Surgical Drain

Surgical drains divert blood, serous fluid, or contaminated material away from an operative site while healing occurs. A closed-suction drain—such as a Jackson-Pratt or Hemovac—uses a compressed reservoir to create negative pressure and collect fluid in a closed system. For the LVN/LPN, safe management means maintaining the system, recognizing a change in amount or character, assessing the patient and insertion site, recording a trend, and escalating findings that suggest hemorrhage, infection, or loss of drainage. The amount alone is not the whole story: a sudden change from a small serosanguineous output to brisk sanguineous drainage is more concerning than a stable expected amount.