>> Hi. My name is Chrystal, and I'm a nurse
with the surgical oncology hepatobiliary service, here at the UW Hospital.
And I'm here to talk to you today about drain care.
First of all, drains are placed to prevent the buildup of fluid after surgery.
It helps to remove extra fluid, blood, lymph and serum in the body.
And helps take pressure off of surgical sites, vessels, and nerves.
So first we have two different types of drains.
One is a bile bag drain.
Both drains you will empty at about a third of the way full.
This drain you empty by taking the cap off the end.
Emptying it.
And then placing the lid back on tightly, as it sometimes could fall off.
So make sure you press it down tightly.
The other drain is a JP bulb.
This bulb holds suction.
To create suction, you are going to squeeze the drain
and place the lid on, so that it remains flat.
You empty this one as well when it is a third full, or when the suction is not maintained,
and it is kind of bulbed out like this.
To empty this drain, you are going to open the lid.
And again, we will give you measuring containers like this one.
There are measurements on the side of milliliters.
You are going to empty the drain into here, and keep track of the measurements.
Another thing that you will also be doing at home, is stripping your drain.
How to strip a drain.
You want to hold it and pinch it at the closest site to your body with one hand.
With the other hand you will pull tightly and move down the drain.
You want to do this all the way till the end of the drain,
so that it prevents any clogging of anything in the drain.
You also have drain sponges which go around the drain sites.
Your drain sites will be slightly red or irritated, which is normal.
However, there may be a little drainage as well, which is normal.
That's why we use drain sponges.
These should be changed every day.
Or as needed when soiled.
Your drain sites should also be washed with soap and water daily.
And monitored for any signs of infection.
Infection to watch for are increased redness around the site.
Increased firmness around the site.
Any extra oozing of drainage.
Any change in the color of fluid.
Or fevers of 100 or higher you should call us.
You should also maintain a very good nutrition level
and hydration when you have a drain in place.
We would like you to track your drain at home.
We will send you home with this piece of paper that monitors your drain output.
You should write down every day how much in milliliters your drain is putting out.
And bring this paper back with you to clinic at that time.
Then we can determine if the drain can be pulled or not.
Your drain is usually held in place by a stitch.
Sometimes if we need to manipulate the drain, the stitch will come out
and we will hold it in place with a tube holder.
There are two different types of tube holders.
The flexi-trak, which attaches to your skin and then is taped
in to where the drain goes through.
And then there's also this tube holder which snaps into place, the tube, tightly.
These stay in place so that the drain does not fall out.
If your drain should fall out at any time, you should call the clinic.
Other things to monitor at home are.
To monitor the output, your drain should normally decrease over time in output.
If for some reason you have a drastic change increase or decrease, you should give us a call.
You should also call with changes in color of the output.
It is normal for your drain to change in color slightly.
However, if there is any increased bloody draining.
If your drainage turns to green or bilious.
Or it starts to have any smell or cloudy color to it, you should call.
In summary, the most important things to remember
about your drain at home are track the output.
Make sure you are writing this down every day.
Move your body and make sure you maintain a good nutrition while you have this,
and hydration as you're losing fluids and proteins with a drain in place.
And lastly, always call if you have questions/concerns.
And especially with fevers.
Thank you.