The Enhanced Doctor-Chapter 442 Everyone has it tough

"How’s the situation?" Liu Banxia asked after arriving at the emergency operating room.

"It’s okay. His response was very quick, and the eyeball wasn’t injured," Su Wenhao said.

"How do you feel? Is your face still hurting?" Liu Banxia asked, after putting on her gloves and sitting next to the patient.

"It hurts, a burning pain. Doctor, am I going to be disfigured?" the patient asked.

"At the moment, the problem isn’t that serious, but you’ll have to endure some discomfort," Liu Banxia said.

"The blisters that formed on your face will protect the skin. When I debride your wounds later, I’ll be careful not to break them."

"Plus, the fact that you can still feel pain means the burn isn’t too severe. Only severe burns damage the pain receptors in the dermis. So, you’re actually doing well right now."

"However, I must remind you that your recovery will certainly be slow. You’ll need to stay in the hospital during this time. Once you’ve started to recover, you can be discharged. In the early stages of burn care, dressings need to be changed and wounds debrided every few hours, which will be somewhat painful for you."

While Liu Banxia debrided the wounds, she chatted with the patient to keep his spirits up.

Burn care principles were largely the same. Liu Banxia had experience with debriding burn wounds; in a previous case, the skin surface had even shown some carbonization. This time, the injury was much less severe.

However, because the burns were on the young man’s cheek and eyelid, affecting his future appearance, she handled it with extra caution.

Su Wenhao didn’t leave; he stayed and comfortably assisted Liu Banxia.

When it came to wound debridement, Liu Banxia was undoubtedly number one in the Second Hospital. No one, not even a director or the Chief Director, could compare to her.

This was a rare teaching opportunity. She didn’t need to explain much to Su Wenhao; she just performed the technique a bit slower to allow him to observe clearly.

After all, the emergency center didn’t encounter many burn patients. Usually, such patients were directly transferred to the city hospital; Binhai City’s burn unit there was renowned.

It took Liu Banxia 53 minutes to completely debride the wound before she applied the ointment.

DING! Patient admission and treatment completed.

Gained 200 Experience Points, 50 Diagnostic Skill Proficiency, 500 Wound Dressing Skill Proficiency, and 2 Glory Points.

This admission and treatment was rated: Flawless. Gained 300 Experience Points, 100 Diagnostic Skill Proficiency, 500 Wound Dressing Skill Proficiency, and 5 Glory Points.

Congratulations, Host! Wound Dressing Skill has increased to Level 4 (50,280/99,999).

Not bad, my Wound Dressing Skill has also been upgraded to Level 4, Liu Banxia thought. I suppose this kind of rapid improvement is only possible in the emergency center. Without so many patients and surgeries, I couldn’t hope for such progress.

"Doctor, how is he?" As soon as she returned to the hall, the group of people crowded around her.

"The burns aren’t as serious as initially thought," Liu Banxia said. "However, there will naturally be some difference when the new skin grows in. It should be mostly fine after the summer. For now, he should stay in the hospital for a few days; it’s safer here."

Relieved by her words, the group finally relaxed a little.

However, Liu Banxia’s work wasn’t over; she still had other patients to attend to.

The least serious was the patient with a severed tendon and blood vessels, whom Wei Yuan was currently suturing. The other three patients were also undergoing emergency surgery in the operating rooms.

I should stay downstairs and manage things here, she decided. If I go upstairs, there’ll be no one to manage admissions. If another patient arrives, we might get a complaint.

"Today is truly a test for our department. So many emergency patients rushed in, involving multiple specialties," Wei Yuan said as he came out after finishing the suture.

"You can say that again. A bit of alcohol, and everyone becomes so aggressive," Liu Banxia nodded in agreement.

"I was actually hoping for a quiet night," she said. "Qing Kewa, Miao Rui, you two go rest first. We can hold the fort here."

"My patient was quite lucky," Miao Rui reported. "His teeth deflected the skewer slightly, so it only penetrated his cheek. The tongue wound isn’t deep and won’t cause any lasting effects."

"I stitched him up very meticulously, but why does he still want a scar?" Qing Kewa asked.

"Well, everyone thinks differently. Some people might find scars like that on their back cool," Liu Banxia responded with a wry smile.

Qing Kewa wrinkled her nose. "Gunshot wounds are cool. How can a scar from a knife cut be cool?"

Liu Banxia was at a loss for an explanation. Gunshot wounds were truly rare in the country. She had only encountered one such case. It was no wonder people often said public safety in China was much better than abroad.

"How’s your patient doing?" Just as they were talking, Liu Banxia saw Wu Xiaoyue and Liang Xiaolin come out of the elevator.

"A partial lung resection was performed, and a cast was applied. There are no pressing issues at the moment," Wu Xiaoyue said with a smile.

"This is another piece of good news today," Liu Banxia said. "Now it all depends on Doctor Xiao and Wang Chao."

"Aren’t you going to Doctor Xiao’s operating room to check on Li Hao?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Not for now," Liu Banxia said. "The fact that there hasn’t been a call indicates that the patient’s abdomen should be fine."

