Drawing medicine out of a vial

Follow these steps to fill the syringe with medicine. Hold the syringe in your hand with the needle pointed up. With the cap still on, pull back the plunger to the line on your syringe for your dose. This fills the syringe with air. For example, if you need 1 cc of medicine, pull the plunger to the line marked 1 cc on the syringe. (Some bottles of medicine may say mL.) Next, remove the cap and insert the needle into the rubber top of the vial. Do not touch or bend the needle. Depress the plunger and push the air into the vial. This keeps a vacuum from forming so that the medicine will flow easily into the syringe. Turn the vial upside down and hold it up in the air. Make sure that the medicine covers the tip of the needle the entire time. As before, pull back the plunger to the line on your syringe for your dose. Remove the needle from the vial. The medicine is ready to inject.

Review Date: 2/8/2024
Reviewed By: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

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