Chapter 442: Intussusception

“Call Yu Yuan over,” Ling Ran ordered and continued, “And ask the Pediatrics Department to prepare an air insufflation device. If any of the pediatricians are free, ask him to come over and take a look too. Intussusception, the onset was probably around four hours ago.”

Intussusception was definitely an emergency condition, as death might occur less than twenty-four hours upon onset. However, since the patient only developed intussusception four hours ago, the disease was still at its early stages. The child was merely crying and throwing tantrums, and they still had plenty of time to treat him before the pain became worse.

Of course, as the Pediatrics Department was very busy, they might only send a doctor to treat this child after a long time as the situation was not too dire yet. Instead of waiting for them, Ling Ran would rather treat the child in the Emergency Department.

Huo Congjun’s line of thought was the same as Ling Ran’s when it came to this matter. What was the point of seeking out specialist departments when the Emergency Department could very well manage the patient? The specialist departments were very busy and would often give all kinds of excuses to reject a patient. Sometimes, they would reject a patient that the Emergency Department wanted to transfer over on the basis that the patient’s symptoms were not grave enough. Because of this, the Emergency Department did not like transferring patients to other departments.

The only reason why the Emergency Department was not allowed to treat patients with minor illnesses on their own was because of hospital policy.

If the policymakers gave them the green light, the Emergency Department merely needed to expand itself and hire more doctors to be able to treat patients with minor illnesses on their own.

The Emergency Departments of hospitals in China were unlike the Emergency Departments of hospitals in other countries. As the Emergency Departments of hospitals in other countries often needed to foot the bill for patients who had no one paying for them, they often could not make ends meet. As a result, many of the hospitals were forced to abolish their Emergency Department. Some of them did it voluntarily.

This was why in movies set in Europe or the United States, patients often needed to wait for a long time for their turn in Emergency Departments.

However, the Emergency Departments of hospitals in China did not face this kind of problem. Even though there were patients and their family members who fled the Emergency Department before they made payment, patients who could not afford to pay, and patients who refused to leave the wards for various reasons, but as a whole, the Emergency Departments of hospitals in China could at least afford to finance themselves.

Since they were able to finance themselves, it was natural that they could expand themselves as much as they want to, unless they were limited by their hospital’s policy…

Right now, Ling Ran wished that there was a subdepartment for pediatrics in the Emergency Department.

This way, they would not even need to borrow an air insufflation device.

The medical intern did not really know what was going on. He asked in a hushed tone, “Don’t we need to wait for the ultrasound scans to come out to confirm the diagnosis?”

This was not his first day in the hospital, and he knew that complications might arise when it came to diagnosing a patient. The most common complication was the wastage of other departments’ resource.

If the patient was really suffering from intussusception, the Pediatrics Department had to prepare the air insufflation device for them no matter what.

Compared to other patients in the Emergency Department such as those who had a cold and merely needed a fluid transfusion, and those suffering from diarrhea and merely needed a prescription for drugs, Ling Ran’s young patient was obviously in more need of the hospital’s resources.

But if the Emergency Department were to say that they had made a mistake and that the patient did not really suffer from intussusception after the Pediatrics Department had prepared the machine, the Emergency Department would become more than a laughingstock. The staff from the Pediatrics Department would be furious at the Emergency Department.

Ling Ran answered immediately, “There’s no need for that. Hurry up and get it done.”

The medical intern had no intention to go against Ling Ran. He immediately went to make a phone call.

After the medical intern got everything settled, he hung up and breathed a sigh of relief. He chuckled and said, “Doctor Ling, you’re pretty efficient when it comes to getting things done.”

“That’s how Doctor Ling is like.” When the young nurse at the nurses’ station heard Ling Ran’s name, she immediately paid the medical intern, whose forehead was covered in sweat, some attention.

The medical intern nodded in agreement. There was a wistful expression on his face.

It only took the young nurse one glance to know what the medical intern was thinking about. The number of medical interns she had seen was more than the number of patients the medical intern had seen. And most medical interns were more or less alike.

“Doctor Ling said that there’s no need to wait for the ultrasound scans to confirm the diagnosis, right?” The young nurse decided to treat the medical intern with kindness.

The medical intern hummed in acknowledgment and said, “This way, we can start treating the patient the moment he returns.”

“Do you know why Doctor Ling said that there’s no need to wait?” the young nurse asked in a soft voice.

The medical intern knew that the young nurse was implying something, but he did not know what it was. Puzzled, he shook his head.

“Doctor Ling is a doctor in charge of a treatment group. Besides, he’s a nice person, and he’s very skillful too. Everyone likes him.” The young nurse smiled. “For you, you’ll have to be aware of the consequences if you write an authorization request form before you wait for the diagnosis.”

The medical intern immediately understood what the nurse meant. Every single person had a different destiny. This was something that a person would understand after going through many things in life.

“I wonder when I would be able to write an authorization request form without waiting for the diagnosis to be confirmed.” The medical intern chuckled self-deprecatingly.

The young nurse waved in dismissal. “By the time you no longer need to ask this question, you would probably know how many more years of hard work you need to put in.”

Yu Yuan and the patient arrived at the treatment room at the same time.

After Ling Ran received the ultrasound scans, he looked carefully at them before passing them to Yu Yuan. “The ultrasound shows that there’s a concentric circle, but it’s not very serious. Go ahead and administer air enema.”

