Chest Drains Online Skills Pack

Table of Contents

1. Chest Drain Programme
2. Essential Pre-requisite Knowledge
3. Large bore chest drain insertion
4. Small-bore chest drain insertion
5. Pre-hospital chest drain insertion
   1. Pre-hospital considerations
   2. Clinical Signs of Tension Pneumothorax
   3. Questions to ask yourself before inserting a pre-hospital chest drain?
   4. Procedural Guidelines - Pre-hospital chest drain insertion
6. Chest drain management
7. Chest drain Removal
8. Risk Factors of Chest Drain Management
9. Theoretical Assessment - Chest Drains
10. Housekeeping
11. Appendices

Questions to ask yourself before inserting a pre-hospital chest drain?

• Does this need to be done and has needle decompression relieved symptoms sufficiently?
• Does it need to be done now or can it wait until the patient gets to hospital?
• Am I competent to perform this procedure?
• Can I identify the anatomy well enough to safely insert the drain?
• Is an appropriate drainage system available?