Note. Box represents first quartile, median, and third quartile. Whiskers represent 1.5-fold of the quartiles while individual points represent outliers. Dashed lines indicated intended measured volume. Syringes below 5 mL are accurate if they can deliver within ±5% when measuring 50% or more of their nominal volume. For a 1 mL syringe, this means that we know, at best that measuring a 1 mL volume in that syringe will deliver somewhere between 0.95 and 1.05 mL.

Intramuscular (IM) Into the muscle. The muscle is able to accept more irritating substances than other injectable routes. Your child’s doctor, pharmacist or nurse will be able to give you more information about your child’s medicine. Nasogastric (NG) tubes can be easily displaced. If you are concerned the tube is not in the stomach and/or the pH strip indicates a reading of more than 5.5, do not put anything down the tube. In this situation, please read the troubleshooting section of this information or seek advice from your healthcare professional. Before discharge from hospitalIn the image above (not a slip tip syringe), the barrel (#3) is the reservoir that holds liquid. It is graduated with lines (#2) that are typically printed or etched on its surface and calculated in cubic centimeter (cc) or milliliter (mL) units. These units of measurement—cc and mL—are equivalent.

Syringes with markings in decimals are optimal. If a syringe uses fractions, they’ll have to be converted to decimals for most taper-related calculations.Hearst UK is the trading name of the National Magazine Company Ltd, 30 Panton Street, Leicester Square, London, SW1Y 4AJ. Registered in England. All Rights Reserved. If the medicine is an antibiotic make sure your child completes the prescribed course, even if your child seems better. An oral syringe is a measuring device used to accurately measure small amounts of liquid medication, such as oral steroids or liquid vitamins. They are also useful for measuring and administering liquid medications to infants and small children. To use an oral syringe, first fill the syringe with the desired amount of liquid medication. Next, place the tip of the syringe into the person’s mouth. Finally, slowly push the plunger to dispense the medication. These syringes are typically made with either a rubber or a full plastic tip. The rubber plunger syringe tip can reduce fluid leakage past the plunger by reducing fluid leakage.

Some liquid medicines should be taken with food or milk. Other liquid medicines work best on an empty stomach. There are a few liquid medicines that should not be taken with certain foods, juices or milk. This should be shown on the medicine label.

What Are Oral Syringes Made Of?

The image above shows a syringe with a domed plunger tip. The dose is measured by lining up the top ring of the plunger tip with the 5mL calibration marking (where the arrow points). This means there is 5mL of liquid in this syringe. Do not use the tip of the dome or the lower ring of the plunger tip when reading the amount of liquid in the syringe. Measuring to, rather than between the lines, rounding values as appropriate. Interpolation cannot add to the accuracy. The image above shows a 3mL syringe containing liquid with a flat rubber plunger tip. For this particular syringe, the dose is measured by lining up the top ring of the rubber plunger with the desired calibration marking on the barrel. The liquid amount in this syringe is seven tenths of an mL (Translating this into a decimal gives you 0.7mL). Domed plunger tip The image above shows a 1mL syringe with a plastic plunger tip in the shape of the slip tip opening. As you can see, the dose is measured from the widest portion of the plunger tip—not from the end of the plunger tip. The image shows a reading of 0.5mL. Flat rubber plunger tip In the image above, the incremental amount between the visible numbers is 0.1mL. There are nine smaller lines between each number. Since 0.1 divided by 10 is 0.01, this syringe allows accurate measurements as small as 0.01mL (or one one-hundredth of an mL). 3mL syringe

As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Inclusion in an NLM database does not imply endorsement of, or agreement with, Proper measurement of liquid dosage forms using syringes is imperative for accurate dosing of medication. Evidence from this study as well as a review of the current literature can be used to compile a list of recommendations for the effective use of hypodermic syringes as measuring devices: With the syringe tip inserted into the adapter cap opening and the bottle of drug turned upside-down, they draw into the syringe slightly more drug than the amount required.Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. In the image above of this 3mL syringe, the smaller markings designate 0.1mL. These are the smallest-sized measurements you can make accurately with this particular syringe. The arrow is pointing to the 0.8mL (eight-tenths of a mL) marking.