Closed Suction Drain With Bulb

Emptying Your Drain

Items you will need are:

• A measuring cup
• A pen or pencil and a piece of paper

Empty the drain before it gets full. You may need to empty your drain every few hours at first. As the amount of drainage decreases, you may be able to empty it once or twice a day:

• Get your measuring cup ready.
• Clean your hands well with soap and water or with an alcohol-based cleanser. Dry your hands.
• Open the bulb cap. DO NOT touch the inside of the cap. If you do touch it, clean it with alcohol.
• Empty the fluid into the measuring cup.
• Squeeze the JP bulb, and hold it flat.
• While the bulb is squeezed flat, close the cap.
• Flush the fluid down the toilet.
• Wash your hands well.

Write down the amount of fluid you drained out and the date and time each time you empty your JP drain.

Changing Your Dressing

You might have a dressing around the drain where it comes out of your body. If you do not have a dressing, keep the skin around the drain clean and dry. If you are allowed to shower, clean the area with soapy water and pat it dry with a towel. If you are not allowed to shower, clean the area with a washcloth, cotton swabs, or gauze.

If you do have a dressing around the drain, you will need the following items:

• Two pairs of clean, unused, sterile medical gloves
• Five or 6 cotton swabs
• Gauze pads
• Clean soapy water
• Plastic trash bag
• Surgical tape
• Waterproof pad or bath towel

To change your dressing:

• Wash your hands well with soap and water. Dry your hands.
• Put on clean gloves.
• Loosen the tape carefully and take off the old bandage. Throw the old bandage into the trash bag.
• Look for any new redness, swelling, bad odor, or pus on the skin around the drain.
• Use a cotton swab dipped in the soapy water to clean the skin around the drain. Do this 3 or 4 times, using a new swab each time.
• Take off the first pair of gloves and throw them in the trash bag. Put on the second pair of gloves.
• Put a new bandage around the drain tube site. Use surgical tape to hold it down against your skin.
• Throw all used supplies in the trash bag.
• Wash your hands again.

Clogged Drain

If there is no fluid draining into the bulb, there may be a clot or other material blocking the fluid. If you notice this:

• Wash your hands with soap and water. Dry your hands.
• Gently squeeze the tubing where the clot is, to loosen it.
• Grip the drain with the fingers of one hand, close to where it comes out of your body.
• With the fingers of your other hand, squeeze down the length of the tube. Start where it comes out of your body and move toward the drainage bulb. This is called "stripping" the drain.
• Release your fingers from the end of the drain where it comes out of your body and then release the end near the bulb.
• You might find it easier to strip the drain if you put lotion or hand cleanser on your hands.
• Do this several times until fluid is draining into the bulb.
• Wash your hands again.

When to Call the Doctor

Call your doctor if:

• Stitches that hold the drain to your skin are coming loose or are missing.
• The tube falls out.
• Your temperature is 100.5°F (38.0°C) or higher.
• Your skin is very red where the tube comes out (a small amount of redness is normal).
• There is drainage from the skin around the tube site.
• There is more tenderness and swelling at the drain site.
• The drainage is cloudy or has a bad odor.
• Drainage from the bulb increases for more than 2 days in a row.
• The squeeze bulb will not stay collapsed.
• The drainage stops suddenly when the drain has been steadily putting out fluid.

References

Lynn PB. Caring for a Jackson-Pratt drain. In: Lynn PB, ed. Taylor's Handbook of Clinical Nursing Skills. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Wolters Kluwers; 2014:chap 50.