I work on a med surg floor. I have a question about chest tube orders. The pt got a CT for a pnuemothorax and when he came back with it the order read: "chest tube to 20cm of H2O pressure. No more than 20cm of water." The first nurse that had the pt ...
morningstar5 replied to morningstar5's topic in Med-Surg
Yeah, he should have wrote a more precise order, and I guess if I was the original nurse I could have clarified the order. It was the interventional radiologist who wrote the order, and he was not there when I took over 3 or 4 days later.
morningstar5 replied to morningstar5's topic in Med-Surg
Thanks for the reply. The tube was low. I just wondered how other nurses interperet the order- "chest tube to 20cm of H2O pressure." Does that mean just to water seal only, not to wall suction?