Chapter 573 ICU Ward, Bone Spur
"Okay, let's go see your brother first. But let me be frank. I can only do my best. I can't guarantee that I can diagnose the cause of your brother's illness."
Li Quan knew very well that since it was rated as a Beijing-level top-grade hospital, its medical level must be the best in the country.
Even a top-notch hospital like this couldn't find the cause of the disease, so it must be complicated.
Therefore, he would never dare to speak too confidently.
Taking Professor Hawking's special car, we drove straight to the Beijing Special Grade 3A Hospital. To be more precise, it should be the Beijing Special Grade 3A First Hospital. It is also the largest comprehensive medical school in China with the most medical achievements and the most top medical talents.
It is a great honor for Li Quan, a doctor who has only been in the profession for less than two years, to be personally invited by Professor Hawking.
After the special car drove into the Beijing No. 1 Hospital, it went directly into a parking lot as large as several football fields.
It feels like entering an underground maze.
And this underground parking lot has three floors.
The parking lot at Bihuier Hospital is much more standardized and the management is more advanced.
Since Huier Hospital was built decades ago, the concepts of its architectural design and planning are all old ideas from decades ago.
In today's rapidly developing world, it seems particularly backward.
Parking is difficult at Huier Hospital and has not been solved yet.
Because Huier Hospital does not have an underground parking lot, you can only park on the ground.
Later, the official departments of Shanghai found a way to build two modern parking lots around Huier Hospital, which finally solved the parking problem of Huier Hospital.
The hospital staff and patients coming for treatment no longer have to worry about having no place to park.
However, the nearest of the two off-site parking lots is more than 600 meters away from the hospital, which brings great inconvenience to patients.
After seeing the parking lot of Beijing No. 1 Hospital, Li Quan became more determined to build several new buildings of Huier Hospital.
At present, the aging factory behind Huier Hospital has been taken down.
It is just waiting for approval from several competent authorities.
The old man agreed. As long as Li Quan could lead Huier Hospital to the top ten in the national medical skills competition, he would contact the relevant departments and help Li Quan speed up the approval procedures.
"My brother is in the neurology inpatient ward . Let's go up from Exit D1!"
After getting off the car, Dr. An led the way.
Professor Hawking walked side by side with Li Quan, which was considered a high-level reception.
Because Professor Hawking is a brain expert at the First Hospital in Beijing.
Taking the elevator to the ground floor, you can see modern new buildings.
Brain science!
These two simple words are like an unshakable golden signboard.
Li Quan is an insider after all. At a glance, he realized that the four buildings in front all belong to the brain department.
This is what we call scale.
Unlike Huier Hospital, which has to worry about patient beds all day long, there are several departments squeezed into one building.
In fact, the model of Beijing First Hospital is worth learning from.
Neurology, pediatrics, gynecology... Every major department has a dedicated office area.
Including outpatient clinics, medical examinations, laboratory buildings, inpatient departments, and even doctors' dormitories, all are independent.
This mode is convenient for management.
It is also more conducive to the growth and development of a department, making it bigger and stronger.
Of course, Huier Hospital still has a long way to go if it wants to reach the scale of the No. 1 hospital in Beijing.
Li Quan also has his own secret weapon.
The many miraculous medical skills of traditional Chinese medicine are the weapons he uses to lead Huier Hospital to overtake other hospitals.
"Hello, Director Huo!"
Along the way, medical staff kept greeting Professor Hawking.
In contrast, Dr. Anne has little .
Occasionally, medical staff would nod and smile at her as a greeting.
"Director Li, my brother is in the ward in front." Doctor Annie pointed to a ward in front.
Room 7016, Neurological Intensive Care Unit.
I didn't expect that I would be staying in the ICU ward.
Generally speaking, only patients who are in critical condition and may die at any time will be admitted to the ICU.
After all, the nursing costs here are very high, much more expensive than ordinary inpatient wards.
Most of the patients in the ICU ward of Huier Hospital are elderly patients with good financial conditions.
Or their treatment expenses will be paid by the unit.
Or you can have a large portion of the cost reimbursed by medical insurance, so you don’t have to pay much out of your own pocket.
"Come in!"
Professor Hawking took out a card and swiped it on the access control.
The first isolation door leading to ICU room 7016 opened automatically.
