Read Course | Complete Survey | Claim Credit. Information for patients and nurses rocket medical. 1 NSW Health: Managing Pigtail Drains Safely. Signs of infection include: If the drain comes out, cover the area with sterile gauze. Suprapubic catheterization: challenges in changing catheters. 2005, V12 (10), 19-20. Before surgical or percutaneous insertion of a drain, the patients coagulation status and hemostasis risk must be evaluated (13). Wallace, M. J., Chin, K. W., Fletcher, T. B., Bakal, C. W., Cardella, J. F., Grassi, C. J., Kundu, S. (2010). The drainage from an abscess may also be bloody at first before appearing purulent. It is important for nursing staff to understand how a drain is supposed to behave when it is functioning normally so that potential problems are easier to spot. To flush the drain itself, a nurse would have to direct the saline toward the patient. Thanks to advances in modern medicine, suffering patients now stand a chance. Unfortunately for these patients, this meant that a second surgery was required to heal them from complications of their first surgery. Nobody wants to be the one to make that call to the doctor about a malfunctioning drain. These pigtails are placed with a Seldinger catheter-over-wire technique very similar to the central venous catheter insertion. The flush port should be capped with either a dead end cap or a clave. scientific article published in May 2005. edit. Doyle, G. R., & McCutcheon, J. Surgeons would attempt to remove the infected material while striving for directness, simplicity, and above all, avoidance of unnecessary contamination of uninvolved areas (7). Subclavian Artery Laceration Caused by Pigtail Catheter Removal in a Comparison of pigtail catheter with chest tube for drainage of parapneumonic effusion in children. Pigtail drain tubes: A guide for nurses - ProQuest Note that not all drains are meant to be flushed, especially those that do not contain a flush port and/or three-way stopcock. Show more Show more. Includes the anatomy of the catheter, how they function, and the components of the catheter that come with the kit. This prevents clots and helps the fluid drain easily. Author Diana Hayes 1 Affiliation 1Western Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria. Clean the flush port with a new alcohol pad. Hayes D. Pigtail Drain Tubes: a Guide for Nurses. This patient has an abscess drain. It is essential that providers choose patients carefully, as ineffective or incomplete drainage of the infection can lead to significant morbidity and mortality (8). A patient may require drain placement for various reasons. Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error.