[Nursing procedures and techniques: permanent pleural drainage devices for use after thoracic surgery].

After various years of not having any innovations in the structure and manageability of pleural or thoracic drainage systems, at present time medical personnel are utilizing some known as permanent pleural drainage devices. These mechanisms are carried by patients who suffer from empyema or persistent pleural drainage, usually as a consequence of oncologic lung procedures. Current closed thoracic drainage systems are disposable and guarantee optimal, safe use by patients. To know the principal basic techniques for their correct utilization will allow medical personnel to maintain an efficient and effective drainage system as well as follow-up control of patients as their treatment evolves. In this article, the authors refer to the technical and the physiological aspects of this procedure so one fully understands how these devices function; they deal with the care necessary until these devices are finally removed. The authors describe nursing treatment and guides which provide recommendations focused on patient release from hospital care.