Closed-wound Drain Management: Post-procedure and Special Considerations (Nursing)

00:04 Now, once we finish up we can dispose of all the materials appropriately.

00:08 Put your patient back into a comfortable position and the bed in the lowest position for safety.

00:14 We can now remove our gloves, perform our hand hygiene and document our procedure.

00:19 Now, one important thing to note about documentation.

00:23 When you're talking about emptying a drain, it is so very important that you document the output of that drain.

00:32 The reason why this is important is because if the drain is putting out several hundred milliliters for example, which is a little excessive, out of a patient's drain, we cannot remove that because there's way too much drainage.

00:45 Now if we document that that's slowly decreasing, and depending on the physician's preference at some point, if there's not very much drainage, we can remove it.

00:56 But again, this is up to physician preference, so it's important to document the output for that patient.

01:03 Now, let's take a look at Hemovac.

01:05 Really, this is - the steps are the same, it's just like the Jackson Pratt but again the drain looks just a little bit different, but same mechanisms here.

01:14 So if you take a look at this other image, it's kind of accordion in the valve or the chamber is round and it's much bigger than that of the Jackson Pratt.

01:25 And again, depends on the surgeon, if they put in a JP or a Hemovac.

01:30 Post-surgery, I see these both on the patient and so really it depends what the physician feels like is appropriate.

01:37 So the chamber's going to collect all the extra fluid there for you and it's going to get bigger and expand as it fills.

01:44 And, now, to open it and to drain it, it's got the same plugger/stopper that you open up.

01:49 Now, when you need to empty the content, it's much like the JP, where you have to compress that and accordion it to empty the content into a graduated cylinder.

02:01 Now, to create suction, much like the Jackson Pratt, you've got to compress it back down here, like you see in the image or flatten it down, and then seal the plug.

02:11 So let's take a look at some special considerations in regards to JP or Hemovac management.

02:19 You want to make sure you checked that drain frequently.

02:23 You'd be surprised, I walk into patient's room.

02:25 Sometimes it's stuck in between the beds, sometimes it's over their shoulder, sometimes it is getting pulled or tugged on, so make sure as a nurse, when you are performing your rounds you check on the drain.

02:36 Now, it's also important to empty the drain routinely.

02:40 We don't want the JP or the Hemovac chamber filling really full, because that could be excess tugging and weight.

02:48 Also we could back-up into the tubing and that's not what we want.

02:52 Make sure that that tubing is draining and maintaining patency.

02:56 And also check for orders to ensure that we don't need a drainage example.

03:02 Thanks for watching today.