Super Doctor - Chapter 208

Xu Ze curled his lip slightly at Dr. Ji’s test, which was tinged with curiosity, muttering to himself, “Is this really necessary? You’re the teaching physician, an associate chief director no less. Do you have to keep picking on me for fun?”

But muttering was all he did. He wasn’t about to say it out loud and cause a scene. He had no choice but to step forward and perform a thorough physical examination on the patient from head to toe.

Xu Ze had thought it through now and saw no need to hold back. He wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t know what he was doing. After all, there wasn’t much in this hospital that he felt he needed to be overly cautious about anymore. Since he was here for the internship, he would inevitably rotate through other departments. Who knew when he might run into someone familiar and have his cover blown?

So, he was past caring. Most of his classmates knew he had previously worked at a clinic, and many were aware his medical skills were quite good. Being a little more assertive here wouldn’t seem strange to anyone.

As for Dr. Ji, the teaching physician in front of him, Xu Ze couldn’t be bothered worrying about her feelings. You told me to do it, so I’ll do it… Let you see what I’m capable of, so maybe you’ll realize your teaching isn’t all that effective for someone like me.

Watching Xu Ze’s skilled techniques and efficient movements, which almost followed the most standard procedures perfectly, Dr. Ji Xueping, the associate chief director, widened her eyes in growing astonishment. She simply couldn’t understand why the gap between individuals could be so vast.

This group of students was undoubtedly from the same class. So why was this young man in front of her so proficient without her having taught him anything yet, while the other students looked completely clueless? And why did they look at him as if it were completely natural?

“Even when I first started working, I probably wasn’t as good as this kid… Why is the difference between people so huge… Unless he’s done this before…” Dr. Ji’s mind was filled with jumbled thoughts. But then she reconsidered; it didn’t seem right. Although this young man looked slightly more mature than the other students, he was at most twenty-one or twenty-two, and he was currently definitely a fourth-year undergraduate. Could he have been working in a hospital during his second or third year? That seemed impossible.

So, despite her complete surprise, Dr. Ji could only remain surprised. Seeing Xu Ze’s proficient technique saved her the trouble of demonstrating herself. She stood to the side, praising Xu Ze’s methods while using his actions to teach the other students how to perform a physical examination on a patient.

Watching Dr. Ji’s behavior, a trace of disdain flickered in Xu Ze’s eyes. An associate chief director, and yet she slacks off like this? No wonder she always picks on me to do the work…

Xu Ze resentfully completed the entire physical examination. By then, Dr. Ji had also finished her explanations smoothly. She nodded at Xu Ze with a smile, “Xu Ze, you’re an excellent group leader. Much better than we were back in the day…”

Although feeling indignant inside, when facing the teaching physician, Xu Ze still feigned respect and humility, nodding with a slight smile, “You flatter me, Dr. Ji.”

The curious Dr. Ji was about to ask Xu Ze how he had become so familiar with these procedures when suddenly the intercom sounded: “Dr. Ji… Please report to the resuscitation room. Please report to the resuscitation room…”

Hearing the announcement, Dr. Ji’s expression turned serious. She quickly said to Xu Ze, “Xu Ze… take everyone to the office and wait for me. I’ll be back shortly.”

Xu Ze had naturally heard the announcement and knew what Dr. Ji needed to do. He nodded in acknowledgment. After Dr. Ji hurried out, he led the members of his group to the office to sit and wait for her return.

The ten or so members of Xu Ze’s group, both male and female, were all classmates. Sitting in the office, they didn’t find it boring. They chatted and laughed, discussing the novel experiences of their hospital internship these past few days.

For everyone, these days had been fresh and relaxing. Previously, they were stuck at school every day. Now, they had changed locations and were experiencing the novel environment of a hospital, which felt very new and exciting.

Listening to his classmates talk about Xingda Affiliated Hospital No.1, discussing its various advantages, and some even fantasizing about how great it would be to work here in the future, Xu Ze found it utterly boring. He sat in his chair, yawning.

If it were him from a year ago, perhaps he would also be feeling the same excitement and novelty about the hospital internship as his classmates.

But now, his perspective was completely different from theirs. What seemed fresh and new to his classmates was already all too familiar to him. Now, he had to listen to someone explain these things all over again, which he found extremely tedious.

Seeing his classmates chatting animatedly, Xu Ze smiled slightly. Feeling the office was a bit stuffy, he walked out alone to stroll around outside.

The respiratory medicine ward was completely full at the moment. Xu Ze wandered around the corridor for a while but still found it incredibly dull. Unintentionally, he meandered until he found himself in front of the resuscitation room.

Seeing Dr. Ji Xueping inside, looking serious as she directed doctors and nurses in resuscitating several patients, Xu Ze became somewhat interested and leaned against the doorframe to watch.

As the chief resident, second only to the department head, her authority within the department was significant. During patient resuscitations like this, if the department head was absent, she was the senior physician in charge, directing the rescue efforts.

