Blowing Bubbles with Chest Drains | 合法醫療器材資訊網

One of the scariest devices a therapist runs into in an ICU is the chest drain. It is connected through a long, large bore tube to a patient’s chest. The thought of carrying around a device filled with a patient’s blood unnerves some individuals.

It is not uncommon for a physician to write “patient may be on water seal for therapy.” If a therapist receives this order, they will need to be competent with moving their patient’s chest drain from wall suction to water seal and back again.

A chest drain on “wall suction” means the patient’s chest drain is attached to the vacuum regulator (the device attached to the wall that controls the suction pressure). A chest drain on “water seal” means the chest drain is not attached to the vacuum regulator.