"You’ve trained very well so far. I reckon in another month or two, you’ll be able to operate directly alongside Chief Director Li," Liu Banxia said to Liang Xiaolin after the earlier commotion.
"Am I really good enough?" Liang Xiaolin asked, sowhat surprised.
"Why wouldn’t you be? Didn’t you suture very well today?" Liu Banxia encouraged.
"That’s different. Surgery isn’t just about closing incisions. I still don’t know how well I can suture a blood vessel; I’m afraid I’ll ss it up if I rush," Liang Xiaolin replied, her brow furrowed.
"Let’s work hard together. You’re just starting your residency, what more do you expect? To take over Chief Director Li’s job? Co on, everything has to be done step by step," Liu Banxia said, chuckling.
"In the Ergency Departnt, the main goal is to help you overco your minor issue of being slow during procedures and to improve your suturing skills. Your specialty is cardiothoracic surgery, so you still need to return to the ’battlefield’ of cardiothoracic surgery."
"However, it’s still uncertain who from Cardiothoracic Surgery will be assigned to the Ergency Departnt. We’ll see when the ti cos. Anyway, you still need to train diligently."
Liang Xiaolin wrinkled her nose. I don’t know why, but I always feel like I should talk back whenever Banxia lectures .
"President Liu, consultation," Wang Huan called out.
Liu Banxia led Liang Xiaolin to the internal dicine consultation room and froze. It was the patient who had refused instruntal examinations that morning.
"He’s experiencing abdominal pain again and also feels nauseous. We perford a simple physical examination but found nothing abnormal. He’s still refusing any instruntal examinations. What should we do?" Wang Huan asked with a forced smile.
Liu Banxia felt a headache coming on. This seemingly simple problem had suddenly beco complicated.
"Sir, we are doctors, but we’re not deities. We can’t just look at you and know what’s wrong. We can only make a diagnosis through physical examinations and instruntal examinations," Liu Banxia reasoned with the patient.
"We couldn’t confirm a diagnosis when you ca in this morning. Now your abdominal pain has recurred, and you’re feeling nauseous. Can’t you trust us this once and undergo an instruntal examination?"
"Doctor, I just ate sothing bad. The dicine is too slow. Can you put on a couple of IV drips?" the patient said.
"What’s the point of those examinations? It’ll probably be the sa result anyway. It’s just a waste of money—hundreds, even thousands, for nothing I can even see."
"With a physical examination for abdominal pain, we can usually only confirm the location of the tenderness. For many patients, the pain is diffuse and not clearly localized, so we have to rely on instruntal examinations as an auxiliary diagnostic tool."
"Doctor, I was supposed to leave on a business trip today. I’ve already been delayed a day, and it’s causing enough trouble as it is," the patient insisted.
"Alright then, let’s do a stool test," Wang Huan suggested.
"But I don’t need to move my bowels right now," the patient frowned.
"That’s alright, we can use an enema. If it’s really enteritis, the stool test will show indications of it," Liu Banxia quickly added.
"Besides, there are different types of enteritis, and treatnt is only effective if it’s targeted. Anyway, since you’re not going on your business trip today, I’ll ask the lab to expedite it. It won’t delay you too much."
The patient thought for a mont and nodded.
Only then did Wang Huan begin working on the computer.
"Brother Wang, do you have any idea what’s going on?" Liu Banxia asked after the patient left to provide the sample.
Wang Huan shook his head. "He just says his abdon hurts, with intermittent cramping pain. I initially suspected enteritis too, but the lab results don’t support it so far."
"Besides, if it were enteritis, how low would his pain tolerance have to be for him to co to the ergency departnt? I also suspect a cardiac issue, but after ruling out myocardial infarction, we’d need to do instruntal examinations."
"Now we just have to wait for the stool test results. If they’re negative, I don’t know what to do. Should we still have him sign an inford consent form?"
Liu Banxia frowned. "We’ll see. If it really cos to that, we’ll contact his family. If the stool test is negative, it at least proves his assumption that enteritis is causing diarrhea is wrong."
"I thought we only encountered patients like this in the outpatient departnt. I didn’t expect them in Ergency too," Wang Huan said, shaking his head.
"Sigh... It’s mainly that patients don’t fully understand our dical procedures these days. Plus, there’s been a lot of negative press about hospitals. Many people assu that when we order instruntal examinations, it’s just to make money."
"What if the patient still refuses?" Liang Xiaolin asked.
"Then, just as Brother Wang said, we can only have them sign the inford consent form. Otherwise, if the patient experiences even the slightest problem, they can sue us. The hospital has been pushing for standardized procedures since last year, including here in our Ergency Departnt."
"For any ergency patient accompanied by family, we must explain everything clearly. If surgery is required, we not only need the family mbers to sign but must also clearly explain all potential complications."
"That sounds so ti-consuming," Liang Xiaolin frowned.
"Special circumstances call for special asures. If a patient is truly in critical condition and needs imdiate life-saving treatnt, that step can be completed later," Wang Huan said with a smile.
"Previously, whether a doctor provided ergency treatnt depended on family consent if they were present. But now, a new regulation allows doctors to proceed with life-saving asures if they believe there’s a chance of success, even if the family has given up on treatnt."
"However, this is still risky. It’s always best to get the family’s consent. Otherwise, future costs or issues from a failed resuscitation attempt can beco ammunition for the family to use against us."
"Why do so many departnts operate at a deficit? Why are families constantly urged to pay dical fees? Once a patient is admitted, the hospital is responsible. One wrong move, and we could face a lawsuit."
"There are so many considerations. Being an ergency physician is incredibly difficult," Liang Xiaolin said with a forced smile.
"It can’t be helped. People’s awareness of their rights is very strong these days. For instance, if a patient dies during surgery or ergency treatnt, we’ll likely bear so responsibility, one way or another," Wang Huan said.
"Fairness? Where’s the fairness in that? It’s our responsibility whether we attempt treatnt or not. If we try and fail to save them, it’s still our responsibility. Once the Ergency Departnt is officially up and running, we’ll see no shortage of such cases."
Wang Huan had been at Second Hospital for a long ti and had seen a lot. He was essentially giving these two rookies a prir, lest a single well-intentioned act land them in trouble.
The doctor-patient relationship is far from simple.
Whatever happens, people’s first assumption is often that the hospital is up to sothing shady. It’s not to say so hospitals aren’t like that, but in most hospitals, the doctors truly earn their pay.
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