Looking at the several patients being resuscitated simultaneously in the room, Xu Ze couldn’t help but frown. Having multiple patients needing resuscitation at once suggested they were likely part of a collective incident causing their conditions.

But the situation inside didn’t look good. There were four or five patients, but only Dr. Ji and another physician were present. There were four or five nurses, but they were also running around, overwhelmed.

Inside, Dr. Ji, frowning deeply, was simultaneously working on one patient and angrily asked a nurse nearby, “What’s going on? Is someone from Anesthesiology here yet?… These patients all need tracheotomies. How can we handle this alone?”

The nurse, startled by Dr. Ji’s sharp tone, quickly replied, “Dr. Ji, I’ll call and ask again immediately.”

The nurse hurriedly pulled out her phone, dialed a number, spoke a few words, then hung up. She looked at Dr. Ji with a troubled expression, “Dr. Ji… Anesthesiology is also very busy right now. They said they need a little more time…”

“A little more time…” Dr. Ji nearly gritted her teeth upon hearing this. She snorted angrily, “If they wait any longer, they can just come collect the bodies!”

Watching Dr. Ji Xueping’s furious and flustered demeanor from outside, and seeing the patients on the beds, Xu Ze sighed inwardly. His compassion began to well up again.

“It’s originally none of my business, but lives are at stake…” He pulled the cap and mask from his pocket, put them on, then sighed quietly and walked into the resuscitation room with a calm demeanor.

Approaching one patient’s bedside, Xu Ze glanced at the patient who was clearly struggling to breathe, their face even beginning to turn cyanotic. He said to the nurse nearby who was flusteredly trying to administer oxygen, “Get me a tracheotomy kit.”

Hearing his voice, the nurse’s face lit up with relief, but then she looked at Xu Ze with dissatisfaction, “How come you came without bringing your own kit?”

“We’re swamped. I just finished one downstairs and rushed over. No time to go back for the kit,” Seeing the nurse indeed mistook him for someone from Anesthesiology, Xu Ze quickly played along, smiling as he spoke.

The nurse didn’t hesitate further. She quickly pulled a tracheotomy kit from a nearby cabinet and handed it to Xu Ze, then snorted, “Lucky this is Respiratory Medicine. Other departments probably wouldn’t have so many spare kits ready.”

Xu Ze smiled but didn’t say more. Dr. Ji Xueping was right next to him at another patient’s bedside. If she discovered it was him, he would absolutely lose the chance to help. If this patient suffered because of a delay, it would be a real shame.

He took the tracheotomy kit, deftly opened it on the nearby treatment table, and began preparing to perform the tracheotomy on the patient.

Xu Ze reached out, pulled the nearly suffocating patient up by the shoulders, grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed, placed it under the patient’s shoulders to tilt the head back, exposing the trachea in the neck. He then said to the nurse, “Help me stabilize his head!”

“Okay…” Hearing his words, the nurse didn’t dare delay and quickly reached out to hold the patient’s head in place, preventing movement for Xu Ze to proceed.

Seeing the patient’s head was now stabilized, Xu Ze didn’t dare waste any more time. After fully opening the tracheotomy kit, he also snapped open two vials of lidocaine and placed them nearby for use.

After deftly putting on sterile gloves, Xu Ze picked up the forceps from the kit, clamped a povidone-iodine cotton ball, quickly disinfected the patient’s tracheal area on the neck, carefully placed a sterile drape, and prepared to begin the surgery.

Over at the other bed, Dr. Ji Xueping, seeing that the unattended patient finally had someone performing the tracheotomy, breathed a slight sigh of relief. She thought to herself, At least Anesthesiology is somewhat prompt today. Otherwise, if something happened to this patient, I’d definitely have to raise hell with Anesthesiology tomorrow.

Although relieved, Dr. Ji still instructed Xu Ze while working on her own patient, “These patients all have tracheal burns. They’re a bit more complicated. Be careful when you make the incision.”

Hearing Dr. Ji’s words, Xu Ze didn’t dare respond. He just kept his head down and nodded in acknowledgment, afraid she might see through his disguise.

He picked up a syringe from the kit, carefully drew a few milliliters of lidocaine from the vial, and began administering local anesthesia to the patient pre-operatively.

Xu Ze carefully infiltrated the anesthesia with 2% lidocaine along the midline of the front of the neck, from just below the thyroid cartilage down to the suprasternal notch.

This part was routine for him. After all, he had practiced it numerous times in the virtual space. Performing it was no problem.

As for the so-called tracheal burns, they didn’t pose an issue for him either. Most of the tracheotomies he had performed in the virtual space were on patients with combat injuries, many of whom had tracheal burns. He was thoroughly familiar with the procedure.

He picked up the scalpel and made a vertical incision smoothly from the lower edge of the thyroid cartilage down to near the suprasternal notch, cutting through the skin and subcutaneous tissue along the midline of the neck.

Once the skin and subcutaneous tissue were cleanly incised under his scalpel, tiny streams of blood began to trickle from the wound. Xu Ze picked up a small gauze pad from the kit, gently wiped away the blood, then used a hemostat to carefully separate the sternohyoid and sternothyroid muscles along the midline, exposing the thyroid isthmus.

