Accordion Drains

[smiler2010]

Hey Guys,

So I had a patient the other day with an accordian drain suctioning an abcess on his appendix and I have a question?

After I flush the drain, I am supposed to reconnect the drain tubing I was told, and then to compress the accordian after I had connected everything, to form suction. So what happens to the air that was in the bag before I compressed the accordion after I hooked it all back up? I am just so curious?

Thanks yall!

P.S. I think this drain is pretty cool since it's like a "closed system"!

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

read up on this device in clinical procedures textbook. i noticed that such books will provide rationales for every action performed clinically. the rationales can then be researched further using the reference list at the end of the procedure. if you have no access to a clinical procedures text on your floor, then try your procedures and protocols. i know the second option may not be the best given that some facilities are poor at evidenced based practice but hopefully you work in one that is not.

by the way, i still have the clinical procedures text book i used prior to becoming a nurse! it was not a requirement for either my adn or bsn programs but i bought it because it is detailed (unlike the books that were requirements) and it helped me perform new procedures well. as a new grad i pulled my book out almost every day to read up on procedures that i saw performed on my floor or that were performed by another nurse on my patient to prepare for the day i would need to do it myself. now, i pull it out from time to time. thus, if you do not have one, get one soon. gl!

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

Try and find out if your facility uses stopcocks. We use these on our accordion drains and other tubes we need to flush to keep it a closed system. Sorry I don't know the specific brand but if you google medical stopcocks you'll see examples. We use whats called a Lopez valve for our feeding tubes and they work awesome so you don't have to disconnect to flush and has different ports. I don't think it's a good idea to keep introducing air and possibly bacteria into a drain when flushing, so I don't think that would still be a 'closed system'. Do some research on the stopcocks and if you have them available, they'll make flushing easier and safer.