After entering, there is a changing room.
You can see medical staff's white coats and other work clothes hanging on the walls on both sides.
After changing clothes, there are two isolation doors inside.
However, only the first isolation door requires an access card to open. The next two doors can be opened directly by pressing the card.
After passing through the third isolation door, I finally entered the real ward.
There are nearly thirty beds here.
There are many medical staff working.
Because of the heavy workload, one nurse here can only take care of four beds at most.
Sometimes, one nurse is assigned to take care of one bed.
The patients lying here are all unable to take care of themselves. Any abnormality must be dealt with in time. For example, if there is too much sputum and it is not sucked out in time, it can directly lead to the patient's death.
As soon as I opened the last door, I heard the alarm sounds from the monitoring equipment.
It really is one up and one down.
Li Quan has never actually worked in the ICU ward in the inpatient area.
Working here, new doctors generally don't have the opportunity to work alone. Usually they work with doctors at the director or deputy director level.
Mainly focus on learning.
Once you become a little more proficient, you will be asked to follow the senior residents on duty.
Usually the shifts are rotated.
For example, you first follow the chief physician on duty for 24 hours, then follow the senior resident on duty for 12 hours. Often, you follow the deputy chief physician on duty for 12 hours as well.
Anyway, it takes turns like this.
It can also be seen from this point that the authority of the chief physician is still very high.
Although the associate chief physician is at the director level, he is no different from the senior resident doctors in terms of duty.
This is mainly due to the dangerous environment here.
When a patient has an abnormality, the most correct rescue treatment must be given immediately.
As soon as he walked in, Li Quan immediately felt the tense atmosphere.
"Hello, Director Huo!"
The medical staff on duty saw someone entering and found out that it was Professor Hawking.
Their expressions immediately turned respectful.
"You guys go about your business. I've asked Director Li from Shanghai Huier Hospital to come and consult with the patient in bed 21." Professor Hawking nodded gently and walked to bed 21 with Li Quan and Dr. Annie.
Most of the people staying in this ward are in a coma or semi-comatose state.
Some were once soldiers, some were retired senior government officials, some were teachers, and some were chairmen or shareholders of some large companies or enterprises...
In short, no matter how glorious and awesome these people were in the past.
Now he has become unable to take care of himself and can no longer be called a complete person. He can only be considered an existence.
They cannot communicate or exchange feelings, and they don't even feel pain.
All vital signs depend on the monitor.
Eating depends on a nasogastric tube, breathing depends on a tracheal tube and a ventilator, urination depends on a urine collection bag, and defecation depends on a caregiver.
If you want to move your arms and legs, you need help from medical staff every one or two hours.
They can't move on their own.
Li Quan looked at the sick bodies of different appearances and felt a little emotional.
No one knows what they will become tomorrow.
Some people did not take good care of their bodies when they were young, and when they got old, they became seriously ill and ended up living here. Some patients also came here because of sudden accidents, such as car accidents, falls from high buildings, etc.
Maybe some people, after living here, will never be able to leave again in their lifetime.
Some people live here for a month, or half a year, and then leave.
Then after a while, he moved in again.
In the end, he left in a body bag.
"Brother! I'm here to see you again. If you can hear me, please wake up..." Doctor Anne was already lying in front of bed No. 21, crying.
Li Quan looked at the patient on the hospital bed. He was about thirty years old and very young.
His eyes were closed, his eye sockets were sunken, and his face looked peaceful, as if he was asleep.
At first glance, the patient looked no different from an ordinary person except that his face was a little pale.
"The patient is in the neurology ward, and the cause of the coma is a brain disease, is that right?" Li Quan asked Professor Hawking.
"Alas... I am ashamed to say that our hospital has conducted a full-body examination on the patient, but we still cannot find out what caused the patient to fall into a coma. This is also the main reason why we are helpless."
Professor Hawking gave a wry smile.
If you don’t find the cause of the disease, you can’t cure it.
There are many reasons why patients may fall into coma, such as brain-related diseases, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, epilepsy, etc. Or heart-related diseases , myocardial infarction, severe attenuation of heart pumping, etc. Poisoning, lung, liver and other diseases can also cause patients to fall into coma.
The inspection capabilities of Beijing No. 1 Hospital are beyond doubt.
