Chapter 44: Absorbable suture
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
*Wee woo… Wee woo…*
When the ambulance’s siren rang, Juan Zi first pushed the wheelchair to the door and prepared to receive the patient.
This was the third batch of patients sent by Lu Jinling, and the patients from the previous batch were still in the middle of receiving fluid transfusion.
Ling Ran stretched lazily and also prepared to receive the incoming ambulance.
He was not displeased in the least about performing sutures on his rest days. If he could monotonously tie knots tens of thousands of tis just for training in dical school, he could definitely do boring debrident and suturing tens of thousands of tis as an intern as well.
The study of dicine was always a kind of skill set that had to be practiced often in order to be perfected. Theory was indeed important but the value of experience could not be ignored.
For Ling Ran, playing gas was a way to relax, and doing debrident as well as suturing was also considered a form of relaxation. The fun in both varied. It depended if the ga started off smoothly or if the patient who required suturing had an interesting case.
“His glutes has been stabbed. The wound is rather deep…”
“The back injury isn’t too serious. Lie down here for debrident.”
“The foot injury is infected. Doctor Xiong, please co over and carry out the debrident.”
Ling Ran did not imdiately carry out first aid on whichever patient he could lay his hands on. Instead, he acted like he was in a resuscitation room. He looked and diagnosed each patient one by one and classified them respectively.
This was also a new thing he learned after he started his internship.
Even in the Ergency Departnt of Yun Hua Hospital, diagnosing a patient had to be done quickly. It was common for an ambulance to send four or five patients in one go, yet there were not many available doctors. The order of diagnosis and treatnt naturally could not be based on a first co first serve basis. It was carried out according to the severity of the patient’s condition.
After two rounds of coordinating with Ling Ran, Doctor Xiong and Juan Zi gradually beca familiar with Ling Ran’s rhythm. Additionally, working with them made Ling Ran feel more at ease than working in Yun Hua Hospital.
No matter how skilful the doctors were in Yun Hua Hospital’s Ergency Departnt, they could not properly assist him. At most, they would help him a little. Over here, Doctor Xiong and Juan Zi made serious efforts in cooperating with him, and the effects of their treatnt were much better.
During suturing, he only needed to pierce the needle through the patients’ skin. The threading and knotting work could be done by Doctor Xiong, making work much easier for Ling Ran.
In the hospital, ordinary Level 2 surgery had the sa configuration.
“Alright. The three patients are done with their stitches. There’s only one last patient left. How are you planning to stitch her wound?” Doctor Xiong bandaged the last patient. He said to Ling Ran while feeling sowhat worried, “Girls are sensitive about their beauty, and she’s wounded at the shoulder. If it’s not easy to stitch, let’s send her to the hospital instead.”
After that, with a considerable amount of curiosity, Doctor Xiong asked, “Little Lu, where did you manage to get all these patients from? You even found a woman who’s been in a fight?”
“She was drunk in a KTV.” Lu Jinling kept her gaze forward. It was unclear if she was looking at the patient or Ling Ran. Her answer was simple and short.
Doctor Xiong was enlightened, but shook his head in confusion the next instant. “Drinking at a KTV at this hour…?”
“Afternoon sessions in the KTV are cheap now. Many people would go for so barbeque at night once they’ve had enough drinking and singing. Helps them save money.” Lu Jinling disclosed.
The patient was a girl of indiscernible age, and her face was covered in heavy makeup. As she gradually sobered up, she looked at her wound and asked, “Can you stitch it up? How much longer will it take?”
“Ten minutes,” Ling Ran looked down at the wound and said. Then, he asked Juan Zi, “Give a 5-0 thread. Do we have catgut?”
“Wait a minute.” Doctor Xiong quickly interrupted Ling Ran. “It’s expensive to stitch this wound with absorbable thread.”
“What should we use otherwise?” Ling Ran’s judgnt was very simple. For the scar to be aesthetically pleasing and less visible, using thin thread and absorbable sutures was the way to go.
Doctor Xiong had been around the clinic for a long ti, so he considered more aspects. He pulled Ling Ran a few ters away and asked, “Have you thought about this thoroughly? Can you stitch it?”
“Yes.” Ling Ran’s answer was short and confident.
He was already a master in suturing. If he could not even manage such a simple wound, it would just be embarrassing for him.
Doctor Xiong nodded, feeling sowhat skeptical. He said, “The absorbable thread will leave a shallow scar. If you can stitch it well, we can really make so money in this small clinic. However, the 5-0 thread will be too thin. Shouldn’t we use a #0 thread instead?”
The diater of the 5-0 thread was 0.1 milliter, which was the thickness of two or three strands of hair. The #0 thread was 4-0, which was one and a half tis thicker than the 5-0 thread, plus it was less prone to tearing.
From Doctor Xiong’s perspective, Ling Ran would have an easier ti controlling a thicker thread. If he switched threads halfway, things would just backfire on him.
