Quick question

There is usually a scant amount of oozing from a fresh JP line site. I place a folded up 4x4 gauze and tape over the site. If the drainage seeps through that, I want to watch closer.

Plain sterile gauze only, and not very thick. You want to watch the place from time to time to see if discharge increasing, changing, bleeding, etc. Everything that can make this observation more difficult, like steri-strips or mile -thick dressing, is not good for your purpose.

Im thinking about the healing. Would steristrips make it heal better? I removed the drain right before discharge put gauze on it and sent the patient on his way. Was thinking maybe steristrips would keep the hole together and help it heal.

Steristrips will hold the skin opening together, not the whole length of it. Your goal is to get the whole drain healed, preferably from the "bottom" (inner end) toward the top (skin end) so to avoid abscesses and such.

If the drain was staying there for more than 24 hours, you won't get primary tension healing doesn't matter what. In 24 hours macrophagal migration starts in its honest, and even if there will not be infection and the foreign body (the jp drain) was removed, the process goes by secondary tension. Keeping the skin together will not speed it up, and add risk of complications.

Folded gauze directly over the site. If no problems with constant oozing/bleeding then a dressing (slightly stretched) over the top.

If it doesn't stop oozing/bleeding then I'd use steristrips/ a steristrip underneath.

(Obviously if it bleeds a lot I'd get a stitch put in).

JP drains are removed early in our patients' stay, I've always had good results doing this- no infections, no issues with healing.

One of our surgeons insists that we dermabond and leave it OTA; other than that I use a folded 4x4 and tegaderm.

We use gauze and a tegaderm.