Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Comrade Youfu is Going on TV
Translator: 549690339 |
Around ten o’clock in the morning, the emergency medical service delivered a patient who was in his thirties. The “child” pushing an elderly person in, shouted, “Doctor, my father is having a heart attack!”
Chen Cang hurried out and approached the ambulance doctor who came up and said, “It shouldn’t be heart disease, the ECG is normal.”
The man was clearly unhappy, “My dad is uncomfortable here, he is feeling panicky, and there’s also spreading pain around the back, coming and going in waves. If it’s not heart disease then what is it? Plus, I searched on Baidu and sometimes heart disease shows a normal ECG, only during an attack will it…”
The man rattled off a great deal, clearly implying with a tone of ‘I’m well-informed, so don’t try to deceive me’.
Chen Cang stepped forward, “Don’t panic, let’s have Xiaolin push the patient to the emergency room and hook him up to the monitor, please.
The ambulance doctor came over, after handing over formalities with the nurse station, he gave Chen Cang a knowing look and left.
Chen Cang understood that look, which was to warn him to be wary of this difficult family member of the patient.
The man was in his thirties, dressed in a decent and moderate fashion, wearing glasses. Seeing Chen Cang, he said, “Doctor, you must seriously consider my suggestion. Myocardial infarction is very dangerous and cannot be misdiagnosed.”
Chen Cang nodded, “Don’t worry, leave it to us. Why don’t you rest at the door for a while?”
After speaking, Chen Cang entered the room, while the man paced back and forth at the door, very anxious.
Xiaolin: “Dr. Chen, the ECG and blood pressure are normal, but the heart rate is
a bit fast.”
Chen Cang pondered for a moment, “Order a blood routine test urgently, call the ultrasound room, and expedite a bedside abdominal ultrasound.
During the wait, Chen Cang took the opportunity to talk with the family member about the current medical history and learned that the father indeed had a history of heart disease as well as high blood pressure. One could not exclude or ignore heart issues, but… all signs suggested that it was not heart disease, but rather looked more like cholecystitis.
The ultrasound room was quick to respond. Upon hearing that an abdominal ultrasound was urgently needed in the emergency room, they arrived promptly.
However, when the patient’s relative saw the ultrasound equipment brought in, he followed without a word and then was taken aback upon seeing the preparation for an abdominal ultrasound. He immediately gestured with his hands, “What are you doing? My father’s heart is uncomfortable, why are you examining his stomach? If you have to do a scan, it should be of the heart! Isn’t this mess? These examinations are expensive! We should do fewer if possible, right?”
Chen Cang turned around and looked at the man, “Please do not disturb the resuscitation of the patient. You can’t just enter the emergency room at will. And… it’s not certain that your father’s condition is heart-related. I suspect it is cholecystitis.”
Upon hearing Chen Gang’s words, the man fell silent, went out, and started doing something on his phone, seemingly searching on Baidu.
Meanwhile, the ultrasound results were already in!
The gallbladder was slightly enlarged in both length and width, oval-shaped, with thickened gallbladder walls, the outline blurry, and presenting a double-ring shape with a thickness greater than 3mm;
The echogenicity of the content within the gallbladder decreased, showing scattered, fog-like echoic spots; the enhancement effect under the gallbladder’s bottom edge was weakened or absent.
Confirmed!
It turned out to be acute cholecystitis. The urgently ordered blood routine also came back, showing an increase in the total white blood cell count and around 80% of neutrophilic leukocytes.
Now, there was no question of a cholecystitis diagnosis. If waiting for bilirubin and transaminase results, it would be even more direct.
At this time, the man pushed the door open again, “Doctor, you’re a genius! It really is cholecystitis… Baidu said that cholecystitis indeed also has radiating pain.”
The man appeared somewhat embarrassed and apologized to Chen Cang.
Chen Cang smiled without saying much. It’s normal for family members to worry after all, concern can lead to confusion.
