Intramuscular drug administration: characterization of Brazilian videos on YouTube®

Abstract

Objective: to characterize videos that contain a demonstration of the procedure for administering drugs intramuscularly to adults. Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study, 44 Brazilian videos available on YouTube® were selected which addressed the procedure of intramuscular drug administration. Results: the majority of the videos selected are of personal origin (86.4%), were made by a Nursing technician (59.1%), used the dorsal gluteal region as the injection spot (54.5%), and were produced in a healthcare environment using a patient to demonstrate the procedure (52.3%). No video showed the completeness of the procedure, and a high frequency of errors was identified at all stages of the procedure. There was a statistically significant difference between the reliability and popularity tests of the videos (p=0.042). Conclusion: the videos on intramuscular drug administration available on the YouTube® platform were considered to be up-to-date, of little relevance, produced by unreliable sources, of low accuracy, and with a weak purpose. Contributions to practice: the videos available on the YouTube® platform on intramuscular drug administration should not be used as educational material for professional training or updating.

Keywords

• injections intramuscular; instructional film and video; drug administration routes; patient safety; internet use.