A gap in patient tape storage and use practices puts patients at risk for cutaneous fungal infections

Gray-Violet Plaque in an Immunocompromised Girl

“…Infection control guidelines have been proposed for tape storage and use but have not been widely implemented. 6 Aggressive cutaneous bacterial infections are on the differential diagnosis for cutaneous plaques in immunosuppressed patients. Pseudomonal ecthyma gangrenosum is a necrotizing infection resulting from sepsis and subsequent angioinvasion by the gramnegative rod Pseudomonas aeruginosa.…”

Infection prevention practices and the use of medical tapes

“…Increased demand for single-patient use products has emerged as central to infection control practices, however tape continues to be one of the only items still used on multiple patients. As previously reported by McClusky et al, 41 a survey completed at a 2014 Michigan Society for Infection Prevention and Control Spring Conference noted 64% of clinicians do not dedicate rolls of tape to a specific patient, nor do they discard used tape rolls when a patient is discharged 57% of the time. Those multi-use rolls of tape are then taken from patient to patient and room to room where they can serve as a vector for transmission between compromised patients.…”

“…Using microbial cultures once per month, 506 cultures were obtained for 361 patients over one year. Several factors were significantly correlated with colonization, including the In vitro work using tape samples from patients Berkowitz et al, 1974 9 Marples et al, 1985 10 Keys et al, 1978 11 Aziz et al, 1984 12 Rammaert et al, 2012 13 Livesley and Richardson,1993 14 Bundy, 1989 15 Powell et al, 1987 16 CDC, 1978 17 Diaz et al, 1986 18 Love, 2013 19 Krug et al, 2016 20 Oldman, 1991 21 James et al, 2000 22 Gartemberg et al, 1978 23 Stiller et al, 1994 24 Krug et al, 2014 25 Lindberg et al, 2017 6 Redelmeier & Livesley, 1999 26 Arpin et al, 2002 27 Bauer and Densen, 1979 28 Hughes et al, 1995 29 Mantyh et al, 2017 30 Cady et al, 2011 31 Lipscombe and Juma, 2007 32 Everett et al, 1979 33 du Plessis et al, 1997 34 Spencer et al, 2018 35 Harris et al, 2012 36 Bottone et al, 1979 37 Dickinson et al, 1998 38 Hooker et al, 2020 7 Mead et al, 1979 39 Alsuwaida 2002 40 Dennis et al, 1980 42 Garg et al, 2009 43 Patterson et al, 1986 44 McClusky et al, 2015 41 Endoh et al, 2004 45 Christiaens et al, 2005 46 Lalayanni et al, 2012 47 Foster ...…”

Clinical Issues—November 2020

“…In health care facilities, rolls of adhesive tape are generally located in open supply bins and drawers, carried in staff members’ jackets, and attached to stethoscopes 8. A 12‐year‐old leukemia patient, already immunocompromised, acquired a fungal infection after exposure to contaminated adhesive tape that a health care worker used to secure the patient's central line catheter.…”

“…A 12‐year‐old leukemia patient, already immunocompromised, acquired a fungal infection after exposure to contaminated adhesive tape that a health care worker used to secure the patient's central line catheter. As a result, the facility established a guideline for the safe use of adhesive tape, including designating rolls of tape for each patient and implementing a regular cleaning schedule for storage areas that contain adhesive tape 8…”