Question

You are the nurse receiving a report on your patient that was admitted as an emergency earlier in the day. A 64-year-old female underwent a right colectomy. The right side of her colon was removed due to cancer. She has a history of smoking & no other health problems. She is currently being transferred to you in PACU. She has a midline incision with a Penrose drain, a stab wound w/ a Jackson Pratt drain to the incision. She also has an NG tube, attached to intermittent suction. She is alert, oriented and can move all 4 extremities. BP is 110/68, Respiratory rate is 14, O2 stats are at 93% w/ additional oxygen given via nasal cannula.

All labs are normal. You are asked to change the dressings daily and document the drainage. What precautions will you take to prevent this patient from obtaining a nosocomial infection?

I know you guys answer this question but it's incorrect can you guys make some correction.

Thanks

Answer 1

A Jackson Pratt drain is a closed system drain that uses bulb suction to prevent wound drainage from collecting around the surgical site.

Nursing considerations are as follows to avoid nosocomial infections:

1. Unplug cap
2. Turn bulb upside down and squeeze contents into a measuring cup.
3. Clean plug off with alcohol (decrease chances of infection)
4. Compress the bulb
5. Re-cap the bulb (make sure the bulb stays compressed)
6. Document how much drainage you emptied. This is so important because surgeons will order for a JP drain to be discontinued when the site is draining less than 30 cc per 24 hours

At first, a new JP drain will drain bloody drainage. This drainage is called serosanguineous fluid (which is blood and serous fluid mixed together). Then as the wound heals, the drainage will go from light pink to light yellow to clear and the amount of drainage will taper off. It is important to note for signs of infection, which would be drainage that is cloudy yellow or tan or green with a foul smelling odor.
Assess regularly the skin at the drain insertion site and keep the dressing around insertion site dry and clean (change daily with warm soap and water).