CLINICAL MEDICINE

Detailed explanation-1: -The water seal chamber should be assessed every hour for any potential air leaks. An air leak will be characterised by intermittent bubbling in the water seal chamber when the patient with a pneumothorax exhales or coughs. Continuous bubbling of this chamber indicates large air leak between the drain and the patient.

Detailed explanation-2: -If there has been no bubbling in the water seal, you can deduce there is no air leak from the lung. Therefore, the tube may be clamped for the short time it takes to reestablish drainage. If there has been bubbling and your assessment has determined there is an air leak from the lung, you must not clamp the chest tube.

Detailed explanation-3: -Like any surgical procedure, the primary risks with chest tube placement are bleeding and infection. Practitioners are careful to avoid the blood vessels that run on the underside of the ribs during placement. In order to avoid introducing an infection, the entire procedure is performed in a sterile fashion.

Detailed explanation-4: -Causes include chest trauma, complications of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures (e.g. thoracic surgery with a failure of suture/staple line), chest drains inserted into the lung parenchyma, and complications of mechanical ventilation.