But Baidu cannot diagnose illnesses because much of the information on Baidu is not very comprehensive. A few days ago, a patient came with bleeding from the bowel, claiming it was colorectal cancer.
Such examples are numerous.
Furthermore, gallbladder diseases are common emergencies and prevalent, frequently seen in clinical settings. Many related conditions can be extremely uncomfortable, such as acute cholecystitis, delayed cholecystitis,
cholelithiasis, etc.
And crucially, when these conditions arise, they can easily be confused with myocardial infarction. It is clearly written in textbooks, describing symptoms like upper abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, radiating towards the shoulder and back area, and episodically worsening.
However, diseases have a stubborn nature, and when they strike, they never listen to the textbooks they always act wilfully. Quite often, they’re easily confused with heart attacks!
Such patients are not few, and Chen Cang had grown accustomed to them. In recent days, the number of patients delivered by emergency services has increased, perhaps because the hospital had reached out to the emergency medical center.
After the emergency room’s operating theater opened, scheduling surgeries became much more convenient.
And so, they were more confident in admitting patients.
In the emergency room these past few days, there had been an influx of patients, and surgeries no longer needed to be conducted in the main operating rooms—they could be arranged within their own facilities. As a consequence, many patients were no longer being transferred to the general surgery department.
With its own operating theater, the emergency room’s revenue also grew substantially, as if the harsh winter had passed and spring was on the horizon. However, Director Zhang Youfu of the general surgery department felt somewhat down. According to past years, the surgery department would be overwhelmed in August and September, as this was the peak season for cholecystitis, appendicitis, and cholelithiasis. The dietary irregularities of summer make these digestive diseases much more likely to occur.
But this year, the surgery department had suddenly become much quieter!
After all, these acute diseases were typically brought to the surgery department via the emergency room, and now that they had fallen out with the emergency department, the number of patients in general surgery had significantly dropped.
The Second Provincial Hospital couldn’t be considered a top-level hospital that never lacked for patients; most of the cases handled by the general surgery department were minor illnesses.
And Li Baoshan had, so to speak, directly outmaneuvered Zhang Youfu.
Zhang Youfu was so frustrated he was practically grinding his teeth, yet he still had to figure out how to manage his department. What to do?
Without patients, it wouldn’t work!
Zhang Youfu thought it over and picked up the phone to call Tan Liguo—he needed to report the situation.
After hearing the situation, Tan Liguo frowned slightly, “Is it that serious?” Zhang Youfu shook his head, “It’s not that severe, but… if it continues like this, the department will certainly lose a lot of patients, and our performance will suffer greatly. After all, the main patient base is still sizable.”
Tan Liguo considered for a moment, “How about this: you take it easy for now. On Monday, 1’11 call Dongyang Satellite TV’s health program and organize a disease prevention event. You can then promote your department… Prepare well, don’t waste this opportunity.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Youfu was overjoyed this was a stroke of good fortune!
Health programs are a great way to promote, and although it’s about health education, when the time comes, a little hype for general surgery could naturally lead patients straight to their door.
“Then I’ll have to trouble Secretary Tan!”
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Youfu immediately called his confidante Duan Bo from the department, “Duan, come to my house, 1 need to discuss something with you.”
Duan Bo was a trusted aide of Zhang Youfu, and he had always been good to him.
After receiving the call, Duan Bo didn’t ask why and immediately made his way to Zhang Youfu’s home.
After the two sat down, Zhang Youfu spoke calmly, “Duan, I might be on Dongyang Satellite TV’s health channel soon. I need you to tidy up my resume and honors- my information is all with you.”
Upon hearing this, Duan Bo offered a flattering compliment, “Director, you are remarkable! You’re going to be on TV, and Dongyang Satellite TV has a high viewership, too!”
Zhang Youfu smiled inscrutably, appearing indifferent about the TV appearance, “Right, I haven’t decided what to talk about yet. What do you think we should promote this time?”
After some thought, Duan Bo seriously suggested, “Naturally, it should be the most common disease of the season diseases of the gallbladder system!