My Medical Skills Give Me Experience Points-Chapter 200 - 117: First Experience in Orthopedics, External Fracture Fixation Technique_3

Tuya Hospital's Orthopedics alone has more than three hundred beds. With so many departments combined, the total number of beds must be an astonishing figure.

It would be hard to find three such hospitals in a province.

Not to mention the beds in its first and second affiliated branches have not been added yet.

"I don't know your names, and to save time, I'll directly assign beds according to the list. For the next three days, you are only to assist and not in charge of these beds."

Dr. Xiang read from the list and allocated batches of beds to each person.

The number of beds each person is responsible for ranges from about 8 to 12, varying in quantity.

The number of beds managed is mainly based on the in-charge doctor's ability.

Zhou Can was assigned beds 115 to 124.

In total, managing ten beds.

Just as Dr. Xiang said, he was only to assist in management. These ten beds were all under the care of a doctor named Hee Zhang.

Under this doctor, there definitely would be trainees and intern doctors co-managing.

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"Hey you, stop dazing around, come over quickly and help with the plaster casting."

A busy doctor waved at Zhou Can.

"That means you, hurry over here."

Zhou Can quickly walked over.

He took a surgical knife but had never applied a plaster cast to a patient before.

"The patient fell from a height, suffering a severe fracture in the right leg and has undergone surgery. The navicular bone in the arch of the left foot has a minor fracture. The attending physician wants us to apply a plaster cast to stabilize it."

You could see the patient's right leg already wrapped like a mummy.

It's unclear what specific surgery was performed.

In case of a fracture, even after surgery, external fixation is needed to let the bone heal.

This period is relatively long.

There's a principle in treating patients' conditions: life-threatening injuries are handled first, followed by severe injuries, and minor injuries last.

High falls come in various forms, such as falling from a building, slipping off a cliff, or tree branches breaking while climbing, with the unlucky falling to the ground.

High falls are often accompanied by serious internal injuries.

The patient at hand is fortunate to have only broken his legs.

"You look clueless; have you never applied a plaster cast to a patient before?"

"Indeed, I haven't!"

Zhou Can squatted down, unsure of how to assist.

"I'll teach you once, and you'll learn! First, measure the length from the patient's footbed to the ankle area. Then measure the width of the footbed."

The doctor was not very tall, probably around 1.65 meters.

About twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old.

Zhou Can didn't recognize him, but when Dr. Xiang was assigning trainees earlier, this person must have been watching nearby.

"Alright, I got it. Are you Doctor Hee Zhang?"

The other spoke quite politely, at least not as fierce as imagined.

Zhou Can then dared to actively inquire about his name.

"Hmm! I'm the resident doctor here, managing beds 115 to 124. Besides you, there are three interns. There was another trainee, who has already been transferred today."

It was indeed Doctor Hee Zhang.

Even in a large hospital like Tuya, the workload for a trainee doctor is very heavy, almost being utilized as a resident doctor.

The handover trainee doctor has yet to be arranged in place, and the person was directly transferred.

This indicates that the hospital's doctor staffing is quite tight.

"After measuring, remember the length, and then make the plaster strip into an appropriate length. The width generally doesn't matter. For limbs that are too wide, you can directly apply a splint. For something like this, a plaster cast is enough."

Doctor Hee Zhang was quite adept with his hands.

The patient, like the vast majority of patients, remained silent.

Quietly watching the doctor busy himself.

"These are the essential materials for applying a plaster cast. Plaster, plaster gauze, and bandages."

He pointed them out to Zhou Can one by one.

Three things are easy to distinguish, Zhou Can nodded, indicating he remembered.

"Once you've made the plaster strips of appropriate length, next is to prepare the plaster padding. Remember, you need to get the right size and width."

It is essentially custom-made for the patient's left foot.

"You go and fetch half a bucket of hot water, at about 50 degrees Celsius. You can get the hot water from the water room over there."

Hee Zhang did this intentionally to let Zhou Can quickly familiarize himself with the environment.

Soon, Zhou Can brought the hot water.

Without a way to measure the temperature accurately, they used the hand test method.

The human body's temperature is roughly between 36–37 degrees, if it feels slightly scalding, then the water is around forty to fifty degrees.

Doctor He was quite satisfied when he saw how quickly he had fetched the water.

He tested the water temperature with his hand and a smile appeared on his face.

"You're doing well! What's your name?"

"My name is Zhou Can! You can call me Xiao Zhou."

As a newcomer, Zhou Can kept a very low profile.

"Dr. Zhou, next is to soak the plaster strips in water."

Once the plaster strips were immersed, they immediately began bubbling vigorously.

"Remember, you must wait until the bubbling stops before taking them out."

After a while, the bubbling ceased.

Doctor He took out the soaked plaster strips and quickly squeezed them with his hands.

"Squeeze out as much water as possible, then spread them out on the plaster padding. You have to be quick, don't take too long, otherwise it will harden very fast."

After that was done, Doctor He instructed Zhou Can to raise the patient's left leg.

"If the patient is able to, you can have them directly step on it."

Having said that, Doctor He looked towards the patient.

"Uncle, it's going to hurt a bit, just bear with it for a moment."

Nearby, two family members of patients were watching.

It's essential to explain clearly to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings.

Doctor He held down the patient's foot with one hand, and with the other, he placed the plaster against the patient's sole and quickly wrapped it according to the shape of the patient's foot.

"Dr. Zhou, hold it in place, don't let the plaster come loose."

Doctor He waited until Zhou Can was holding it, then unwrapped the bandage and began to wrap around the patient. Once one roll of bandage was used up, he opened another.

A few minutes later, the plaster was firmly secured to the patient's foot with bandages, all the way to the heel.

"Remember, the bandages can't be wrapped too tight nor too loose. Especially these areas, wrapping too tightly can cause ischemic necrosis. After wrapping, you can adjust the shape of the plaster with your hands to make it fit the patient's foot more snugly."

Zhou Can was only assisting throughout the process.

When the patient's cast was completed.

[Congratulations, you've acquired the External Fracture Fixation Technique, which allows you to carry out external fixation for fracture patients and helps the fracture site heal quickly.]

[External Fracture Fixation Technique, current Experience Points: Level 1, 1/10, intern failing grade.]

Having acquired another orthopedic skill, Zhou Can couldn't contain his joy.

Although it's just one of the most basic techniques in orthopedics, its usage rate is very high in surgical operations.

Especially in the Department of Orthopedics, many minor fractures just require a cast.

"There's another patient over there who needs a cast, and this time you're going to do it while I guide you."

"Sure!"

Zhou Can readily agreed.

Doctor He certainly hoped he could pick it up quickly so that next time there was a need for casting, Zhou Can could do it on his own.

This was a patient with a hand fracture, who needed to have a cast applied and then suspended from the neck.

"The main severe fracture site is the hip joint, and the surgical plan is not yet finalized. First, we need to secure the fractured arm." It was a very thin middle-aged woman lying on the hospital bed, groaning continuously.

She kept yelling that she was going to die.

When encountering such patients, Zhou Can would always be particularly careful.

The family member accompanying her was a young man around twenty, probably her son. This unfilial son was engrossed in playing games on his phone beside her.