Digital air leak detection device shortens chest tube duration, hospital stay
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Key takeaways:
- Monitoring patients via a digital air leak detection device meant they spent less time with a chest tube and in the hospital.
- No readmissions occurred among those with a digital device.
Patients who underwent a pulmonary lobectomy had their chest tube removed earlier and spent less time in the hospital with a digital vs. analog air leak detection device, according to results published in Critical Care Nurse.
“The impact [of these findings] on the everyday clinician is immense,” Carla Patel, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, advanced practice nurse in the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, told Healio. “By utilizing the [digital] Thopaz device, clinicians have a great deal of confidence in knowing when the air leak subsides and when the chest tube is safe for removal.”
Patel and colleagues analyzed 25 patients after a pulmonary lobectomy for lung cancer with chest tube air leak 3 days after the procedure to evaluate the impact of a digital air leak detection device (Thopaz+; Medela Healthcare) vs. an analog air leak detection device (n = 259) on chest tube duration and length of hospitalization.
Patients monitored via the digital device spent a median of 1 less day with a chest tube compared with analog devices (3 days vs. 4 days; P = .01). Further, chest tube removal occurred 1 day earlier in over half (56%) of those with a digital vs. analog device, according to researchers.
The remaining patients in the digital device group had their chest tube removed by either the fourth (24%) or fifth day (20%) after the procedure.
“The findings were what we hoped to demonstrate, that by using the Thopaz device, patients would not have to keep their chest tubes any longer than necessary, avoiding the morbidities associated with the tubes,” Patel told Healio.
When assessing hospitalization duration, researchers found the same result as outlined above, with those monitored via a digital device spending 1 less day in the hospital (4 days vs. 5 days; P = .004). Hospital discharge took place 1 day sooner for 72% of those in the digital vs. analog device group.
Notably, for every day not spent in the hospital, patients with the digital device saved $2,659, according to researchers.
Once patients met the criteria for chest tube removal, a majority of them (92%) went through with this action.
According to researchers, hospital readmission because of early chest tube removal was observed in 10 patients monitored via analog device, whereas no patients monitored via digital device were readmitted.
Through this study, Patel and colleagues developed a chest tube management algorithm that is designed for clinicians treating patients with chest tube air leak 3 days after lobectomy and standardizes use of digital detection devices.
Other outcomes that came out of this research in the department of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center included an education strategy on the algorithm for use during orientation and four new digital devices for the department.
“Future studies will focus on applying the device to other subsets of patients and potentially earlier in their postoperative course,” Patel told Healio.
Reference:
- Improved air leak detection reduces chest tube duration. https://www.aacn.org/newsroom/improved-air-leak-detection-reduces-chest-tube-duration. Published Dec. 5, 2023. Accessed Dec. 5, 2023.