I am the manager of a 24-bed orthopedica center of excellence. We are currently having a problem with the occurrence of tape blisters on many of our TKA patients. We are collecting data, trying to determine if there a common element that is causing this, and what we can do about this. Does anyone else have the same problem, and if so, do you have any suggestions as to how to decrease the incidence of this occurring?

Kathleen, We use the J&J fram tape and have not had a documented problem with blisters since going to it five years ago.

Terry Sinclair, RN, RNFA, CNOR
NAON-SIG Chair
NAON-RNFA-SIG-Facilitator

Kathleen,

You may also find a variety of other available products by contacting a wound/ostomy nurse if there is one in your facility. If not, the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society (www.wocn.org) could likely offer options as well.

Jan Foecke
NAON Director of Programs

Kathleen
No further input on tape blisters, but would you be willing to respond to my salary survey? Your position is precisely the kind I'm looking for information on. Below are questions posted on other SIG forums:
I'm researching salary ranges for joint replacement program clinical coordinators and/or orthopaedic service line coordinators.
Any information you can provide about salary, benefits, work hours, and qualifications and location would be most helpful in developing parameters for a position in an urban community hospital located in Northern California and owned by a larger non-profit organization.

In return I will be happy to compile information gathered and share results with all respondents.

If you prefer to respond offline, please feel free to contact me at ajbenham@earthlink.net. .

Kathleen, We also get tape blisters on both THA and TKA. With the knees, we don't use tape, only 4x4s and ace wrap, so blisters supposedly come from swelling. The incidence is small, and the blisters are benign and are covered with tegaderm
to prevent breaking. It's a mystery!
Sandy connell RN

There are a wide variety of dressing related articles in the Orthopaedic Nursing Journal. To access after signing onto the NAON webpage:

1. Click the blue NAON Resources in the center column
2. Click Orthopaedic Nursing Journal
3. Click the blue Members Only words in the center column
4. Click the blue Orthopaedic Nursing online words in the center column, place "dressings" or similar wording in the Quick Search bar.

A variety of articles will display.

Jan Foecke, MS, RN, ONC
NAON Director of Programs

Kathleen, we were having the same problems with tape postop also. we found that taping the initial dressing in the operating room seemed to be the root cause for us. we didn't realize at the time that when we were appling the tape, we were "tensioning it" off the roll. now, we remove the tape from the roll at a proper length, before it's applied.

Are incisions are covered with 4x4's, cast padding and then ace wrap. When we pull drains we cover the spot with a 4x4 and tape. We instruct the patient to remove the tape in about an hour. When they do not remove the tape generally I see a blister.

we found that if we tension the tape during application, then we have a problem with blisters occuring, otherwise we stopped this practice with good success.
thanks
kent