Ling Ran calmly said, “Either one will do, but the effect will be better with the 5-0 thread.”
For him, any type of thread could be used to ensure a smaller scar, but since he had no idea how much a patient would move about, a slightly thicker thread would also be good to ensure the results of the suture.
Of course, the thickness of the thread ntioned here was relative. The #0 thread was the thinnest and most common thread used in the resuscitation room. Generally, doctors found it inconvenient and would not choose it.
Doctor Xiong looked at Ling Ran, but still felt sowhat uncertain. After a few seconds, he yelled, “Old Ling.”
Ling Jiezhou was drinking tea with his wife on the first floor. After hearing Doctor Xiong’s call, he put down his teacup, ran down, and asked, “Is it ti to collect the fees?”
“Almost. Young Ran is preparing to use an absorbable thread to stitch up the patient’s wound. Do tell the patient that absorbable threads are charged based on centiters in other clinics and hospitals,” Doctor Xiong said.
“I see, absorbable threads, right? So private hospitals are really black holes for money in this regard,” Ling Jiezhou said as he entered the treatnt room and cordially consoled the patient for the money she was about to lose while he negotiated with her.
After a while, Ling Jiezhou ca out and said, “It’s done. We’ll charge her the price of 1.5 inch absorbable thread for that 1.5 inch wound of hers. Let’s give her a 50% discount. Son, stitch her up well. At least you didn’t waste your years of studying.”
The patient in the treatnt room was completely awake and conscious at this ti. When she saw Ling Ran, she beca more nervous. She asked, “You know how to stitch with absorbable threads, right? My shoulders are often exposed to the public. I can’t afford to leave any scars on it.”
Juan Zi dragged her heavy legs and brought over the 4-0 and 5-0 surgical catgut.
Ling Ran then placed them in front of the patient and explained, “These two threads won’t leave scars on you easily. The 5-0 thread is a little finer, and the scars will be less visible, but you’ll need to pay more attention to how you move because it may affect the wound—”
“I’ll go for the finer one,” the patient made a choice without waiting for Ling Ran to finish his sentence.
Doctor Xiong pouted and said, “They’re both very fine.”
“I want the finer thread.” The patient was very firm with her decision.
Ling Ran was the type who did not like to talk after he finished his explanations. He waved his hand to signal all the people sans himself and the patient to step back as he tore open the suture kit himself.
Threads below #0 were basically attached together with the pinhead. Its characteristic was that there was no eye of the needle at the end of the needle, and the thread was directly pushed into the end of the needle while it was manufactured so that damage to the skin could be minimized during sutures.
During packaging, an ordinary suture kit could be loaded with bundles of five or ten needles, and the ones with pinheads would need to be individually packed, making it very obvious that it was a standard above the other needles.
However, doctors did not necessarily like finer threads. If suturing was regarded as an examination, using thread #7 was equivalent to lowering the passing mark to 30%, and you could pass the exam easily. Using #0 threads were equivalent to pushing the passing marks up to 60%, and the test would have to be done a little more seriously. The 5-0 thread was equivalent to pushing the passing mark up to 80%. So doctors had to have full concentration while performing the stitches to be able to pass, while so doctors failed even if they tried their best.
Of course, there were always people who scored 100 marks in whatever paper they took.
Ling Ran was an example. Since he obtained Master Level in Simple Interrupted Sutures, forget using 5-0 or 6-0 threads, he could still perform sutures easily even if soone gave him a 10-0 thread.
“Okay, you may open your eyes now. Do not let your wound co into contact with water. Try to keep activity to a minimum…” Ling Ran habitually recited the Standard Precaution for Patients. He felt that there was no difference in stitching the patient’s shoulder wound compared to other people’s wounds.
Doctor Xiong who was working as an assistant saw everything with his own eyes, and he felt that Ling Ran had perford the stitches effortlessly. Ling Ran had not been bothered by the thickness or thinness of the thread at all. Doctor Xiong was amazed and tried hard to suppress the shock on his face.
On the other hand, the patient seed unaccustod to Ling Ran’s casual attitude. She spoke in a nervous and sowhat uneasy tone, “We’ve agreed that if I scar, you will not only give a refund, but you will also have to pay back another sum. If the scar doesn’t stay, I’ll introduce my sisters to your clinic if any of them are injured again.”
Ling Jiezhou readily agreed. He did not possess any dical skills, but he knew many doctors, and in his opinion, Ling Ran’s skill was no worse than those doctors who had high market value.
Once he thought of this, Ling Jiezhou thought to himself again. With the current flow of patients, the clinic could hire another part-ti doctor. Then, when Ling Ran was on duty in Yun Hua Hospital, the clinic could still operate as usual.
He looked at the utility room next to the treatnt room and revealed his signature honest and boyish smile.
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