Chapter 580: [(580)] Remote Assistance Chapter 580: [(580)] Remote Assistance The left middle finger pressed firmly on the aforementioned spot, while the right hand held the needle, remembering that the needle should enter at an angle of 15 to 30 degrees following the direction of the blood vessel. It was best to choose the insertion point one third along the line connecting the patient’s mandible and the upper edge of the clavicle.
Though this was what the textbooks said, it greatly tested the injectors’ visual judgment. Those with less visual acuity could rely on experience. For Xie Wanying, this jugular vein puncture was a first-time experience, so she could only think that it should be easier than a subclavian vein puncture, at least it was a vein that could be seen and felt. This gave her full courage to attempt it, especially with two veteran nurses and Teacher Ren beside her.
Her eyes focused on the calculated puncture point, and the needle in her hand entered parallel to the skin at the angle she had determined. The entry through the skin needed to be quick to minimize the patient’s pain. Once the needle was in the vein and blood return was confirmed, her movements had to be gentle and steady, withdrawing the steel needle in a timely manner, leaving the catheter behind. The assisting nurse quickly helped by securing the cannula with dressings and used a syringe to draw some blood for testing before hanging up a saline drip. It was like establishing a lifeline for the patient, a channel of supply that allowed everyone to take a breath of relief.
The veteran nurses, unaware that this was her first time, said, “Anyone can see you’re an old hand at giving injections.” Indeed, they forgot that Xie Wanying just said she was a student.
Meanwhile, Dongzi, Ren Chongda contacted his old classmate Cao Yong by phone.
Neurosurgery took a long time. Cao Yong had just left the operating room; it was one o’clock in the afternoon. Huang Zhilei and the other assistants hadn’t left yet, finishing up in the operating room. Cao Yong stepped out first to take the emergency call from Ren Chongda.
“What’s the situation?” Cao Yong asked.
“Acute brain herniation, about a five-year-old boy, pupils were constricting and now I’m afraid they are dilating. I’m worried he won’t make it if we don’t do drainage soon,” Ren Chongda said.
“Which hospital are you at? In our hospital’s emergency department?”
“Of course not! I would have called you here directly.”
“So which hospital are you at now?”
“The outpatient building. It’s a car accident victim I encountered on the street. The ambulance has been delayed–probably stuck in traffic. We moved him to the nearby outpatient building. There should be some equipment we can use here.”
“You didn’t do a CT, did you?”
“No, the boy is unconscious.”
“You’re not me, do you dare operate without a CT?”
This soul-searching question from an old classmate caused Ren Chongda to touch his own forehead. When his palm came down, it was drenched in sweat. It could be anxiety, fear, or dread–the life of the patient was in his hands. But he hadn’t practiced clinical medicine for a long time, and his lack of clinical contact made him fear that his skills had become rusty, causing his heart to pound with unease.
Without hearing a response from his classmate on the other end, Cao Yong thought, if it were his junior sister, Yingying, right now she would have immediately answered him saying: Try, we must try by all means, for the patient’s life it’s necessary to try!
Yingying, his junior sister, was the most fearless novice he had seen. Because of this, all the teachers and seniors were always worried for her. Her approach of going all out was a rarity in the medical field. Rare, but not nonexistent. It’s not that doctors don’t want to do this, but most of them lack the technical prowess.
Indeed, without trying, the patient would surely die. Under such circumstances, can a doctor choose not to act, just to avoid the risk and thereby shirk their responsibility, due to the difficulty of the procedure?