NOVEL WEB Chapter 21 - Triage (6)
Chapter 21
Triage (6)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
Of course, they quickly identified the culprit.
It was obvious, as only one of the four of us was fidgeting nervously.
“Was it you, Jo Jin-gi?”
“Y-yes…”
“This punk.”
The faces of the chief residents hardened.
Among them were even some seniors who were usually friendly with Jo Jin-gi.
But at this moment, no one defended him.
He had made a mistake too absurd to simply laugh off.
“You mixed up left and right on an X-ray? How did you even pass the national exam?”
“Why don’t you just say the heart is on the right side while you’re at it?”
The residents berated him.
While the heart was indeed located on the left side of our body, X-rays and CT scans showed the image reversed.
In other words, the right side on an X-ray corresponded to the left side of the body.
Of course, newly minted interns like us could sometimes get confused.
But when performing an important procedure like thoracentesis, mistakes were unacceptable.
“Good job, good job indeed.”
“It goes without saying that you should apologize to the patient, but I can’t even face the thoracic surgery department. This is so embarrassing!”
The residents’ anger showed no signs of subsiding.
It was understandable.
Although the different departments in a university hospital cooperated with each other, I heard that they sometimes fought over overlapping areas of treatment or engaged in subtle power struggles.
So, the residents’ frustration must have been amplified.
A mistake made in the emergency medicine department had to be cleaned up by the thoracic surgery department.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
The chief resident, unable to watch any longer, intervened.
“Let’s move on for today. The patient seems to be fine, thankfully. But make sure to properly educate that punk later!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Everyone, dismissed!”
The interns exchanged glances, bowed their heads, and left the room.
Just then, Yeo Bong-cheol added,
“Jo Jin-gi!”
“Y-yes?”
Jo Jin-gi, who had relaxed thinking it was over, flinched.
“Don’t get cocky just because your cast is off. Just stick to getting consent forms signed for the time being. Got it?”
“…Yes.”
Jo Jin-gi hung his head dejectedly.
It seemed like he had made a bad impression on the senior doctors with this incident.
“And Seon-han, come see me for a moment.”
Huh?
Why was he calling only me?
***
Click—
The conference room door closed.
When it was just the two of us left, Dr. Yeo Bong-cheol looked at me intently and said,
“Seon-han, let me ask you something.”
“Yes.”
“Answer carefully. Your evaluation this month could depend on your answer.”
He set a serious tone.
I suddenly felt nervous.
What was he going to ask?
I straightened my posture and waited for Yeo Bong-cheol’s question.
“The needle aspiration you performed on the patient earlier, was that your own decision?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Are you crazy? Who told you to make decisions on your own as a mere intern?”
Yeo Bong-cheol growled.
But his tone wasn’t as harsh as before.
I answered calmly,
“I apologize for acting independently. But I believed it was an urgent situation…”
“Explain yourself.”
“Excuse me?”
“Explain the situation in detail.”
Was this…?
Yeo Bong-cheol was giving me a chance.
If I answered well here, I could finally be recognized as a proper doctor.
On the other hand, if I faltered even slightly, I would be severely reprimanded.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“When I was learning about pneumothorax, I learned that if aspiration isn’t performed in a timely manner, it could lead to cardiac arrest.”
“And?”
“It had already been over 30 minutes since the pneumothorax was identified, and when I arrived, the patient’s oxygen saturation had dropped to 53%. It was a critical situation.”
“…”
“Moreover, the patient was elderly. As an older adult with weakened lung function, I believed I couldn’t wait any longer.”
I calmly explained my thoughts.
Yeo Bong-cheol had a complex expression.
It seemed like he wanted to be angry, but also not.
What would he say next?
“Okay, I understand.”
Yeo Bong-cheol sighed deeply.
He seemed to have calmed down a bit.
“Well done. You identified someone else’s mistake and performed the emergency procedure perfectly. It’s something to be praised a hundred times, not scolded.”
Yeo Bong-cheol quietly raised his hand and placed it on my shoulder.
“But don’t forget that you’re still an intern.”
He continued in a gentle tone, like a parent admonishing a child.
“Never do anything you can’t take responsibility for in the future. Don’t make decisions on your own as a mere intern. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“You can go now.”
Yeo Bong-cheol patted my shoulder.
I bowed my head and left the conference room.
And just before the door closed, Dr. Yeo Bong-cheol said,
“You have the highest evaluation score this month.”
“…!”
I widened my eyes and turned around.
It wasn’t customary to tell interns their evaluation scores.
Moreover, the highest score?
It was a rare evaluation to receive.
I knew they avoided giving that score because it required writing specific comments, which was a hassle.
Moreover, Yeo Bong-cheol was known for being a strict evaluator.
And he was giving that to me?
“The final score is given by the chief resident and the professor, but if I add my comments, you should have no problem getting an A+.”
“Uh…”
“Why, you don’t like it?”
“That’s not it… Is it okay for you to tell me that?”
I asked with a bewildered expression.
Suddenly, Yeo Bong-cheol played innocent and looked away, saying,
“What did I say? I don’t think I said anything?”
Wow, look at his acting skills.
He deserved an Oscar.
I barely managed to suppress a laugh and played along.
“I don’t think I heard anything either.”
“Right?”
“Yes.”
“You can go now.”
Bow.
I bowed my head and closed the conference room door.
Click—
“Whew.”
I stepped out of the conference room.
It had been the longest day in my two months as an intern.
The seemingly endless night had finally passed, and dawn was breaking.
My throat felt tight, and my heart was still pounding from the adrenaline.
‘I did it!’
I clenched my fist.
I had changed the future with my own hands.
I prevented a patient from falling into grave danger and even received an A+ evaluation.
