BooberRN

Hello all, I'm an RN but not a lot of knowledge about wound vacs. One of my family members has a wound vac at home which has seemed to be really helping heal this wound. However, over the last couple days there has been blistering that the HH nurse brought to my attention. It's occurring underneath where the HH nurse placed the drape tape. this morning, I noticed the blisters getting worse, more of them along with rashes and extreme itching under the drape tape. I called the dr on Friday to report this as the HH nurse did not. He ordered PO abx along with cream abx. When i I saw that the rash/blisters were worse this am. I called the doctor on call and he said remove vac and place wet to dry. I did this about 12 noon today. I did another wet to dry before bed tonight and it's like the wound looks bigger than it did when I first took the vac off. I am so frustrated and so is my partner. We have been through so much. Two major open heart surgeries in less than a year. My poor baby is miserable. I can tell you that out HH nurse makes what she calls a "window Payne" dressing which is suppose to protect the peri wound. Well, it doesn't seem to be helping as the blisters and rash are a really bad problem. My baby has tape scarring from the tape that was used in his surgeries so I really think he's allergic to adhesive in general. I'm in desperate need of some reassurance. I'm about in tears now esp seeing the wound revert and get bigger in a matter of a few hours. It's really not a big wound. It's on the upper back. The wound is Approx 2cml x 2cmw x 1.5cmd. Plesse respond with your opinion. I'm not asking for medical advice as I have appt with my dr on Monday to assess the wound. I just want to know if this is a common complication. And what you have seen done before in the past. Do they make s special hypoallergenic Drape tape? Thank you for listening.

PET PEEVES: 1. I hate when IV tubing runs dry. Some nurses let it run dry so that pt gets all med, but priming the tubing and getting air out of line waste antibiotic. So reset the volume and watch closely to keep IVPB tubing from going dry. 2. I can only start an IV with one glove on.....I have to be able to feel the vein with the other hand and can not feel it with a glove on. But as soon as I get a flashback and advance the needle, i have a glove nearby and place it on to protect myself. By the way, my hands are very clean when I start an IV. 3. Must wear gloves when pulling people up in bed. 4. I hate foleys that lay and/or touch the nasty floor.

Well, I'm sorry your in this situation. I learned the hard way once and gave an NPO patient water when I didn't know he was suppose to not have it. Well, he was NPO and sneaking around his nurse. I got chewed out by his nurse that I should have checked with her first. So my lesson learned.....anytime any pt that isn't mind ask me for something, I will make certain to hunt the nurse down before I give out anything, even ice.