Medical Adhesive-Related Skin Injury (MARSI)

Records a medical adhesive-related skin injury against the 2013 consensus statement.

Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.

Example

The skin change persists 30 minutes or more after the adhesive was removed
Yes
What was seen
Mechanical: skin stripping, epidermis removed with the adhesive

Result: a mechanical injury, skin stripping, persisting 30 minutes after removal

The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.

What the result means

The criterion
Erythema or another skin abnormality persisting 30 minutes or more after the adhesive is removed. Anything that fades sooner is not an injury.
Mechanical
Skin stripping, tension injury or blister, and skin tear.
Dermatitis
Irritant contact, confined to the adhesive footprint, or allergic, extending beyond it.
Other
Maceration and folliculitis.
Irritant against allergic
Distribution and timing tell them apart. An irritant reaction appears quickly inside the footprint; an allergic one needs prior sensitization, appears later, and recurs faster.
A skin tear from adhesive
Both things at once: a mechanical injury of this kind and a classifiable skin tear. Recording only one loses either the mechanism or the wound.

What you enter

  • The skin change persists 30 minutes or more after the adhesive was removed (the diagnostic criterion)
  • What was seen (leave empty if not yet categorized)
How this is calculated

McNichol L, Lund C, Rosen T, Gray M. Medical adhesives and patient safety: state of the science. Consensus statements for the assessment, prevention, and treatment of adhesive-related skin injuries. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2013;40(4):365-380. Read the source ↗

A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.

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Built by Clay Good. Source on GitHub.