Chapter 117: As Soon As Possible

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Young Tie stood in front of the Emergency Medicine building, waiting. He was so anxious that he frequently looked at his watch.

Approximately two hours later, an ambulance with the Golden Deer Health Services Pte Ltd logo, parked in the ambulance bay.

Young Tie glanced at the license plate and breathed a sigh of relief. He grew nervous as he rushed to the front.

The nurses and the doctors of the Emergency Department who received the patient took a look at young Tie. He seemed familiar, but they did not know each other, which was why they did not make any remarks.

Young Tie acted meek and subservient before Department Associate Director Pan, but he was still a thirty-five-year-old man. In the hospital, there was no threshold to cross for a resident doctor to become an attending physician. It was just a matter of time. No matter how late it was, he still managed to become an attending physician despite the fact that he had reached his current age.

“Patient is Zheng Qi, fifty-one years old, laceration in right thumb, index finger, middle finger…” A young man wearing a white coat exited the ambulance. He nervously went over the patient’s details once and did not even manage to report it clearly.

The patient’s condition was reported to Emergency Medical Care when the ambulance was on the way to the hospital, and it was then transferred to the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital. The report delivered right then was just for cross-checking purposes.

“Hand injury, summon Doctor Lu over.” The young doctor who received the patient quickly dragged the patient out, making a quick call.

The work of the Emergency Department could be complicated, but could also be considered simple at the same time.

In general, the main task of the Emergency Department was to ensure that patients survived. On that basis, what emergency doctors needed to do was to avoid brain death, avoid cardiac arrest, avoid respiratory arrest, avoid excessive blood loss, and avoid organ damage…

Once they ensured that the patient would not immediately pass away, the Emergency Department could then consider if they wanted to personally treat the patient or transfer the patient to other departments.

In theory, a cut on the arm could be settled by the Emergency Department, but they could also send the patient to the Department of Plastic Surgery to have it stitched beautifully. A patient with a hand wound could be sent to the Orthopedics Department or Hand Surgery Department, but the Emergency Department could also handle it. They could even ask doctors from other departments to come to the Emergency Department to administer treatment.

Such decisions were usually made directly by the on-site doctor, and it was also why Young Tie had gone there.

He hurriedly made a call to Doctor Zhou, whom he was familiar with. He explained the situation and waited anxiously.

Young Tie himself could wait outside the Emergency Medicine building for the patient to arrive. It was impossible to ask Doctor Zhou to wait. He could only hope that Doctor Zhou did not have any urgent matters on hand at that time.

Doctor Zhou obviously did not have any urgent matters on hand. With his status, he could simply bring a few medical interns, housemen, and resident doctors over to have them take over his work. Not only would he receive a lot of gratitude from them by doing so, he would also be able to escape work using his status as an advisor.

In contrast to others, Doctor Zhou preferred his colleagues to praise him for his kindness and actions for the public interest.

Just as Young Tie entered the treatment room, he saw Doctor Zhou approach to greet him. He instantly let out a sigh of relief.

“Your relative?” asked Doctor Zhou.

“Yes,” Young Tie nodded and admitted. “He was about to go to his workplace when the debt collectors came—”

Doctor Zhou interrupted him, “Let’s not talk about that. The patient’s symptoms have basically stabilized, and the blood loss isn’t too much. The main problem should be the laceration on the fingers. Let me inform them. Don’t be rash in removing the gauze for first air. Shall we directly transfer him to the Hand Surgery Department?”

“Ah… no.” Young Tie panicked. He quickly said, “That’s not what I mean.”

“No?” Doctor Zhou found it a bit strange. The both of them could be considered cohorts. They had passed the medical examination and entered the hospital one after the other. They could be considered the champions of the public institution reformations that year. That was how the two of them knew each other. However, as they grew older, their social circles grew smaller, and they lost touch with each other for quite some time. When he remembered Department Associate Director Pan’s very flashy announcement that he had returned from his in-service training, Doctor Zhou’s eyes became filled with suspicion.

Being a nice person was one thing, being deceived would just be plain stupid.

Young Tie stuttered, “What I mean is, that I’m hoping for Zheng Qi to receive treatment in the Emergency Department. Umm… the Hand Surgery Department’s very busy today. There are two special patients in line, and it would be bad to cut the queue. But if we don’t, it’ll delay the treatment.”

That was the best excuse Young Tie could find.

In hospitals, general special patients were patients who visit VIP clinics. Most tertiary grade A hospitals would have VIP clinics or the even more valuable cadre wards.

At an exorbitant price, such services provided for the needs of special patients beyond normal medical services. When placed in comparison to each other, cadre wards provided services based on patients’ status and relationship with the hospital while consultations for special outpatients in VIP clinics were provided based on patients’ status, their relationship with the hospital, and money. Special services would be given according to the money they paid.

