Chapter 146 - Trade of requests (Please quit smoking!) (1/2)

Zhang Fan began his work as an independent doctor in the cardiothoracic department. The work here was far less than in most other departments. The department's nurses had plenty of free time to sit around and chat with each other. Zhang Fan also had a lot of free time, so he just studied his medical textbooks. As a doctor, learning about medicine would take an entire life. It would be vitally important to study whenever one had free time.

Things in this department were quite fair. There would sometimes be busy periods which meant higher income, and there'd be slow periods with less income. The cardiothoracic department was really popular with older nurses because there were fewer patients in this department. Night shifts here would be far easier to deal with. However, doctors were unwilling to join this department.

Zhang Fan received his first cardiothoracic patient later this night at around eight pm. The ambulance brought a male patient in his 60s who suddenly had breathing difficulties and was coughing. The patient was first brought over to the cardiology department.

Ye Jing, Zhang Fan's previous teaching doctor from the cardiology department, was the first doctor to check on the patient's condition. She checked the old man's heart, and found no problems apart from a slightly elevated heartrate. However, when she used her stethoscope to listen to the old man's chest on the left side, she couldn't hear any sounds of breathing at all. When she tapped on his chest, she heard tympanic sounds.

”Hurry and immediately call the cardiothoracic department! Have one of their doctors come over to treat this patient!” Ye Jing told a nurse.

There was a regulation in Chasu City Hospital that a doctor already in the hospital absolutely had to arrive within five minutes of being summoned to treat an emergency patient. However, the hospital's internal medicine and surgery departments were in different buildings. Zhang Fan would need to run all the way there with his stethoscope while passing through several hallways and the hospital grounds. Seeing doctors running at full speed was an incredibly common scene within the hospital. Other doctors and nurses who weren't in a big hurry would always make way when they saw this.

Ouyang Hong enforced the five-minute rule incredibly strictly after she became the superintendent. Anyone who was late would have their bonuses deducted. When Zhang Fan finally arrived after running all the way, Ye Jing was really surprised to see Zhang Fan as the representative for the cardiothoracic department, but now wasn't the time for the two to catch up. Back when Ye Jing had her incident with her patient who committed suicide due to financial trouble, Zhang Fan hadn't said anything negative to her at all. Ye Jing was quite grateful to Zhang Fan for this.

”Doctor Zhang, hurry and come take a look. It's spontaneous pneumothorax. I already asked the patient; he's never injured his chest before!”

Zhang Fan smiled at Ye Jing, and then immediately assumed a serious expression. Any emergency patient would typically be in great pain. If the doctor was all smiles while treating the patient, it was common for the patient or their family members to misunderstand and become enraged.

Zhang Fan swiftly performed a checkup for the old man, and noticed that the patient's breathing difficulties were becoming more severe. ”This is bad! He requires immediate surgery. Immediately transfer the patient to the cardiothoracic department for surgery. Bring the patient's belongings there as well,” Zhang Fan told a cardiology department nurse.

”Okay, hurry over there. Contact me after it's finished,” Ye Jing said to Zhang Fan.

”Okay, I'm leaving now.” Zhang Fan and the nurse ran together as they pushed the patient's gurney over towards the surgical department building. As he ran, he phoned the cardiothoracic department director. Although the call was answered, it was the director's wife who picked up. ”He's completely drunk!”

Zhang Fan instantly hung up the phone, and then called Tang Xiong, an attending physician in the cardiothoracic department. Tang Xiong was from Hunan Province. His ancestor had come here to the border province as part of Zuo Zongtang's army, fighting against the Russians and settling here later. Tang Xiong didn't seem like he was originally from southern China at all, and had a really big beard.

”Brother Tang, hurry, there's an emergency patient with a ruptured pulmonary bulla. He's already having severe breathing difficulties and requires immediate surgery. Come over immediately!”

Tang Xiong didn't waste any time with words. Actually, he was about to have sex with his wife and was already naked, yet a phone call came, summoning him to treat an emergency patient, so he had to go. He left as his wife gritted her teeth in anger.

The operating room had already been prepared for Zhang Fan. Back in the time before laparoscopes were invented, having a rupture pulmonary bulla would require a major surgery as it was necessary to open up the patient's chest! Now that there were laparoscopes, this type of surgery wasn't as difficult as before, although it still wasn't an easy one. Tang Xiong had only recently been promoted to attending physician. He was still incapable of performing laparoscopic surgery in the chest.

This was why it was so hard for doctors in the cardiothoracic department. In general surgery, a doctor would be able to master a laparoscopic appendix surgery in one year, and master a laparoscopic gall bladder surgery within three to four years, but in cardiothoracic surgery, opening up the chest would allow you to clearly see the beating heart and all the major arteries and veins in the laparoscopic mirrors. If the surgeon's hand shook even slightly and accidentally broke any major vein or artery in the chest, that would instantly end the patient's life, without even a chance to try to save the patient.

The margin of error allowed in the abdomen would be quite a bit higher. This was why the cardiothoracic department in all hospitals in rural northwestern China hadn't been developed. There were also very few doctors willing to learn because of the high difficulty and risk involved. Additionally, there were also very few patients. For most people who had heart problems requiring surgery, as long as the patient's family had an even slightly alright financial condition, they would always go to the provincial hospital, and not even consider the local Class A hospital for heart surgery.

”Brother Zhang, there's no use even if you call for me. I'm not capable of performing this surgery,” Tang Xiong said when he arrived. He saw that the director wasn't around, and asked about him, only to learn that the director was completely drunk!

Tang Xiong was stunned. He would have been fine if he hadn't come, but it would become really troublesome for him now that he arrived if the patient died, as he would have to take responsibility! Although he was now anxious, he hadn't gotten angry with Zhang Fan.

”I'll perform the surgery. Can you act as my surgical assistant and hold the laparoscope?” Zhang Fan said as he checked the patient's X-rays.

Tang Xiong audibly swallowed his saliva as he responded, ”No, this isn't something that can be joked with. Um! Are you really capable of performing ruptured pulmonary bulla laparoscopic surgery?”

”Yes, it's not a big deal. This patient's ruptured pulmonary bulla is near the edge. It's really easy to deal with. All I have to do is enter the lung and separate the bulla from the lung. Who's the medical equipment supplier for this department?”

Tang Xiong calmed down a bit after Zhang Fan said all this. Since Zhang Fan even knew about medical equipment suppliers, he had to have performed quite a number of surgeries. Also, like every doctor at the hospital, Tang Xiong knew about how the superintendent had chosen Zhang Fan to be the surgeon who saved Vice Director Wang Weiping's life. He figured that Zhang Fan would be a reliable surgeon.

”I'll contact the supplier immediately. It won't affect your surgery. What type of medical equipment would you like to use? Chinese or imported?” Tang Xiong asked since he wouldn't have the right to decide, as he wasn't the primary surgeon.

”I'll use whatever type you guys typically use. You're more accustomed to things in this department than I am.” Zhang Fan left the decision up to Tang Xiong. What this really meant was that since Tang Xiong was willing to risk his own career by assisting Zhang Fan for the surgery, Zhang Fan would need to give Tang Xiong some benefits via medical equipment kickbacks. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Tang Xiong to be willing to come when summoned next time!