episode_0007

Episode 7. Going to work in the ward (2)

****

“I came to see the clinic that opened. Mr. Asterix. Do you like the Academy? I heard you’re working hard on something.”

It was a bit difficult.

“Of course. I will rewrite the history of medicine in the empire with the opportunity given to me by the princess.”

“Okay… … . Try hard. I don’t know if the teacher is arrogant or humble.”

The princess muttered.

“I’m just being honest. I might seem humble about my shortcomings and arrogant about my strengths.”

“You talk too much. Don’t be arrogant.”

Anyway, let’s start the treatment.

“Let me take a stethoscope.”

Asthma is not a disease that can be easily cured. The princess’s symptoms have improved a lot, and she seems fine since she was originally a superhuman, but if you look at her with a stethoscope, you can find problems.

If you still listen to the princess’s lungs, you can still hear wheezing. Simply put, it’s a sound made when air is obstructed as it leaves the lungs.

“Are you feeling better?”

“No. It doesn’t look much different than when I saw it last time. It’s definitely improved a lot since I first saw it though.”

“I guess the healer’s skills are the problem.”

“I think so.”

“You’re fired.”

“That’s too bad.”

I thought about it for a while and then put a bottle of medicine on the desk. It was the same medicine I had been using before. A long-acting bronchodilator.

“Is it the same as the one you used last time?”

“Yes.”

“No need to increase it or anything?”

“Do you usually feel short of breath, or when you exercise?”

“Not really.”

“Then there is no benefit in changing it.”

I shook my head.

There is one thing that is a bit disappointing. It would be nice to have a means of measuring lung capacity or respiratory volume, but there was no way to obtain one in the royal family.

“Ah. You can determine the severity of asthma by the amount of air moving when you breathe. Let’s make the necessary equipment. ”

Do you know if there’s a machine in the alchemy lab that measures the volume of gases? Come to think of it, there probably is.

“Try it once.”

“That’s right.”

I bowed my head to the princess.

“Come again next time.”

“When?”

“About next month? Come back when you’re done with your medicine. If you don’t feel better, come right away.”

“Okay.”

Princess Mint left the examination room like that. Only after Mint left the examination room did Istina relax her attention and stand comfortably.

“Just now, are you really the princess?”

“Aren’t there a lot of high-ranking nobles in the Academy?”

“This is my first time seeing the princess.”

Sometimes I forget. Princess Mint was also a very high-ranking person, right? I don’t really get it because I know her personally.

****

Istina seemed to have a lot of questions.

“What.”

“Are you acquainted with the princess?”

Yes, that’s right.

“He was the royal physician.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. More importantly, what are those things you’ve put in your ears? Is it a device for listening to sound?”

This is a stethoscope that was made while working in the royal family.

“Stethoscope. You can listen to sounds inside the body. Usually heart sounds and breathing sounds. If you get more skilled, you can also listen to bowel sounds and blood vessel sounds.”

“Ah… … .”

The stethoscope wasn’t invented until the early 19th century, so Istina may never have seen anything like it.

“Can I try it?”

“Yeah.”

I handed the stethoscope to Istina. Istina moved the head of the stethoscope around here and there as if it was a new experience.

“Professor, can you figure out what the disease is just by listening to the patient’s voice?”

Not to that extent.

“Well, if it’s heart disease or lung disease, we might be able to figure out the cause of the illness. It’s not like we can tell right away what the illness is.”

That’s a little different.

In the hospital of my previous life, there was a concept of confirmation. If you do a genetic test on bacteria, you can find out exactly what kind of bacteria it is without any error. In most cases, you can find out what the disease is through a biopsy, endoscopy, or CT.

Not here.

There is no way to know for sure. If the symptoms go away with medication or treatment, you can only guess that the diagnosis was made correctly.

That’s what healing magic is all about anyway.

****

And then, it’s time to go to work in earnest.

This is my ward.

I’ll leave the research work to Istina for now. I have to go to work at the ward today. Actually, Istina came with me too… … It’s a bit strange to say that I left the research work to Istina.

That’s why we need more graduate students. Anyway, the research work has been passed on to us in the future. Today, it’s time to see the patients in the ward.