Seeing how Xu Ze had effortlessly peeled back the patient’s neck skin in just a few moves, revealing the whitish trachea underneath, the nurse stabilizing the patient’s head couldn’t help but glance at him a few more times.

She had noticed from the upper part of his face, not covered by the mask, that he seemed quite young. Initially, she had been somewhat worried about Xu Ze, thinking, “Why did Anesthesiology send such a young doctor? Performing a tracheotomy on a patient with tracheal burns is quite difficult. It would be trouble if he messes it up.”

But now, seeing Xu Ze’s proficient technique—which even seemed no slower than Dr. Ji Xueping’s—as he exposed the patient’s trachea, she felt impressed and reassured.

Xu Ze took out two retractors, gently hooked one side, and said to the nurse, “Hold one for me.”

As a respiratory medicine nurse, she was very familiar with such assisting tasks. She immediately freed one hand, carefully took the retractor without touching Xu Ze’s sterile-gloved hand, and gently pulled.

However, she could only free one hand and couldn’t hold both retractors. She looked up and glanced behind her, hoping to find someone else to help hold the other retractor.

But after looking around, she was disappointed. The other nurses behind her were all assisting Dr. Ji Xueping and the other physician on duty. No one was available to lend a hand. She had no choice but to look at Xu Ze helplessly and say, “Should we wait a bit longer…?”

“No need… Just hold that side steady!” Xu Ze raised an eyebrow and replied. Originally, these two retractors indeed required an assistant to hold. But since there wasn’t one, Xu Ze couldn’t afford to wait. If he didn’t complete the surgery quickly, this patient could die from suffocation at any moment.

Seeing the nurse already holding one side, Xu Ze used his own left hand to hold the other retractor. He said to the nurse, “Hold it steady!”

“Ah… Are you sure you don’t need someone else?” The nurse watched as Xu Ze used his left hand to hold the other retractor, leaving only his right hand free to perform the surgery, and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Xu Ze shook his head gently and said, “No need. If we wait any longer, this patient won’t make it…”

Hearing his firm words, the nurse understood his meaning. If they didn’t proceed now, the patient might not last. She had no choice but to nod, watching Xu Ze’s movements, hoping he could successfully complete the procedure with just one hand.

After all, although this surgery was somewhat difficult, some highly skilled anesthesiologists could still manage it successfully.

Once the two of them coordinated to hold the retractors, applying even force to keep the surgical field aligned along the midline, Xu Ze reached out with his right hand to palpate the cricoid cartilage and trachea. After confirming the trachea was in the midline position, he officially began the procedure.

After determining the exact position of the trachea, Xu Ze, holding the retractor with his left hand, reversed the scalpel in his right hand. Using the tip of the blade, he carefully cut upwards through the 2nd to 4th tracheal rings.

Watching as the two tracheal rings were incised, and air rushed into the patient’s trachea through the opening, Xu Ze still frowned. This small opening was really too narrow. Inserting the tube later would likely be difficult.

He picked up the scalpel again and deftly excised a portion of the anterior tracheal wall cartilage, enlarging the tracheal incision significantly, allowing more air to enter.

Watching Xu Ze effortlessly open and enlarge the patient’s trachea using only one hand to hold the scalpel, even removing part of the cartilage without needing his left hand for assistance, the assisting nurse’s pretty eyes widened in astonishment, filled with admiration for his skill.

It was the first time she had seen someone who could so easily excise the cricoid cartilage using only one hand, and do it perfectly—not a fraction more or less than necessary.

Xu Ze had no time to dwell on this. He immediately set down the scalpel and the retractor, then picked up a curved hemostat from the kit to spread the tracheal incision open. Next, he selected a tracheostomy tube of appropriate size, complete with an obturator, and inserted it into the incision he had made.

Once the tracheostomy tube was inserted, he promptly removed the obturator, inserted the inner cannula, reached for the suction machine by the bed, tested that the suction was working normally, then suctioned the secretions from the tracheostomy tube. Finding no significant bleeding from the trachea, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He then pulled the tapes attached to the tracheostomy tube and tied them around the patient’s neck, securing them with a firm knot. Finally, he placed a split gauze dressing between the wound and the tube.

After completing all this, Xu Ze observed the patient now able to draw some air from the outside through the neck tube, significantly alleviating the hypoxic cyanosis on their face. Only then did he fully relax.

The surgery was successfully completed. Xu Ze glanced over at Dr. Ji Xueping on the other side; she had also finished the procedure on her patient. He didn’t dare stay any longer. He had done his part; it was time to leave. If anyone discovered he was just an imposter, it would cause trouble again.

He took off his gloves, gave a few instructions to the nurse, and turned to leave. But just as he turned around, he suddenly heard someone rushing in through the doorway with heavy steps.

The person ran in, panting heavily, and asked loudly, “Where’s the patient? Which patient needs the tracheotomy?… I nearly killed myself getting here! I finished one case as soon as I got the call and ran straight over!”