The nurse teaches the client about self-care of a Jackson-Pratt drain after breast surgery. Which does the nurse include in client teaching?

Question

1. Empty the drain every two hours and measure the contents.
2. Maintain a small, steady amount of tension on the drain tubing.
3. Reseal the bulb and then rinse it with plain water after emptying.
4. Keep the collection end of the drain lower than the client's waist.

Answer 1

3
3. The nurse instructs the client to rinse the bulb after emptying the contents to decrease the mi-croorganism count on the outside of the bulb by removing accidental spillage. The nurse does not recommend cleansing agents because they can degrade the bulb, making it impossible to establish suction.
1. Empty the bulb when it is approximately two-thirds full and use a household device to meas-ure the contents as precisely as possible.
2. The nurse instructs the client to avoid putting tension on the tubing.
4. The nurse instructs the client to keep the bulb below the insertion site; keeping the bulb at waist level is probably as low as the tubing can reach and still allow slack in the tubing.