Published
Pleural tube removal is not a benign procedure. Accumulation or recurrence of a pneumothorax is the main concern with chest tube removal. With that said, chest tube removal technique makes a difference in minimizing this risk. As long as RN's are covered by hospital policy with no Board of Nursing restriction on this practice, they can be adequately trained to remove chest tubes.
Removing any chest tube ia a practiced skill. I have seen devastating occurrences happen with both. You really need to call your BON and ask them specifically AND be sure you have been adequately trained for this task with a hospital policy in place. Some BON's have specific position statement concerning this practice.....check with them.
PCarson
1 Post
In my CCU, we routinely pull mediastinal chest tubes on cardiac surgery patients. Now we have been asked to pull pleural chest tubes. Is there a big difference? If we pull one type, should we be able to pull the other? Can we do so legally? We have a policy for pulling mediastinal only.