And I had built a strong relationship with Dr. Yeo Bong-cheol, which would be helpful for my future internship.
‘What in the world…’
What was this ability that showed me the future?
It was as if someone was constantly giving me challenges.
But one thing was certain—
Changing the future with my own hands was exhilarating.
***
After that.
Yeo Bong-cheol moved busily to deal with the aftermath.
First, he explained the situation to the professor, taking responsibility for not supervising the interns properly.
And he apologized to the patient and his family.
Of course, the family was shocked.
“W-what did you say?”
“What did you do to our father?”
It was natural for them to be angry that their family member had been put in danger due to the hospital’s mistake.
The patient’s daughter-in-law even brought up the possibility of a medical lawsuit, cornering Yeo Bong-cheol.
But then, the patient himself intervened.
“It’s okay. They were busy because of the traffic accident.”
“But Father, even so…”
“Doctors are human too; they can make mistakes. Just please treat my illness properly.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll treat you as if you were my own father.”
Ma Dong-seop said with a reassuring smile, and Yeo Bong-cheol bowed his head to the patient once again.
He believed it was a courtesy owed to a patient who trusted doctors.
Of course, the family still seemed unconvinced, but the legal team and general affairs department smoothly resolved the remaining issues.
***
“Good work.”
“You had a rough time.”
“By the way, doesn’t EM (Emergency Medicine) train its interns properly?”
“Damn it. Let’s see how well the interns from TS (Thoracic Surgery) do, you punk.”
Ma Dong-seop chuckled as Yeo Bong-cheol grumbled.
EM’s Yeo Bong-cheol.
TS’s Ma Dong-seop.
The two of them had been close since their intern days.
They were called the “Hulking Brothers” back then.
Even though they were working in different departments now, they spoke casually like old friends.
Gulp, gulp.
Yeo Bong-cheol, sitting on a bench in the break room, gulped down his iced coffee.
“Ah… We’ve been through a lot because of the interns this month. That Nelaton catheter incident with So-dam, and now this.”
“Still, it’s a relief that the patient is safe. It could have been dangerous. If it had been even a little later, it could have been a medical lawsuit.”
“Really?”
“If the patient had been left like that for a few more minutes, he could have gone into cardiac arrest. If that happened, his family wouldn’t have let it slide. Considering the severity of the mistake, we managed to handle it well.”
“That’s true…”
Yeo Bong-cheol chewed on the ice, replaying the events in his mind.
It was incredibly fortunate, thinking back.
What if Shin Seon-han had been even a little late in discovering the patient?
And what if he hadn’t performed the emergency treatment with the needle aspiration?
It was a terrifying thought.
Intern Shin Seon-han.
He hadn’t expected much from him at first, but he turned out to be the most useful one.
‘He would be a valuable asset as an EM resident… Should I try to recruit him later?’
Just as he was thinking this, Ma Dong-seop spoke.
“By the way, Bong-cheol, your intuition is still sharp.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That emergency needle aspiration you did was an excellent decision. As expected of the emergency medicine ace, Yeo Bong-cheol.”
“Ah, that?”
Yeo Bong-cheol chuckled and said,
“I wasn’t the one who did it.”
“Huh?”
“An intern in our department did it.”
“An intern?”
Ma Dong-seop’s eyes widened.
What did a mere two-month intern do?
“Come on, don’t lie. How could an intern…”
Ma Dong-seop stopped mid-sentence and fell into thought.
Come to think of it, something similar happened recently…
Could it be…?
“Is that intern’s name, by any chance, Shin Seon-han?”
“How did you know?”
“Huh.”
Ma Dong-seop stroked his chin.
To think he would hear that name again after just a month.
It was surprising, beyond coincidence.
“Shin Seon-han… That PCI patient last month, and now this. He’s not ordinary.”
[Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a non-surgical procedure used to treat the blockages in a coronary artery.]
“What do you mean?”
“There’s something about him.”
Ma Dong-seop didn’t elaborate.
It was too early to judge.
He could consider it luck twice.
But what if it happened again?
Perhaps a legendary intern would emerge after Song Yu-ju from thoracic surgery.
‘I’m getting curious about how useful that intern is. Should I try to recruit him to TS later?’
Ma Dong-seop smiled to himself.
The two of them sat there, lost in their own thoughts.
“Sigh. Anyway.”
Yeo Bong-cheol sighed.
He had to deal with the aftermath of the incident.
Even if he scolded the interns in front of everyone, he was ultimately responsible.
That was his personality.
Even though Jo Jin-gi had made an absurd mistake, he believed it was his fault for not teaching him properly.
Just as he was worrying about how to resolve this whole situation…
Someone peeked into the break room.
“Dr. Yeo, are you here?”
“Is something the matter?”
Yeo Bong-cheol’s eyes widened.
It was the head nurse of the ER.
“It’s not that I want to gossip, but I thought you should know…”
“Yes?”
“It’s about intern Jo Jin-gi. Apparently, one of our nurses overheard him earlier…”
The head nurse approached and whispered something to Yeo Bong-cheol.
A moment later.
Yeo Bong-cheol’s face flushed with anger after hearing what she said.
“That bastard…”
Crack!
The veins on his forehead bulged.
Any desire to cover for Jo Jin-gi’s mistake vanished.
His mind was now filled with thoughts of how to punish him.
Crush!
Yeo Bong-cheol crushed his coffee cup and threw it in the trash can, then stood up.
“Dong-seop, I’ll be going now.”
“Why, something urgent?”
“There’s someone I need to teach a lesson.”
Yeo Bong-cheol’s eyes gleamed fiercely.
To properly resolve this whole situation, there was something he had to address.