Chapter 416: Waited

“Abdominal crush injury. Is there anyone from the General Surgery Department here?”

“Ask someone from the Cardiology Department to take a look. Hurry up.”

“The patient’s lungs are infected. Transfer him to the Department of Respiratory Medicine.”

As the sun rose, and its light filtered into the resuscitation room, more and more patients were sent in. There were also patients whose conditions had relapsed.

Not only did the medical staff in the emergency room not get a chance to relax, but they also became even busier.

Doctors did not get to choose when to operate on patients who just went through emergency treatment. Even certain normal patients who had gone through a scheduled surgery needed to be operated on a second time, let alone patients in the emergency room.

After a busy night, Huo Congjun and the person in charge of various treatment groups began to make ward rounds. They first identified all the patients who displayed “abnormalities”, such as those who were unable to urinate, those with dark-colored urine, those who were unable to fart and those who were having difficulty breathing. They either sent them to other departments or administered more medication. Some of them also had to undergo a second operation.

There were almost a hundred patients, including those with minor injuries. This was considered a huge burden on Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department, which only had around thirty doctors.

It was truly excruciating for those doctors who had worked through the night to not be able to rest even after the sun rose.

Zuo Cidian was in an even more horrible condition.

He was already forty-two years old. Zuo Cidian did not know what other forty-two-year-olds did, but he was certain that not many people were required to stay up throughout the night at the age of forty-two.

In the hospital itself, forty-two-year-old doctors would have at least risen through the ranks and become senior attending physicians or associate chief physicians. All of them were basically second-string or third-string doctors, and under normal circumstances, second-string doctors who did not work in the Emergency Department would just need to sleep through their night shifts. Second-string doctors in the Emergency Department did not need to work every single night either.

However, life was tough for a forty-two-year-old resident doctor.

Throughout the past few months, Zuo Cidian had to stay up late on many occasions. And after staying up for the whole night, his pee would so yellow in the morning that he did not even dare look at it.

However, he was the one who chose this path. Hence, he had to stick with it until the end.

If Zuo Cidian had wanted an easy life, he could have gone to the Medical Laboratory Department. As the breeding ground for doctors who entered the hospital through nepotism, those who worked in the Medical Laboratory Department at least got to enjoy work-life balance. Plus, they did not need to deal directly with patients and their family members. In the hospital, the Medical Laboratory Department was considered a very pleasant workplace.

However, Zuo Cidian was not willing to give up on life just like that.

He was only forty-two years old!

A forty-two-year-old man could still start over and achieve great things.

As Zuo Cidian tried hard to keep his eyes open, he carried out debridement for a patient who had fallen from a motorbike. He only managed to regain some of his strength after he swallowed a mouthful of strong tea and started to give medical advice. “The wound must not come into contact with water. Come over for a dressing change two days later…”

Compared with the casualties of the construction incident, such patients were very common, and there would be one of them every one or two days.

Upon having his head bandaged up with white gauze, the patient asked, “Can I get my dressing changed at the clinic near my house?”

“Yes. I’ll give you a bill. You can get the required medication at the pharmacy on the ground floor and get your dressing changed at the clinic.” As Zuo Cidian spoke, he started to type on the keyboard.

“Can you write me a prescription so that I can get the required medication outside?”

Zuo Cidian trembled violently and immediately became wide awake. ‘This patient is remarkable. I must not let my guard down around him.’

“It’s in the rules of the hospital that prescriptions cannot be given straight away to the patients,” Zuo Cidian said.

“The hospital charges more for medication compared with pharmacies outside. Of course there’s such a rule.”

Zuo Cidian smiled apologetically. “It’s the rule of the hospital, and I can’t do anything about it. Now that our country has undergone a healthcare reform, the price difference is actually not that much.”

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“You say that it’s not that much, but my salary for the day will be gone just like that because of the hospital’s greed. Forget about it, just give me the bill. Do you know how hard it is for common people like me to make a living? Hospitals nowadays are so greedy.” While the patient spoke, he raised his voice.

