I was kind of surprised to see 22 as the sample size in study that could have (it seems to me) easily had many more participants. The Reuters article doesn't mention what their criteria was for determining if someone was 'obese' either.

Moar info plz?

Well it turns out arm flab is more than embarrasing. Thanks Science!

They obviously aren't following The Fat Man's advice on needle selection...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God#Laws_of_the_House_of_God

Science is obesist!

Any nurse could have told them that a longer needle is needed for intramuscular injections for obese people. Duh.

Similar findings over the years:
2005: http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/medicine_health/report-52273.html
2006: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7542/637
2007: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118486993/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

That makes me feel great about getting my flu & H1N1 shots today. Being fat sucks.

All this and more in the new medical journal "Duh."

As Fark would say, "Meanwhile, no cure for cancer"

#5, not just any nurse but any nursing STUDENT. -- former R.N.

Nurses at the outpatient clinic where I work have reported this problem. They have unofficially developed a protocol of using their free hand to press hard against the area where they are going to give the shot in order to compress or displace the fat to give the standard-size needle a chance to reach the muscle. They report that this is especially necessary for shots in hip/butt area.

There have been many articles lately about the need for specialized medical equipment for super-sized patients. Will they eventually need to provide bigger, extra-scary-looking needles, too?

Next, they'll come out with a study based on 22 patients showing that surgeons operating on obese patients may need longer surgical instruments. Researchers aren't sure why, but it's possible that fat prevents shorter instruments from reaching the patients internal organs.

*facepalm*

On behalf of us fat people: Duh.