Use of a Digital Air Leak Detection Device to Decrease Chest Tube Duration

Required reading for all learners: Implicit Bias impacts patient outcomes

Thoracic surgery teams worldwide look for ways to impact chest tube duration. In 2018, the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Society and the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons published specialty-specific guidelines. Review of the guidelines revealed that chest drain management using a digital device for air leak detection was the one recommendation we were not routinely following. Plus, no standardized way of using the device existed. As an opportunity to incorporate the digital technology, an evidence-based practice project was performed at this institution and demonstrated, employment of a digital air leak detection device in patients who have undergone pulmonary lobectomy can remove interobserver variability and lead to quicker recognition of air leak cessation, earlier chest tube removal, a decrease in hospital LOS, and a lowering of overall costs.