It seems that patients with emergencies, severe illnesses, or unknown illnesses are transferred from the general ward to the professor’s ward. Something seems wrong with the order, but there’s nothing we can do about it.

I had no idea what to do. I just sat quietly in the corner of the ward. Istina was reading a textbook next to me.

“It’s good to look at textbooks, but I don’t know how many words will fit in the textbook.”

“Oh, but wouldn’t it be better for the professor to look at the textbook too? I think it would be easier if he knew what we studied based on.”

Yeah. I guess you’ll have to catch me sometime.

“Istina. Based on your experience working in this ward, how many patients do you think will come in today?”

“There are a lot of patients coming in even on a regular basis. If nothing happens, the ward will probably be full.”

Oh.

This 12-bed ward is full? That seems like a lot for two people.

“Once it’s full, no one can come in until everyone else leaves, so it’s not as much of a headache as you might think.”

I nodded.

First, let’s see what kind of patients are coming in.

After a while.

The first patient to come into my ward was a patient who was holding his arm. To be exact, he was holding his upper arm, and his lower arm seemed to be badly injured. It was too much to touch.

The patient was a young man in riding clothes, perhaps an academy student.

Istina ran to the patient, and I looked at the nurse who came in supporting the patient.

“Do you know the patient’s information?”

“Academy student, Mr. Benjamin. He fell while horseback riding a few hours ago, and his arm fell on a rock, breaking his arm bone.”

The nurse who brought the patient answered.

A boy who looked to be around the same age as Istina. He had brown hair and his face was covered in sweat from the pain of a broken arm.

The face is just that much. The arms are what’s important.

It looks like he was lying in a general ward. Judging from the fact that his forearm is bent in a place where there shouldn’t be a joint, it’s definitely a fracture. What kind of fracture is it?

Is it a comminuted fracture with the bone crushed? Or a simple fracture? Judging by the angle at which the arm is bent, even if it is a simple fracture, both sides of the humerus are broken.

More than that, judging by the fact that the arm is still bent, it looks like it’s seriously broken. Or is it a broken arm with a muscle or tendon that was bent at that angle?

This is a serious situation. Not only will you lose the use of your arm, but your life may also be at risk. If you don’t get treatment quickly.

“Patient. Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Aaah! I think I’m going to die from the pain.”

Are you having a difficult time conversing?

There’s nothing I can do. I walked over to the patient’s bed and checked the patient’s broken arm. There were bruises and swelling. It was hard to tell at first glance what the problem was.

I tried pressing the edge of the bruise first.

“Does it hurt?”

“Kkaaah!”

It looks like you’re in a lot of pain. The first priority is to determine where and how much pain is felt when pressed.

Depending on the distribution of pain, it can be helpful to determine if a bone is broken, how many bones are broken, and whether muscles or nerves are damaged.

“Where is this?”

“Ah, aaah!”

Your voice is also good.

“Can you just press the wound like that?”

Although Istina muttered softly.

You can press it.

There’s no way to figure out what’s going on right now. There’s no way to hurt your broken arm any more by pressing on it with your finger. It might hurt your arm a little, though.

“Istina. I’ll give you one minute. Tell me what you think about the patient’s diagnosis plan and treatment plan.”

Istina opened her mouth.

“Uh, the patient’s arm is broken, so I think we’ll need to put a splint on it, and since he’s in pain, I think we’ll give him some painkillers. Other than that-”

“Think about it some more.”

Both were wrong. I looked away from Istina and back at the patient.

“Patient. What hurt you?”

“I fell off my horse, ugh.”

“Have you ever tried to align your bones?”

“Ah… … . Huh?”

I see. I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and handed it to Istina. Istina looked at me with an expression that said she had no idea what was going on.

“Muzzle the patient.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to try to fit the bones.”

“Wouldn’t that hurt a lot? You should take some painkillers right now-”

I shook my head.

If I had been able to get an X-ray, I would have taken painkillers first. However… … . There are several reasons why I shouldn’t take painkillers now.

“If you take painkillers, the pain pattern will change. Then there is no way to know what happened to your arm. Take painkillers after 10 minutes.”

“Okay.”

Istina nodded.

I made eye contact with the patient.

“10 minutes! I’ll use the painkiller in 10 minutes!”