The Importance Of Accurate Surgical Drain Recording

By Ryan Thompson


Drains are inserted at the site of operation after surgery to provide a conduit for any discharge or air to find its way out. Nevertheless, the recording of the output from these sites is an activity that is taken for granted by many care providers. That is why a lot of patients who have undergone surgical operations end up suffering from other conditions. Therefore, surgical drain recording should be done accordingly.

Surgeons use details on the amount and quality of output to decide on the management techniques to be undertaken. Procedural complications like bleeding can be diagnosed easily if the recording system is accurate. The types and site of the conduits can be accurately and quickly established in this case too.

The records should be updated after every 24 hours. The characteristics of the fluid should be captured in the report too. It may be serous, serosanguinous or seropurulent. To note is that presence of the blood at the drains is not an odd observation immediately post-operation.

The drain type, time, running total and date of the observation should be included in the report. Making comparisons will be easy in this case. Therefore, the prognosis can be known by going through the information. The care providers cannot claim to be too busy to do this. The operation will not produce the desired results if the client is not followed up afterward. He or she will end up spending a lot of time in the ward. There are infections which are associated with prolonged stay at a health care facility.

The patient should be kept safe during his or her stay at the health center. The care providers are responsible for the safety of the patient. Failure to record the output compromises their safety. Thus, the patient has the right to take legal actions against the hospital. In this case, everyone who was on duty during that period will be involved. It is not a pleasant experience.

The care providers will be under a lot of stress in case the patient develops serious complications. Emergency resuscitation requires a lot of effort and time. Therefore, the other patients might be neglected in case this happens. To note is that the professionals will have to ensure that all the duties are performed after the patients become stable.

Because the person filling in the observations will have to inspect the drains, blockages will be noted immediately they occur. In addition, dislodged drains will be detected early enough for corrective measures to be taken. The surgeon might assume that the wound has healed because there is no active drainage only to realize that it was not the case when the patients come back with serious complications. The remedy might involve a subsequent surgery which will traumatize the patient further.

The recording should be done appropriately. Each inpatient file comes with a chart meant specifically for this purpose. Thus, the care provider will not be helping in any way if he or he cannot use the format laid down in such a chart. In addition, it will make it easier for every team member to access the information when it is documented in the appropriate place. Going through a lot of notes searching for the information consumes much time.




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