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IV Tape

pdx

pdx

E had her Remicade infusion today. They mostly go OK lately, but the tape removal at the end remains a source of meltdown. I think part of it is just that it's at the tail end of a challenging experience, but it really is painful for her too. Any suggestions for making the removal easier? The nurses always use adhesive remover, but it doesn't seem to help a lot. Some remove it quickly, others more slowly, and that doesn't seem to make much difference for her either. Some have even let her try to remove it herself, but she doesn't like to look at the IV going into her arm.

Are there less sticky alternatives? It seems like overkill to use the same sticker that is used to hold an IV on for a multiple-day hospital stay. (That being said, I don't really want the IV wiggling around during the infusion--that sounds painful too!)
 
Maya142

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Our hospital uses Tegaderm. It is a giant pain to remove. I wish I had ideas, but cloth tape is just as sticky.

Any chance you can distract her while they do it? Have you talked to the nurses? They might have ideas - there might be a way to tape it so that it stays put and is easy to remove. Nurses know a lot of tricks and sometimes if you just ask, you get very lucky!
 
Maya142

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Did E ever use Hypafix for her NG tube? I remember we talked about it. What about something like that. It is very similar to Micropore which is mentioned above in one of MLP's links.

We have both because we tried every tape known to man when M had an NJ tube ;).
 
pdx

pdx

Maya142 said:
Did E ever use Hypafix for her NG tube? I remember we talked about it. What about something like that. It is very similar to Micropore which is mentioned above in one of MLP's links.

We have both because we tried every tape known to man when M had an NJ tube ;).
Click to expand...
Yes, we used Hypafix with her NG tube (on your recommendation!) and it was great. We still have a couple of rolls of it. But it's not sterile, so I can't imagine the nurses agreeing to use it over an IV.

Although I'm wondering if a small piece of something sterile like tegaderm could be used over the actual hole, and then something like Hypafix could go across that.
 
Maya142

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
Hmmm...forgot about that. I think that's a good idea - cutting the tegaderm and using a small piece.

Can you get Child Life there to distract her at the very end of the infusion?
 
Maya142

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
How about gauze over the IV and then tegaderm to hold that? That way less of the tegaderm would touch her skin.
 
M

Mmmd01

My son is really bad with anything stuck to him (he has a ng tube at the min and won't let me change the tape) when he has an iv they have just bandaged it
 
pdx

pdx

Mmmd01 said:
My son is really bad with anything stuck to him (he has a ng tube at the min and won't let me change the tape) when he has an iv they have just bandaged it
Click to expand...
By bandaged, do you mean they are just wrapping the IV with something that's not sticky at all? Does that work? It seems like the IV would pop out.

Is your son leaving his NG tube in all the time, or taking it out each morning? When my daughter was taking hers out each morning, she used a tape called Hypafix to hold the tube to her cheek. It was the best we found for being gentle on her skin, holding well, but being pretty painless to remove. You can buy it on Amazon, or your home health company probably has it.

When my daughter was leaving her tube in all the time, we used a material called Duoderm on her cheek, and then put the tube over the top of it, and then used Tegaderm to hold the tube to the Duoderm. We would replace the duoderm/tegaderm every 10-14 days, and it wasn't too bad to remove.

There's a lot of great info about NG-tube adhesives at this website:

http://agirlandhertube.blogspot.com/2011/11/adhesives-part-1-adhesives-taping.html
 
M

Mmmd01

pdx said:
By bandaged, do you mean they are just wrapping the IV with something that's not sticky at all? Does that work? It seems like the IV would pop out.

Is your son leaving his NG tube in all the time, or taking it out each morning? When my daughter was taking hers out each morning, she used a tape called Hypafix to hold the tube to her cheek. It was the best we found for being gentle on her skin, holding well, but being pretty painless to remove. You can buy it on Amazon, or your home health company probably has it.

When my daughter was leaving her tube in all the time, we used a material called Duoderm on her cheek, and then put the tube over the top of it, and then used Tegaderm to hold the tube to the Duoderm. We would replace the duoderm/tegaderm every 10-14 days, and it wasn't too bad to remove.

There's a lot of great info about NG-tube adhesives at this website:

http://agirlandhertube.blogspot.com/2011/11/adhesives-part-1-adhesives-taping.html
Click to expand...
Yeah they just wrap it up but he has to stay still.

Yeah he is leaving the tube in all the time he is using duoderm on his skin and the brown tape on top but won't let me change the brown tape even though it's not touching his skin.
 
pdx

pdx

Thanks for all the advice about this, everyone. We ended up ordering extra small tegaderm IV film online--it is 1.75 x 1.75 inches, rather than the usual 2.75 x 2.375. It's just half the area of the usual one, and it was so much easier to remove today after E's infusion.

The nurse was fine with using it--it was individually wrapped and sterile, and exactly the same as what they already use, but smaller. It held the IV in fine for a 3-hour infusion (but probably wouldn't work for a long-term IV during a hospital stay).
 
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