Take for example, the registration system, which was largely criticized in many large hospitals. There was no need for special outpatients to worry when they wanted to receive their consultation. As long as they paid 388 RMB for the attending physicians and associate lecturer as well as another 500 RMB to the department director for the outpatient fee, the patient and the patient’s family could appoint whoever they wanted to perform the consultation. In fact, it may be even cheaper than a scalper’s ticket. If one doctor could not settle the issue, then the patient would only need to pay another 500 RMB to receive a consultation from a specialist in the hospital. With 1,000 RMB, the patient could get a consultation from a visiting specialist. In theory, the patient could also seek a remote consultation from a foreign doctor. Most importantly, such patients could spent most of their time staying in the ward as long they were willing to pay 1,000 RMB per day for it. The doctors as well as nurses would wait on them hand and foot according to medical standards.

If a normal patient had to fast the day before and go without makeup on the day of the surgery but was suddenly told that someone had jumped queue the moment he or she was about to receive surgery, that patient would definitely be displeased.

Doctor Zhou reluctantly accepted the reason, but still kindly stated, “If you refer him to Department Associate Director Pan, the curative effect will definitely be better. If you choose to have the patient remain in the Emergency Department, Ling Ran will be the only one who can operate on him. His patients have all recovered well, and his surgeries are performed meticulously, but no matter what, he is a young person, and he doesn’t have a lot of experience. You have to think this through.”

“I’ve thought this through.” How else could Young Tie have answered?

In fact, if he had to make a call, even he felt that Ling Ran’s technique was comparatively weaker than Department Associate Director Pan’s. Forget everything else, Ling Ran was already inferior to Department Associate Director Pan in terms of experience since he had only started operating for a few months. Meanwhile, Pan Hua had been doing surgeries for twenty years.

However, Department Associate Director Pan was not willing to perform the surgery himself, and Young Tie could understand why.

He was, after all, familiar with his brother-in-law. When Department Associate Director Pan was in China, one third of his time was spent in the hotel, another one third of it was spent in the hospital, and the last one third was in his brother-in-law’s house. After spending so much time with each other, it would be very easy for Pan Hua to make errors in his judgments.

‘But handing it over to Ling Ran…’ Although Young Tie did not agree with Pan Hua’s decision, he still did as he was told.

Doctor Zhou looked at his expression and nodded. He said, “All right. Call his immediate family, I’ll need to give them some explanations.”

“Can’t I sign in their place?” Young Tie became anxious again.

Doctor Zhou shook his head. “This is our hospital’s rule. You know this as well. Without the family member’s signature, we can’t perform his surgery.”

“But… his immediate family member hasn’t arrived yet.” Young Tie was worried that when Department Associate Director Pan’s sister signed the consent form, the Pan family’s surname would appear. Then people would be able to make the connections.

“Someone has to sign it, but you can’t. I’m doing this for your sake.” Doctor Zhou’s personality of being a nice person showed. There was no guarantee that surgeries would be one hundred percent successful. One mistake, and Young Tie would be caught in an awkward situation.

Fortunately, Zheng Qi’s son arrived right on time, and Young Tie finally solved the problem.

Doctor Zhou shouted at that moment, “Young Lu, come and greet the guest.”

“I’m coming.” Lu Wenbin had been waiting for a long time. He ran over, took over Zheng Qi’s medical history, and removed the gauze to see the wound. He looked at Young Tie strangely, but he did not say much. Shortly after, he said, “There are three more operations in line, and this will be the fourth.”

“Umm… Doctor Lu, could you arrange his surgery a little ahead of the others?” Young Tie asked nicely and even lowered his tone of voice.

Lu Wenbin shook his head resolutely. “The surgery can’t be brought forward.”

Young Tie was about to lose his temper. He quickly said, “No, I…”

Doctor Zhou quickly held him back and coughed twice. He said, “Doctor Lu, Doctor Tie is panicking out of concern for his family member. This patient does meticulous work with his fingers. The suturing of his hand is very important. We hope that his can be done as soon as possible…”

“We can’t rush this.” Lu Wenbin sighed and held up all five fingers on his hand. “Preoperative preparation, blood test, skin test, skin preparation, and bowel preparation are all necessary. The anesthetist must be informed and make arrangements. After we settle and manage all of these matters, the first three operations would almost be done. If there’s even the slightest delay, the patient won’t be ready to be operated when we finish those three operations. If that were to happen, the surgery would be forcefully halted… In short, I can’t accept such disgrace.”

All the doctors present were able to understand what Lu Wenbin meant. The time spent on preoperative preparations was equivalent to the time of two operations, with another surgery used to serve as leeway. No matter how Lu Wenbin phrased it, he was being logical.

However, Lu Wenbin’s words were simply nonsense to Young Tie.

Young Tie could no longer afford caring about not offending anyone. He slowly said, “As far as I know, the surgeries that Doctor Ling perform are all flexor tendon surgeries. One flexor tendon surgery takes at least two hours. With three operations, seven to eight hours would have passed…”

“You’ll only be able to perform several operations a day with the way you do things.” Lu Wenbin did not say much. He took out a surgical schedule from his pocket and handed it to Young Tie.

The surgical schedule listed the time of the surgeries, the names of the surgeries, and the person involved in the operations.

As Young Tie looked at the surgical schedule, he saw seven surgeries in the cells. Another three had been crossed out, and two others had been added after them.

“Doctor Ling planned to do seven operations today, but he added two more earlier. After counting yours, he’ll be doing a total of ten. Two hours for an operation? Do you really think people here don’t have to sleep?” As Lu Wenbin spoke, he yawned loudly.

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