Mischief47

Always a good thing to check for leakage, because the suction is then not doing its job and could infact cause a pneumothorax if air gets in or it could also cause subcutaneous emphysema which is air in the subcutaneous space. This feels like bubble wrap on palpation. Check the suture is still intact and the tube should always be checked. Our tubes over here have cm/mm marked on them. Thats how we tell if there has been any movement of the tube, its checked at the measurement every shift and we only use underwater seal drainage on and off suction. Bubble and swing ensure that the tube is doing its job. That your tube is draining means its not clogged. Don't overthink what your doing, check from patient to wall, as long as her vitals are stable it shouldn't cause any harm.

Generally a patient is less active during the night and if on free drainage then this would be quite understandable, but given that the patient is on suction then this should not really affect the output, unless the patient is kinking off the tube during sleep then it is possible that the build up overnight will increase drainage throughout the day. Hope this helps some. Maybe someone else has other ideas..

Hi, first when is this happening? Is it all the time on shift/at home, or just when your attending a code?

In regards to backatit2, "the doctor came in and said it "wasn't safe to work with children while on that medication" at which point i started crying" Does this tell you nothing... "i stopped taking it for about 5 days before my appointment - wrote down that i wasn't taking any medications on my paperwork - and passed my drug screen". What will you do if they come in for random drug testing?

Urine drug screen only tests for certain drugs in the system so to test for all they also need to do blood test. But as Paerrn20 says "if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry". And if you do, you shouldn't be working...sorry also for sounding harsh but pt's rely on us to be clean and sober.