"His head injury is the most severe. Doctor Xiao has been in there for a long time and hasn’t come out yet, so it must be complex. Let’s hope for a perfect outcome tonight."

Despite saying that, neither Liu Banxia nor the others felt at ease.

Surgeries are inherently unpredictable. Moreover, this patient had been rushed to the operating room without a detailed examination, which indicated the severity of his condition.

The patient Wang Chao was treating had somewhat simpler injuries—abdominal trauma. An exploratory laparotomy to repair the damage and stop the bleeding would suffice. He hadn’t called for assistance yet, so he was likely managing on his own. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Liu Banxia deduced that the stomach wound wasn’t large. If it had been extensive, the patient probably wouldn’t have survived long enough to reach the hospital. Stomach contents include gastric acid, which is far more corrosive than intestinal fluids.

Liu Banxia sent Qing Kewa and the others to get some rest. It was almost midnight. If they slept for a while, they could continue the "battle" tomorrow.

"Dr. Liu, Dr. Li Hao from operating room 3 is on the phone," the dispatch nurse called out at that moment.

Liu Banxia promptly ran over. "This is Liu Banxia."

"Teacher Liu, the patient’s cranial surgery is about to end, but the existing mesenteric hematoma is at risk of rupture," Li Hao said quickly.

"Prepare for a laparotomy. Dr. Wei is on his way up," Liu Banxia said.

Wei Yuan, who had been listening nearby, immediately hurried towards the elevator.

Good, the situation isn’t too critical, Liu Banxia thought. With Wei Yuan going up now and Li Hao already there, it should be manageable.

"Officer, should these individuals be kept at our hospital for now?" Liu Banxia asked, approaching the police officer.

The policeman nodded. "We’ll arrange for someone to stay here later. Are their injuries all severe?"

"It’s mainly the patient with the severe head injury, who is now also showing signs of a mesenteric hematoma. We’ll have to perform a laparotomy to stop the bleeding," Liu Banxia explained.

"As for whether he has sustained brain damage, we’ll have to wait for our neurosurgeon to come down and explain it. This brawl... several people will likely face charges, won’t they?"

"Most likely. It already constitutes severe assault," the police officer said. "Alcohol... it’s fine to drink a bit for enjoyment when there’s nothing else going on, but one really shouldn’t overdo it."

"The ones who started the fight were from the same table. They got drunk, and old minor conflicts flared up, leading directly to violence."

"Fortunately, we responded promptly. Otherwise, with all those screwdrivers and box cutters involved, who knows how many would have gone down. Actually, many criminal cases these days are crimes of passion, but the consequences are often terrible."

Liu Banxia nodded. No wonder they say impulsiveness is the devil. Acting on impulse is truly dangerous.

At this time, Wang Chao and Huang Bo also came out of the elevator.

"How is the situation?" Liu Banxia asked.

"The situation isn’t too critical," Wang Chao said. "Although there were multiple sites of injury, no major blood vessels were damaged. Treating the stomach wound was a bit tricky, which took some time."

"Huang Bo performed very well. How do you manage to remember so much about everyone’s capabilities, Dr. Liu? He’s the one with the least on-table experience in gastrointestinal surgery among them."

"Honestly, I didn’t overthink it at the time. It was too chaotic; I just assigned whoever was available," Liu Banxia said. "You two can rest until 3:30 AM, how does that sound? Dr. Wei is back in surgery."

Wang Chao nodded. "Alright, that’s sufficient."

"Dr. Liu, do you normally sleep by the hour when you’re on night shifts?" the police officer asked curiously.

"Not usually. Today is an exceptional case, isn’t it?" Liu Banxia replied with a laugh.

"Our principle is to get a solid block of sleep whenever possible to recover physically and mentally. We’ve all gotten used to it; we basically fall asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow."

The police officer nodded. Their job isn’t easy either when they’re on a case, he thought. Everyone has their own struggles.

After waiting for over half an hour more, Wei Yuan, Xiao Jun, and Li Hao came out of the elevator.

"The patient had severe cerebral hemorrhage and developed a cerebral herniation as soon as he was wheeled into the operating room," Xiao Jun said. "We’ve sent him to the ICU for now and haven’t rushed to wake him. We’ll see how things are tomorrow."

"The mesenteric bleeding wasn’t very severe. Li Hao handled it promptly, and the blood loss was minimal," Wei Yuan added.

"Doctor, could he become a vegetable?" the police officer hastily asked.

Xiao Jun thought for a moment and shook his head. "The probability of him ending up in a vegetative state is low. We’ve addressed the issues with the craniotomy, and the intracranial pressure has decreased. However, it’s difficult to determine if the cerebral hemorrhage and herniation caused brain damage. We’ll have to wait until he regains consciousness to perform tests."

"Thank you, Doctor. I’ll report the situation to the bureau now. Dr. Liu, could you prepare a report for us?" the police officer asked.

"No problem," Liu Banxia promptly agreed. "I’m free now anyway. Give me an hour, and I can compile the information on their conditions."

No one has it easy, Liu Banxia mused. Whether it’s the injured patients, us doctors trying to save them, or these police officers at the scene—when incidents like this occur, cooperation is key to getting through it.