Tape use in Neonates

[cagedbear]

I am looking for a concensus on which tape works best on a neonates skin to secure IV's. I like the transpore (clear) tape. My hospital also uses a cloth tape (doesn't stick well). I hate the paper tape, as it seems to melt into the babies skin when under the warmer or in humidity. The "pink" tape works good for feeding tubes and cannulas, but not IV's. Any comments?

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

The unit where I work generally uses transpore tape for most IV's. Sometimes tegaderms are used in conjunction with transpore. For some reason usually people use paper tape with benzoin for scalp IV's. I usually get help to place and tape all IV's, so I usually rely on the more experienced person there, otherwise I use transpore tape. I can't imagine cloth tape working too well on a preemie infant.

The neonatal forum may be a better place to get responses.

[cagedbear]

Thanks for the tip! I'll do that!

[savnlil1s]

We can't even use the "pink" tape anymore!! But I agree it worked very well with og's and stuff. I use transpore as well and tegaderm to secure the iv site. I just make sure that the part that is securing the arm/leg is double backed so as not to be stuck on actual skin...this drives me NUTS!!! We tape the toes or fingers down and that part along with the tegaderm is about the only tape that ever is touching the baby's skin, and this is not the big fat piece but actually the thin piece that secures the toes and fingers. Do you use armboards? If you do when you are taping the hand iv's you can have fingers wrap over the top of the board as this helps keep it more secure. Hope this helps.