Heimlich valve: from the view of the patient

Heimlich valve (HV) drainage system, described at 1965 from Henry Heimlich, is a oneway valve system used by thoracic surgeons in various conditions. So many studies have been described in the literature to demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the method. Differently, our study was planned to evaluate HV system from the view of the patients.This prospective study included 50 patients who underwent tube thoracostomy with different indications since August 2016. All the patients were discharged from the hospital with HV system. Patients demographic data, primary disease, indication for drainage, operative history, date of connection of the drain to HV system and the duration of the system were recorded. After the discharge a "satisfaction questionnaire" was applied to determine possible questions and problems.The patients age ranged from 18 to 87. Most frequent indications were, postoperative expansion problems, prolonged air leakage due to surgery (n=13). The duration with HV at home was 2-102 days. Some of the patients had anxiety because of discharging with a chest drain (n=21), but only 5 of them had problems with the system and wound care. Eigthy percent of the patients thought that the aim of the system is "to make them more comfortable at their home and shorten the lenght of hospital stay". Nearly half of the patients (48%) said; "even if the drain in my chest, going home was good". Only 20% prefered to stay at the hospital instead of discharging with a drain....
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Thoracic surgery Source Type: research