When the nurse assesses that the level of drainage has not increased over the last 3 hours on a first-day postoperative thoracotomy patient, the nurse should initially:
a. inform the charge nurse.
b. rearrange tubing to correct dependent loops.
c. splint the patient with a pillow and coach to cough.
d. gently massage the tube toward the col-lection bottle.
B
Dependent loops can capture drainage and plug the tube, not allowing any more drainage to leave the chest. Massaging (milking) the tube can be implemented after the dependent loops have been corrected. It would not be necessary to notify the charge nurse unless there is a problem, and having the patient cough would not correct the drainage problem.
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True False