Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 13th Edition by Kerry Cheever, Janice Hinkle

Exercise 1

A 19-year-old man was admitted to a medical-surgical unit after being treatedin the ED with an emergently placed chest tube for a large right-sided spontaneouspneumothorax. The chest drainage system is set at 20 cm H2O of suction. Four hoursafter arriving to the unit, the patient complains of mild respiratory distress.Auscultation of his chest reveals slightly diminished breath sounds on the right, clearsounds on the left, and a "popping noise." There is a "crackling" noise elicited uponpalpation of the patient's right lateral chest, and continuous bubbling is noted in thechest drainage system's water seal chamber.Describe the potential causes forbubbling in the water seal chamber of a chest tube drainage system.Based on thesefindings, what chest tube complication seems most likely? Describe your priorityinterventions.