syringe your sharps box and some cotton wool or clean tissue in case there’s any oozing so there is a leaflet that comes with your injection and it’s important that you read the instructions before you administer your injection so the first thing you want to do is wash your hands and dry your hands i’m just using
Sanitizer for the purpose of this ensure the injection site is nice and clean and dry okay sit or lie in a comfortable position so that you’ve got a clear view of the area that you’re going to inject do not inject within 5 centimeters of your belly button and i’ve marked it out here on the mannequin so as you can see so you’re going to go for an area here or an
Area here i want you to alternate between each side depending on where you last injected so first thing to do is open out your syringe pack remove your syringe and then have a look at your syringe make sure that the fluid inside is nice and clear and there’s no particles in it and that there’s no damage to your surroundings the other important thing to check is
The expiry date of the medication and if you’ve any concerns with that just dispose of it and take a new syringe so this syringe is pre-filled and ready to use and it’s for single use only the first thing you want to do is pull off the gray cap be careful because it takes a little bit of pressure and be careful that you don’t bend the needle or touch the tip of
The needle because we want to keep that nice and sterile don’t try to expel any air bubbles that are in there because you risk losing some of that medication which means you’ll not be getting the correct dose so you want to hold the syringe in the same way as you would hold a pencil and then what you want to do is gently pinch the piece of skin like so and then
You want to go straight in with the needle at 90 degrees so you’re not slanting your needle you’re going straight into the skin once the needle is the whole way in then you want to press your plunger and press until you can go down no further and then while still holding the skin fold release the needle and then let go of your skin fold and now you can activate
Um the needle sheathing device by pressing down hard and then you can dispose of your syringe and the sharp spots provided it’s important then that you close the lead of the sharps box and ensure that it’s kept out of the reach of any young children at home when your box is full you can take it along to your local pharmacy and they will dispose of it safely for
You don’t ever put it into your household waste also don’t be tempted ever to rub the skin because that can increase the risk of bruising if the site does ooze at all then just take a wee bit of cottonwool or clean tissue and just press on until that stops if you have any side effects that you’re concerned about you can talk to your gp or your pharmacist and ask
For advice alternatively you can ring the maternity helpline which is on the screen now i do hope you found this helpful and many thanks you
Transcribed from video
How to self-administer enoxaparin By Belfast Health and Social Care Trust