Chest drains are used to drain fluid, air or blood from the pleural space between the lungs and chest wall. Indications include pneumothorax, pleural effusions, and trauma. Proper placement requires sterile technique and imaging guidance. Chest drainage systems use water seals and suction to remove fluid while preventing re-entry of air into the chest. Patient care involves monitoring drainage, lung re-expansion and preventing complications like infection. Tubes are typically removed once drainage decreases and lungs are fully re-expanded.
Chest drains are used to drain fluid, air or blood from the pleural space between the lungs and chest wall. Indications include pneumothorax, pleural effusions, and trauma. Proper placement requires sterile technique and imaging guidance. Chest drainage systems use water seals and suction to remove fluid while preventing re-entry of air into the chest. Patient care involves monitoring drainage, lung re-expansion and preventing complications like infection. Tubes are typically removed once drainage decreases and lungs are fully re-expanded.
Created during my Graduate Nurse Program:
A Self Directed Learning Package titled: Nursing Management of a Patient with an: Intercostal Catheter and Underwater Seal Drainage System
The document discusses nursing care and management of patients with intercostal chest drains. It provides guidance on dressing, observations, positioning, potential complications and their treatment. Key points covered include using a small gauze dressing at the insertion site rather than bulky dressings, monitoring drainage amounts and lung expansion, avoiding clamping the tube which could lead to tension pneumothorax, and instructing patients to take a deep breath during drain removal.
This document contains competency checklists for various critical care nursing skills. It includes skills related to bed safety, bedside equipment, monitoring equipment, infusion devices, ECG rhythm interpretation, airway management, tracheostomies, tissue viability, psychological care of patients, care of dying patients, patient transport, central venous lines, and chest drains. For each skill, the nurse's self-assessment and evaluator's assessment of whether the criteria were met is documented.
This document provides guidance on chest drain management. It discusses the purpose of an underwater sealed drain (UWSD) system, which inserts a tube into the pleural space to drain fluid or air while preventing its return through a water seal. It outlines checks to perform, including monitoring drainage and ensuring proper functioning of the UWSD unit. Complications like pneumothorax are addressed. The history of development from bottle to modern disposable box systems is also summarized.
1) A chest tube is a catheter inserted through the chest wall to drain fluid or air from the pleural space.
2) Chest tubes are used to treat pneumothorax, hemothorax, and pleural effusions by removing fluid/air and restoring negative pressure in the pleural space.
3) Chest drainage systems like the one, two, and three bottle systems maintain suction and prevent fluid/air from re-entering the chest through the use of valves and fluid seals.
Chest tubes are inserted to drain fluid or air from the pleural space and allow the lung to re-expand; they are connected to underwater seal drainage to maintain suction and allow fluid to drain via gravity while monitoring for fluctuations, bubbles, and output; nurses must carefully monitor patients with chest tubes and the drainage systems to ensure proper functioning and prevent complications.
1. Chest tubes are used to drain fluid or air from the pleural space to allow the lung to re-expand following a pneumothorax, hemothorax, or other condition.
2. Placement involves local anesthesia and insertion of a tube between the ribs and into the pleural space, which is then connected to a drainage system.
3. Ongoing nursing care includes monitoring drainage, ensuring tube placement and connections, and assessing for complications like continued air leaks, until removal criteria are met and the lung is fully re-expanded.
