thanks in advance for your replies and I love you all
Ok, so last night I received report from a nurse on patient A. Patient A has had a craniotomy to remove a tumor and now he has three incisions with sutures which are clean, dry intact. The nurse informed me that one of those incisions was leaking csf but that the Dr. was aware, there were no new orders and so all we were to do was place 4x4 sponge gauze over the incision to contain the leak. She said that the dr. stated that it would leak for about 24 hours. So over the course of my shift I faithfully changed the gauze whenever it got wet. It wasn't getting drenched, but the wetness was irritating the patient so I changed it three times during my shift.
Half an hour before shift change I was changing the gauze when the dr. walked in. I showed him and the gauze and the patient's wife said something about the incision dripping "so much!" The dr. glared at me from across the room. I told him that I had been informed during change of shift that he was aware. He said no, no one had informed me. I could tell he was irritated. Fortunately all he did was order some supplies so he could add some more sutures. I documented in my closing note that he had been made aware of leak and that supplies ordered were at bedside.
My question is, wha would you guys have done differently? What do you do with a csf leak? what not to do?