Yu Yuan was the only one in Ling Ran’s treatment group who had operated an air insufflation device before, so the task was naturally assigned to her. Even Ling Ran himself had to watch on the sidelines.

Yu Yuan started reading the ultrasound scans on her tablet and confirmed what Ling Ran just said. She then nodded and asked, “Where’s the patient’s family members?”

“Here.” The child’s father who was just beside her quickly answered. He had an extremely anxious and guilty expression.

Aside from feeling worried, he was also blaming himself for the fact that his child developed intussusception from playing the swinging game with him. His palms were sweating profusely, and his palms were still drenched in sweat even after he wiped his palms against his pants.

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“Are you the only one? Is anyone else coming?”

“His mother will be arriving soon.” The child’s father got even more worried.

Yu Yuan hummed in acknowledgment and said, “The air insufflation device has to be operated together with X-ray fluoroscopy. We’ll be heading to the Radiology Department now. The child’s mother can join us when she arrives.”

The child’s father became extremely uncomfortable when he heard the word “X-ray”. He said in a soft voice, “Erm… X-ray produces radiation, right? Is it a must?”

“There are two treatments for intussusception, which are air enema and surgery. If there’s any further delay, surgery would be the only option.” Yu Yuan had been a chief resident for a while, and even her tone was starting to become stern.

Petite people were even scarier when they were being fierce. The child happened to cry again at that moment, and his father immediately became flustered.

“Let’s make a move. The device is probably ready.” Ling Ran raised his chin and led everyone to the Radiology Department.

Soon, the child’s mother dashed into the Radiology Department.

Yu Yuan, who had already received the signed informed consent form, ignored how terrified and sad the child’s mother looked and immediately said, “Intussusception is a serious condition that might cause death within twenty-four hours. Fortunately, you guys sent him over in time, and there is no need for surgical intervention. I suggest that we begin treatment right away to prevent missing out on the optimal treatment time.”

When the child’s mother heard the word “death”, she was so terrified that she started trembling. She did not even bother to hit her husband anymore and quickly asked, “What do we do now?”

“Hold your child down. I’ll administer treatment.” Yu Yuan paused for a moment and continued, “As anesthetics are not recommended for children, I’ll not be administering any. So, both of you must make sure that your child doesn’t move around.”

Soon, the three-year-old was placed on the treatment table.

Yu Yuan took a rubber tube and inserted one of its ends into the child’s anus. The child immediately started wailing, and his parents had to forcefully press his limbs against the table.

“I’m done.” Yu Yuan administered air enema at lightning speed. She then removed the rubber tube from the child’s anus. Some feces splattered out of the anus on Yu Yuan’s hand.

Satisfied with Yu Yuan’s performance, Ling Ran nodded. He had heard that this was indeed what would happen. By the looks of it now, a doctor could indeed learn a lot by watching other doctors work.

“The patient must not eat eight hours after this…” Yu Yuan calmly gave medical advice as she cleaned up.

The child’s mother apologized profusely and helped Yu Yuan out.

“Thank you so much, Doctor Ling.” Still dizzy from fear, Mister Niu carried his child in his arms. “If it weren’t for you, we’d be in a lot of trouble.”

While he waited for the treatment to be carried out earlier, he had already typed “intussusception” into the Baidu search engine, and the results that came out absolutely terrified him.

“It’s fine as long as your child is alright.” Ling Ran nodded, and he was in a pretty good mood as he gazed at the child’s serene expression.

The only good thing about working in the Pediatrics Department was that the patients were almost always able to recover completely. This was not always the case with the Oncology Department, Thoracic Department, General Surgery Department, and other departments.

“Ling Ran.” Doctor Zhou entered the X-ray room in a leisurely manner with his hands in his pockets.

“Doctor Zhou?”

“Since I happened to bump into you, let me tell you something. I just received a call regarding a car accident victim. His liver seems to be injured. Do you want to come over and take a look?” Doctor Zhou had his back straight, and he really seemed like he just happened to pass by as he sauntered around.

Ling Ran raised his head to glance at the access cardholder of the X-ray room and as if it was the most natural thing in the world, said, “Sure, I happen to be in the mood for a hepatectomy.”

“I knew it. I reckoned that you’d be up for the job.” Doctor Zhou immediately flashed a smile and dragged Ling Ran away from the X-ray room.

They chatted as they walked.

“The patient was a child?”

“Yup.”

“What did you cut off?”

“Nothing.”

“If nothing was cut off, why was there a whole bunch of people there?”

“Intussusception.”

“Doesn’t the treatment of intussusception involve surgery? What happened? The General Surgery Department snatched the patient away?”

“It was discovered early, and air enema was enough to treat the child’s condition.”

“That’s so uninteresting.”

Behind them, the young patient’s mother hugged her child tightly as she trembled fearfully. She said in a hushed tone, “All doctors are so scary.”

“Yeah, kind of.” His husband could also feel a chill run down his spine.

When the young patient’s mother heard her husband’s voice, she became slightly more relaxed. Because of this, she also remembered that she was angry at her husband. She clutched the back of her husband’s lower back with one hand and said fiercely, “If you dare to play the swinging game with my son again, I’ll castrate you, gauge your eyes out, remove your tongue, and dig your intestines out. I’ll then make a slingshot using your tongue and intestines so that I can shoot your eyeballs, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and stomach out one by one. Do you understand?”