During set up, the suckers on the heart lung machine were checked and double checked as per protocol, including direction and occlusion. All suckers were working as expected at this stage. Each of the suckers (blue, red, green) have a one way pressure relief valve integrated in to the sucker line. As a final check prior to use, the perfusionist and scrub nurse performed a wet sucker check to ensure the sucker is both in the correct direction and is working as expected. The scrub nurse placed the sterile end of the sucker line in to a pot of saline and the perfusionist turned the sucker on, and they both observe the sucker sucking saline back towards the heart lung machine in the correct direction, and not blowing bubbles in to the saline.

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The blue sucker did not suck any saline, nor did it blow any bubbles. It just wasn't working.

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