After a full-body examination of the patient, the cause of the disease could still not be found.
The conventional causes of coma can basically be ruled out.
"Let me take the patient's pulse first, and then use Chinese medicine's inspection and auscultation to see if I can find out the cause of the disease." Li Quan began to take the patient's pulse.
When he took the patient's pulse, he found it was extremely weak.
Sometimes you can’t even feel it at all, as if it has disappeared.
However, the patient 's blood pressure and heart rate are basically normal.
The monitoring devices of other patients would sound the alarm from time to time, but Dr. An's brother's vital signs were relatively stable.
I guess all we need to do is suction the phlegm in time, help the patient move his limbs, and check whether he has bedsores.
Li Quan stared at the patient's face, then followed the artery in the neck downwards, looking for clues.
The patient is extremely thin, probably because of long-term bed rest.
Blood vessels emerged and spread all over the body like earthworms.
According to common sense, the blood vessels of patients who have been in a coma for a long time should be hidden.
This phenomenon often occurs in the ICU, where medical staff want to find a suitable vein for the patient, but cannot find one.
In the end, I could only get an IV drip on my head.
I really don't mean to abuse the patients, but I just can't find a suitable one.
"Strange, Dr. An's brother, why are the blood vessels protruding so high? It feels like when you are very angry or exert a lot of force, the meridians will dilate."
After Li Quan discovered this suspicious point, he followed the clues and started to investigate backwards.
Finally, we checked the patient's face all the way to the soles of his feet, but found nothing.
Seeing Dr. Anne looking at herself with tears in her eyes.
If Li Quan told her at this moment that there was nothing I could do, she would probably fall into complete despair.
At this moment, Dr. Anne was like a drowning person who had been in despair for a long time and saw a piece of driftwood floating in the distance. She was waiting expectantly for it to float over so that she could be rescued.
If she found that what was floating over was not a piece of driftwood but a ball of black foam, she would probably have found it difficult to hold on.
Li Quan really couldn't bear it.
Moreover, he has always had a stubborn temper. The more difficult it is to find the cause of the disease, the more challenging it is, the more he wants to find it out.
Since the cause cannot be found on the soles of the feet, what about the head?
There are many reasons that can cause a person to fall into a coma, and the most common area is the head.
Li Quan began to carefully examine the patient's ears, nostrils, inside of the eyes and other small parts.
Still nothing found.
His eyes unconsciously scanned the top of the patient's head repeatedly.
The patient is now in a bald strong state.
The vast majority of patients in the ICU ward are in this condition.
Shaving the head bald is also to make it easier for nurses to take care of the patients.
"Let me feel it."
Li Quan palpated the patient's head, temples and other parts with his hands, hoping to discover something.
At this moment, when his fingertips touched the back of the patient's head, he unexpectedly seemed to touch a small, hard, raised object.
After a careful examination, I did not find any scalp moles or the like.
So what was that hard object you just encountered?
Could it be that the patient's skull is sharper?
The bones of the head are complex, and the skull should be relatively smooth. Even if the patient loses more weight, it is impossible for the bones to become sharp, right?
Li Quan tried to touch the place where he suspected he had touched the hard object with his fingers.
This time it was clear.
It is certain that there is a small hard spot just under the scalp at the back of the head. It is a little prickly, but not particularly noticeable.
It cannot be seen with the naked eye.
But when you touch it with your hand, you can feel it.
Li Quan touched the back of his head. It was flat and smooth, without any scratches.
This time he was sure there was an abnormality in that area of the patient's skull.
If an ordinary doctor found that there seemed to be a bone spur growing on the skull, he probably wouldn't pay too much attention to it.
Li Quan, a Chinese medicine practitioner, is familiar with many acupoints on the head.
He also knew which acupuncture points would cause the patient to fall into a coma.
"I suspect there is something abnormal in this location. Can we open the patient's scalp to check?" Li Quan asked for their opinions.
"Do you want to perform a craniotomy on my brother?" Doctor Anne was obviously reluctant.
The main thing is that the cause of the disease has not been identified yet, but they performed a craniotomy on her brother. This is not a child's game.
Craniotomy carries a high risk of complications.
"No need to open the skull, just cut through the superficial cortex." Li Quan said confidently.
