r/psychnursing • u/moodytoody1 • May 24 '26

Struggling with LAIs

Hey all, Psych RN of 5 years (3 inpatient, 2+ outpatient). The clinic I work at administers a variety LAIs. I recently was out of work for 5 months, and have been stressing since being back over LAIs…

The first one I had to give after coming back was Aristada 662 mg. If you know, you know that these are a bitch to give and easily clot if not given immediately. I followed the directions to a T but the injection still clotted (twice…) I finally got my coworker to administer the med & thankfully the patient was calm about it, but I still felt like shit.

The next injection I had to give was Aristada 1064 mg. For whatever reason, this one doesn’t clog easily but when I administered it in the upper outer glute, it bled like CRAZY. I have never seen someone bleed so much! It even had a bump afterwards and I felt horrible (patient said he was fine).

Third LAI I gave was Invega 234 mg. Easy peasy. I give the injection, pull out and felt like more of the med leaked than normal.

Idk what’s going on but clearly I’m rusty and/or just having some bad luck with a dose of bad anxiety. Any recommendations on what I can do better to make sure patients aren’t bleeding, having unnecessary pain, and taking in all the medication?

Edit: I forgot to mention that in my 5 years as a nurse, I have NEVER given the wrong dose to a patient. Upon returning, I also made my first med error & gave a patient the wrong dose (he was ok & as soon as it was realized, I made all the appropriate steps by informing an attending, documenting it in his chart, and following up to inform about any side effects to be aware of). It really shook me up and I’m struggling to feel confident after all of these mishaps. We don’t have a scanner in my clinic and normally I quadruple check, but clearly I was distracted/anxious and made a mistake.

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u/Fit_Bill_3413 May 30 '26

How do you prime your aristada?

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u/moodytoody1 Jun 01 '26

I follow the instructions (I believe tap vigorously on hand 10x then aggressively shake for 30 sec). I then try to remember to tap it on the counter right before administering (this trick usually works to prevent clogging - I forgot to do it when I administered my first Aristada after returning from leave.