Why Surgical Drain Recording Should Be Done

By Ryan Thompson


Monitoring the amount of discharge from conduits during the post-operative period is crucial. However, it is an activity that is not done accordingly in many hospitals. Due to this, many patients end up developing complications because of drains which have overstayed at the site. Below is a discussion on the benefits of accurate surgical drain recording.

Surgeons use details on the amount and quality of output to decide on the management techniques to be undertaken. Procedural complications like bleeding can be diagnosed easily if the recording system is accurate. The types and site of the conduits can be accurately and quickly established in this case too.

24 hours should not elapse before the readings are taken. Any observations which might be of interest should be reported too. The drained fluid can be serosanguinous, serous or seropurulent. However, it is normal for blood to drain from the site shortly after the operation.

The drain type, time, running total and date of the observation should be included in the report. Making comparisons will be easy in this case. Therefore, the prognosis can be known by going through the information. The care providers cannot claim to be too busy to do this. The operation will not produce the desired results if the client is not followed up afterward. He or she will end up spending a lot of time in the ward. There are infections which are associated with prolonged stay at a health care facility.

The patients have to be safe all through their stay at the health center. It is the duty of the professionals who are working there to ensure that this is achieved. If not, the patient might decide to open a legal suit against the hospital. Everyone who works at the particular unit will be affected. The lawsuits are not a joke.

When the patient is very sick, the entire department will be on toes all the through. Resuscitation is not funny and everyone involved will end up fatigued. To note is that the other patients will still have to be attended to despite how tired the health care professionals are. Therefore, they can avoid such stress by following the right protocol.

During the recording process, the drains are checked to ensure that they are in a good condition. When no one is keen on such things, blockages may occur. The surgeon may rule out the lack of drainage as a sign that the wound has healed. However, it might be because of the blockage. The patient will be back at the clinic within a short while due to acute pain and other kinds of complication. He or she may have to be operated on again. It is a trauma that can be easily avoided.

The recording should be done appropriately. Each inpatient file comes with a chart meant specifically for this purpose. Thus, the care provider will not be helping in any way if he or he cannot use the format laid down in such a chart. In addition, it will make it easier for every team member to access the information when it is documented in the appropriate place. Going through a lot of notes searching for the information consumes much time.




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