Chest drain

A Chest drain is used to collect blood and other fluids from a patient's lung. A chest tube is inserted into the patient's chest and the other end of the tube is connected to a chest drain box via a length of drainage tubing to collect and measure the fluid. From the drain box, a line is collected to negative pressure to provide suction. It is critical to monitor the blood, fluid and air coming out to make sure that it is draining properly, not kink or occluded, which can happen due to patient positioning or blood clog clogging the chest tube. A non functioning chest tube in the setting of bleeding or air leak can be lifethreatening if not recognized and managed appropriately. Therefore efforts to keep the chest tube patent should be carried out due to a relatively high rate of chest tube clogging, often that goes un noticed.

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  Two chest drains; one connected and filling with fluid, the other empty
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  Chest drain - connected at bedside with fluids
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  Chest drain - empty
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