The Dirty Truth About Medical Tapes

3M Medical Securement Solutions

The dirty truth about medical tapes. Helping reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Dirty tapes could put your patients at risk. Stocked in every supply room and brought to nearly every patient room, tape is one of the most widely-used medical technologies. 69% of clinicians use medical tape multiple times per day. It holds breathing tubes in place, secures IV lines, and manages post-operative drains, ports, and other devices, and it comes into direct contact with patient skin. But are medical tapes clean or invisibly dirty?

100% of tape rolls are contaminated A study sampled 24 bedside tape rolls at 1, 5, and 7 days in a 16-bed ICU at a 560-bed teaching hospital. 100% of the tape rolls sampled were contaminated.

52% of tape samples contained MRSA and VRE In a sampling from three hospitals of tapes used on multiple patients, 11 of 21 tape batches (up to 3 tapes each) contained MRSA and VRE.

Why are tapes potential sources of contamination? A survey published in the American Journal of Infection Control showed that:

• 100% of the facilities surveyed had no policies for tape storage. Tape was stored in open bins in supply rooms that were not regularly cleaned.
• 61.5% of staff members carried rolls of tape in pockets or on stethoscopes.
• Only 42.9% of staff discarded unused tape when a patient was discharged.

The evidence is in: your tapes may be dirty.

A 12-year-old with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia contracted a suspected cutaneous fungal infection from tape exposure, which required three surgical debridements and a simple mastectomy.

Overview: This case report linked adhesive tape to a cutaneous fungal infection in a 12-year-old oncology patient at a facility with no established guidelines for patient tape. A subsequent survey of multiple healthcare facilities revealed no existing policies or standards of care related to tape storage or use.

Results:

• A member of the Infectious Disease Department suspected that the cutaneous fungal infection was related to tape exposure.
• Three surgical debridements were required. Surgical cultures yielded Mucor/Rhizopus.
• Facilities stored tape in open bins in clean supply rooms, neither of which were regularly cleaned.
• There are zero guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Prevention Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) for storage and use of tape.
• The gap in tape policies or standards calls for formal recommendations for storage and use to enhance patient safety.

View abstract: https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(14)01297-8/abstract

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