title: Accuracy of surgical wound drainage measurements: an analysis and comparison.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Surgical drain tube readings can influence the clinical management of the post-operative patient. The accuracy of these readings has not been documented in the current literature and this experimental study aims to address this paucity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Aliquots (10, 25, 40 and 90 mL) of black tea solution prepared to mimic haemoserous fluid were injected into UnoVac, RedoVac and Jackson-Pratt drain tubes. Nursing and medical staff from a tertiary hospital were asked to estimate drain volumes by direct observation; analysis of variance was performed on the results and significance level was set at 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Doctors and nurses are equally accurate in estimating drain tube volumes. Jackson-Pratt systems were found to be the most accurate for intermediate volumes of 25 and 40 mL. For extreme of volumes (both high and low), all drainage systems were inaccurate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that for intermediate volumes (25 and 40 mL), Jackson-Pratt is the drainage system of choice. The accuracy of volume measurement is diminished at the extremes of drain volumes; emptying of drainage systems is recommended to avoid overfilling of drainage systems.
authors.affiliation: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nizzero
authors.forename: Chunxiao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van Zyl
authors.forename: Jeannette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ting
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004322:Drainage / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015588:Observer Variation; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011897:Random Allocation
keywords: drain; post-operative; reading; reliability; suction