Hand hygiene and infection control in chest drain care: best practices for nurses

Abstract

Background: The nursing therapy for patients requiring air, fluid, or pus drainage from the pleural cavity is called chest drain management. This encompasses those with empyema, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and other thoracic conditions. Handling, responding to, and supervising patients fit for chest tubes depend totally on nurses. Regarding caring for chest drains, past research show that nurses often depend on unofficial resources such peer interaction and personal experience instead of official resources including guidelines, seminars, or conferences. Notwithstanding its significance, the lack of consistency in this unofficial knowledge exchange could affect patient outcomes. Estimating the possibility of dangers and problems related to the chest tube installation depends on the first step of nursing therapy, assessment, which also helps to organize effective therapies. By means of evidence-based recommendations, provision of ongoing education, and creation of customized treatment plans, one can improve patient outcomes and reduce challenges.
Aim: The aims of this study are to investigate how nurses now manage patients with chest drains, how effective are formal and informal educational resources for chest drain care, and how might the nursing process—especially assessment and critical thinking—improve patient outcomes with respect to chest tube placement and maintenance.
Conclusion: This paper stresses the need of a rigorous, evidence-based approach for treating chest drain in nursing practice. While formal education, training, and adopting research-based standards are considerably more required, sharing information among colleagues depends on informal contact. By means of in-service education, seminars, or university courses, access to current resources will let nurses significantly reduce problems including infection, dislodgement, and bleeding. When nurses tend to patients with chest drains using critical thinking and a patient-centered approach all through the nursing process, they contribute to enhance patient outcomes and reduce incidence of adverse events.