You are part of a surgical team and your role is postoperative management of thoracic surgery. In your role, you are required to determine the course of action for the patient before you call the surgeon. A right lower-lobe resection occurred due to adenocarcinoma. The nurse has called at the 12-hour interval from surgery concerned with the amount of drainage within the chest tube. Respond to the following and support your summary and recommendations plan with a minimum of two APRN-approved scholarly resources.
- Describe the role of an AGACNP at each of the steps in postoperative care for a surgical patient.
- Describe the assessment steps you would take.
- Explain the drainage and decompression devices and how you manage these as an AGACNP.
- Discuss potential differential diagnoses you could expect from the assessment.
- Discuss the hemodynamic findings one might see with your provided diagnosis.
- Propose potential treatment plans that would be appropriate.
