Prevalence of skin injuries related to medical adhesives in Brazilian hospitals: a multicenter study.
Débora Ferreira Pio, Samuel de Paula Pinheiro da Silva, Daniel Nogueira Cortez and 1 others
PMID 41370537WHAT IT FOUND
In adult ICU patients, 33 of 108 had skin injury from medical adhesives.
More adhesives and peripheral venous access fixation were linked to injury. Maceration and dermatitis were the most frequently identified types.
Key findings
01In adult ICU patients, 33 of 108 had medical adhesive-related skin injury, a prevalence of 25.9%.
02More adhesives were associated with higher likelihood of injury (p = 0.001), and peripheral venous access fixation was associated with injury (p = 0.030).
03Maceration and dermatitis were the most frequently identified injury types, at 39.4% and 45.4% of injuries.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study looked at patients once, so it could not show that adhesives caused the injuries. It included only adult general ICU patients who had at least one adhesive, so it does not describe all hospitalized patients or patients without adhesives. Medical record documentation varied across centers, and comorbidities and adjunct treatments depended on what was recorded. Ten patients were excluded because they were not in the unit or were undergoing procedures. Adhesive removal technique and prolonged occlusive adhesive use were not measured.
Declared interests
Funded by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES), Financing Code 001. No author conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read 25.9% as proof that adhesives caused injury. The study looked at patients once, so it could not show cause.