Prevention of medical adhesive-related skin injury during patient care: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: : Medical adhesive-related skin injury can occur during health care. Professionals must adopt preventive measures to maintain the integrity of the skin and patient comfort and safety. Objective: : To map the existing scientific evidence on preventing medical adhesive-related skin injury in adults. Design: : Scoping Review. Methods: : Searches were conducted in PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase®, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Google Scholar, without period delimitation. Duplicate studies and those that didn´t answer the research question were excluded. Results: : Of the 209 studies identified in the search process, 30 made up the final sample. The prevention of injury by adhesives mainly involves identifying risk factors, proper adhesive selection, and correct application and removal. Health education and medical records about injuries related to medical adhesives are essential. Conclusions: : The prevention of medical adhesive-related skin injury should be done by adopting multifactorial measures, which range from identifying risk factors and correct handling of adhesives to the process of educating professionals, patients and communities about these injuries. Registration: : The research was registered on the Open Science Framework DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/NSWP8.

Keywords

• Adverse effects
• Skin
• Surgical tape
• Tissue adhesives