Below you can find an overview of:
- What your emergency hydrocortisone injection kit should contain
- Where you can get needles and accessories from
- How to dispose of used needles
- General tips for injection
Each emergency kit should contain:
- An intramuscular hydrocortisone injection
- premixed hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 100 mg/1 ml (1 vial), or
- hydrocortisone sodium succinate 100 mg powder and 1 ml water for injection (from a 5 ml or 10 ml vial)
- Two blue needles
- Two 2 ml syringes
- Written instructions in an easy-to-understand format (for example, with diagrams or pictures) on how to prepare and give emergency intramuscular hydrocortisone and how to safely dispose of needles and syringes
- Steroid emergency cards
- Glucose gel (only for babies, children and young people under 16)
- One orange needle and a 1 ml syringe (only for babies under 1 year)
The newly-released NICE guidelines (NG 243) give instructions on what the emergency kits should contain.
Sizes and colours of needles
- 21 g x 1.5 inches 0.8 mm x 40 mm (green) for drawing up the solution
- 23 g x 1 inches 0.6 mm x 25 mm (blue) for administering the injection
Ensure you have enough needles for each injection, plus a spare
Where can you get your needles and accessories from?
It is your endocrine unit’s responsibility, working together with primary care, to ensure you have all the items described by NICE in the emergency pack.
Disposal of used needles
Sharps disposal boxes and clippers: There are different schemes and arrangements in place for the safe disposal of your sharps disposal box once it is full. Schemes vary from nation to nation and even down to the locality, and your local NHS healthcare provider should have information about local disposal methods.
General tips for injections
- Check the expiry date of the hydrocortisone solution
- Wash your hands before preparing your injection
- Always use a new, sterile needle and where possible use a separate needle to draw up solution prior to changing needle for administration
- Check for air bubbles
- Choose injection site
- Take your time
- Watch this video showing you how to inject
Find our hydrocortisone injection boxes here!