Intercostal chest drains: Are you confident going on the pull? if not use the I-T-U approach

Abstract

Chest drains are common on intensive care units for a wide variety of clinical conditions. Despite this, there are no published data on their use within the intensive care unit and minimal published literature to guide decision making regarding the timing of their removal. Therefore, we undertook an audit to review our experience over one year, as to the degree of variability in when chest drains were removed. Using our electronic observation records, we assessed the length of stay of our chest drains against their functionality by whether they remained swinging (i.e. in connection with the pleural space) and whether they had a pathological fluid output (>150 mL/24 h). We found that our drains had a mean duration of 5.89 days, and that one-quarter remained in place for three days despite being non-functional. To conclude, we have devised a three-stage assessment (using the acronym I-T-U), to help guide an intensivist in the safe and timely removal of a chest drain.