Zuo Cidian pocketed the insult but felt annoyed. However, he still reminded himself that he must not act rashly.

He felt as if he was drunk right then, and he had to keep his guard up at all times to prevent himself from saying something wrong.

Zuo Cidian was not like those doctors who were around the age of thirty. They often acted on impulse just because they thought that they were awesome. A lot of the patients were amazing too. Aside from that, as a junior resident doctor, he would not even be able to handle patients when they really wanted to throw a tantrum, even if they were patients who were usually not as amazingly obstinate as members of the society.

Zuo Cidian sent the patient away with a smile. He then turned and entered the bathroom to wash his face, washing away the fatigue and humiliation he felt. After he exited the bathroom, he stood guard in front of the reception door and waited for opportunities together with a group of young doctors.

When he first started working twenty years ago, he used to do that too.

The only difference was that he was now older and uglier with less energy to spare.

Fortunately, he was thick-skinned enough and did not feel the slightest hint of embarrassment even though he was surrounded by young resident doctors.

He was just envious of how those young people were full of vigor and strength.

He was surrounded by resident doctors and young attending physicians from various departments who did not manage to get a chance to enter the operating theater that day.

Whenever the Emergency Department was full of patients, the experienced doctors had no choice but to work on cases that were complicated or on cases where the patients’ lives were at stake. Hence, they would hand the less complicated cases, which they may not have otherwise let go of at any other time, to less experienced doctors.

If a young doctor got to work on a case, he or she would get a second opportunity to work on a similar case. Hence, occasions like that where they got to grab the chance to work on something for the first time was truly a golden opportunity.

“The fleet of ambulances will arrive in fifteen minutes,” the young nurse behind the patient assistance desk reminded everyone loudly. This immediately woke Zuo Cidian up. He was already nodding off.

Rescue efforts were still being carried out on the site of the construction accident, with casualties being retrieved from the ruins and given medical help.

Since those patients had been suffering from the previous night, their condition right then would definitely be very complicated.

Zuo Cidian immediately rushed towards the patient assistance desk and asked in a low voice, “What are the patients’ conditions?”

“There are no patients with minor injuries this time. There are three of them, and all of them are Level 1 patients. They were dug out from the ground and are all in a state of circulatory collapse.”

The nurse was implying that Zuo Cidian would not be able to help.

Zuo Cidian shook his head. “I’m asking on Doctor Ling’s behalf.”

The nurse’s eyes immediately brightened. But then she said in a rather troubled manner, “But… none of them have liver damage.”

“Let me take a look at the records,” Zuo Cidian said in a low voice.

The nurse raised her head to look at Zuo Cidian and said in a hushed tone, “Come behind the desk.”

Zuo Cidian immediately circled the desk and went to the back. He lowered his head to look at the entries the nurse had written in shorthand.

All of them had been written during the phone calls, and the nurse was not actually allowed to show them to anyone. Zuo Cidian only got to look at them by using Ling Ran as an excuse.

“Pain in the upper right abdomen, abdominal bleeding… Yes, this one!” Zuo Cidian pointed at the second entry and quickly said, “Can you think of a way to assign this patient to our group?”

“About that… Department Director Huo mentioned that all patients in critical condition can only be assigned to associate chief physicians and above.” The nurse blinked and said in a hushed tone, “Level 1 patients are in grave danger.”

Zuo Cidian hesitated for a moment and said, “Then, is there a way for Doctor Ling to be part of this group? Doctor Ling really wants to get his hands on such a surgery.”

“Department Director Huo is the one who decides who gets to be in a group. But I can notify Doctor Ling when this patient arrives.”

“Sure.” Zuo Cidian thought about how if there was no other way, Ling Ran could just head to the operating theater and ask to help. With Ling Ran’s abilities, it was impossible for the other doctors to not agree to have him as an assistant.