NOVPUBChapter 333 -163 Death Handling Process, The Most Formidable in the Intensive Care Medicine Department are the Anesthesiologists_2
The ICU hospitalization fees are extremely expensive, yet the beds are in particularly high demand.
As soon as a bed becomes available, patients waiting in line to enter the ICU are immediately admitted.
For a hospital as famous as Tu Ya’s, there is never a shortage of patients.
On the contrary, what is lacking are beds.
…
It’s evident that the death of the patient in bed number 6, overseen by Doctor Hu, has affected his mood.
He appears somewhat downcast.
When Zhou Can returned to the ward to attend to the other patients, he too felt a shadow over his heart,
proceeding with utmost caution.
Afraid that a patient might slip away at any moment. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝔭𝔲𝔟.𝖈𝔬𝔪
Doctor Hu took advantage of this rare gap in emergencies to teach him how to use the various medical devices in the ICU.
The external defibrillator didn’t require teaching; Zhou Can had already learned how to use it.
What remained were the infusion pumps, micro-infusion pumps, sputum suction machines, invasive ventilators, non-invasive ventilators, hemofiltration machines, bronchoscopes, etc. Each device was taught individually, with their uses explained clearly and thoroughly.
Within the ICU, the most complicated device to operate is probably the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as ECMO.
A single doctor can’t operate it alone.
It requires a group of experienced doctors and nurses to operate together.
Moreover, the cost of running the machine is astronomically high, not readily used on patients.
It is only used for patients whose heartbeat and breathing have stopped. Typically, after a patient’s breathing and heartbeat cease, an extracorporeal respiratory and blood circulation pathway must be established within a very short time.
Otherwise, it would be of little significance.
Doctor Hu taught Zhou Can how to skillfully use the various instruments in the ICU ward; this wasn’t done all at once.
But intermittently.
Because during this process, various situations would arise, requiring emergency interventions.
A new patient was quickly brought into the vacant bed number 6.
It was a car accident patient with a brain hemorrhage, who had fallen into a deep coma.
Upon arrival, the patient went into ventricular fibrillation three times, and the situation was extremely perilous at one point. Doctor Hu remained very calm and collected, personally operating the defibrillator to perform electrical defibrillation on the patient.
At the same time, he instructed Zhou Can on various defibrillation techniques and key points.
“Doctor Hu, why are the three beds we manage all filled with patients in extremely critical conditions?” Zhou Can asked with some confusion.
After observing for some time, he noticed some patients on certain beds barely required much attention.
Some patients were fitted with nasogastric tubes, through which food was pumped in.
Then they had urine bags attached, and there was hardly any need to take care of urination. Their breathing was supported by tracheal intubation, also requiring no management.
Bowel movements were managed by caregiving staff.
Nurses would just occasionally check on them.
Nothing like the three beds managed by Doctor Hu, all severe cases, each more dangerous than the last. There wasn’t a single one that was easy.
Even turning a patient over, Zhou Can was nervous and fearful.
“The greater the ability, the heavier the burden—haven’t you heard of that?”
Doctor Hu retorted.
“The patients in the three beds I manage, although all very serious, are not the most critical ones. Have you seen the patient in bed number 17? That’s truly terrifying.”
Patients managed by an attending physician naturally have much higher difficulty than those managed by a resident doctor.
That was essentially what Doctor Hu meant.
Zhou Can glanced towards bed 17, where he saw two doctors and two nurses bustling around the patient,
all wearing expressions as if facing a great foe.
For the following period, Zhou Can occasionally stole glances towards bed 17.
The two doctors and nurses had not taken a break.
Unsure what sort of patient it was, to have such a serious condition.
“Xiao Zhou, remember to timely suction the phlegm from patients on a respirator. Don’t be lazy. Especially the patient in bed 8 who produces a lot of phlegm. If not suctioned on time, it can easily block the airway and sometimes even cause them to cough violently. When handling it, be sure to wear a mask. Often first-time doctors and nurses get sprayed in the face with phlegm.”
After teaching Zhou Can some basic instrument operations, Doctor Hu started instructing him on patient care.
Most of the patients’ phlegm is purulent, and getting sprayed in the face with it is a disgusting thought.
Moreover, many patients here have sepsis, various infections.
Zhou Can felt his skin crawl upon hearing this.
While suctioning phlegm from the patient in bed 8, he was always extra careful, fearful of being sprayed in the face with phlegm.
Fortunately, such an incident had not occurred yet.
Once the car accident patient with brain hemorrhage stabilized slightly, Zhou Can returned to bed 7 to study the patient’s records.
Could the cause of this patient’s diffuse gastrointestinal bleeding really not be identified?
He enjoyed pondering over these difficult-to-diagnose cases the most.
If the cause of the bleeding could be found, perhaps a treatment method could be identified. By then, the patient might have a chance to get better and be moved back to a regular ward.
Of course, it certainly wasn’t as simple as imagined.
The patients admitted here, the specialists, the attending physicians, and department heads had already been involved.
The fact that even they couldn’t determine the cause of illness speaks volumes about the difficulty.
“Xiao Zhou, are you always pondering over the records of the patient in bed 7? Is there something you don’t understand?”
Doctor Hu approached on his own initiative.
“What do you think is the real cause of this patient’s gastrointestinal bleeding?”
“How would I know that! Several department heads from gastroenterology have already conducted consultations, and currently, they can only confirm that the bleeding is within the large intestine, ruling out tumors and polyps. The attending physician took a risk doing an endoscopy on the patient, used hemostatic enzymes, and even sprayed adrenaline over the bleeding point. But the effect wasn’t significant. It’s like playing whack-a-mole; when bleeding at one site stops, new sources of bleeding pop up.”
