episode_0175

Episode 175. Overseas Conference (1)

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“Okay. Is everyone here?”

I looked around the practice room. There were about thirty healers from overseas, including Linea, gathered in my practice room.

It’s a small conference. However, considering that each person gathered here represents a major overseas medical institution, it wasn’t a small number.

Let’s see. Elf healer Linnea. A few priests from the temple, a few from the north. And some from other countries.

Melissa was also sitting on one side of the lab. Melissa winked at me, as if all of this was happening because of her.

Melissa does have a stake though.

“Then. Let’s start the practice.”

First. Auscultation.

The academy has already held lectures and practical training on auscultation, but I don’t know if the content has been conveyed overseas.

Probably not. I picked up my stethoscope and looked back at the lab. Everyone in the lab was wearing a gown.

“This is a tool called a stethoscope. With a stethoscope, you can hear the sounds of your heart and lungs moving. It will help with diagnosis.”

When I showed her the stethoscope, Linea, who was sitting in the front seat, tilted her head. I waited for a moment until Linea opened her mouth.

“How specifically?”

“Unlike listening with other tools, a stethoscope can help you identify where in your heart or lungs it hurts.”

You can only hear sounds by placing your ear directly on the chest or back, but you need a stethoscope to determine where the problem is.

“I don’t know how many stethoscopes I have right now. If possible, I’ll give one to each of you here. If you have any right now… … .”

I took a breath. The school staff started handing out stethoscopes to the people gathered at the conference. You need those to practice.

“I will explain the auscultation method. First, we need to be able to understand the structure of the lungs and heart. Does anyone know?”

A priest sitting next to me raised his hand. I turned my gaze in his direction.

“Yes.”

“Professor, you compiled a paper on the structure and principles of the circulatory system, right? We started our research based on that a few months ago.”

I looked at the priest.

Okay, so what do you want me to do?

The structure and principles of the circulatory system? Oh, come to think of it, I discovered capillaries and arteriovenous circulation, too. There are so many of them.

“Keep talking.”

“Ah, yes. The lungs are divided into three compartments on the right and two on the left. The heart is divided into four chambers.”

That’s right.

“The difference between auscultation and other methods of finding out what’s going on inside the body. If you have the technology, you can find out where and what the problem is. Oh, you can also auscultate the stomach to assess how much it moves.”

Linea frowned.

“But. How do you know what is normal and what is abnormal? It will be different for each person.”

That’s right.

There is no way to figure out what or how someone else hears, and there is no standard for what sound is normal.

In modern times, studies have been conducted by recording normal heart sounds and breathing sounds and playing them back to the listener.

“What… … . It’s more of an art than a skill. Basically, you have to listen well. But you can still express sounds in words.”

Linea nodded slowly.

“Aha.”

“It is written in detail in the booklet. It describes pathological heart and breath sounds.”

I’ve explained this before at academic conferences. There may be stenosis or regurgitation of the valve, or wheezing or crackles may be heard in the lungs.

“From now on, please listen to each other with the person sitting next to you. Everyone will probably be normal, so you can understand by comparing.”

****

Second. Suture.

This time, the school staff brought the healers a piece of leather, along with several sutures and needles. I started explaining right away.

“I looked up the literature and it says that sutures are made of various materials, but that is not right. Sutures must be made of silk thread.”

This time, a healer from the north looked at me as if asking what I was talking about.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“What happens if I use a different thread?”

Since silk is quite an expensive item, it might be difficult to obtain in remote or poor areas. I thought about it for a moment.

“What do people usually use in the North?”

“Made from sheep intestines.”

A thread made from sheep intestines. Since it is an animal-derived material, it is not commonly used because it can cause allergic or inflammatory reactions in patients.

The academy also decided not to use it.

“Well, that’s not good. If you suture with something other than silk, the patient’s body may have an immune reaction to the suture.”

“What is the immune response?”

Oh, here we go again.

I looked at the healer from the north.

“You can think of it as inflammation. It’s the body rejecting an external substance. That shows up as redness, swelling, and itchiness.”

“Does this mean that using silk thread will eliminate the problem of inflammation after suturing?”

Fortunately, there were no follow-up questions.

The northerners seem to be more practical. The scholars of the Imperial Academy must have been asking questions for a long time about the principles of inflammation.

There are cultural differences, though.

“It’s a little better, I guess. Because the suture itself can avoid causing an immune response.”

Anyway, let me explain. I drew a large wound on the blackboard in front of the lab. I drew it next to the vertical cross-section of the wound.

“First of all, the primary purpose of suturing is to close a wound. However, it is not enough to just close the outside of the wound; the inside is more important.”

“Inside?”

“Yes.”

I drew a suture loop on the longitudinal section of the suture. In this way, the suture should enter the deepest part of the wound.

“Like this. The needle must go all the way to the bottom of the wound. If you only sew the skin, blood and pus will collect inside, making the problem much worse.”

“Aha.”

“Don’t tie it too tightly. If there is tissue that doesn’t have blood flow, it can rot.”

Linea nodded again this time.

“When suturing a wound, it is better to tie each knot separately rather than tying it with a single thread like sewing clothes.”

“Really?”

“As I said, it’s not just about suturing the patient’s skin. It’s about closing the wound, not suturing it.”

There was a brief rumbling sound.

Since everyone has tried suturing before, everyone seems to have their own opinions on what is the best method. I waited for a moment for everyone to be quiet.

“Then, Professor Asterix, do you think that the best way is to sew the wound tightly and deeply with silk thread?”

“Yes.”

“Then. Since I brought pig skin to the practice room, it seems like it would be a good idea to practice sewing. I also brought sutures… … .”

The healers gathered in the room bowed their heads and began to sew the pig skin that had been brought to them. I looked around the practice room. Is everything going well?

****

Third. Hygiene.

“As anyone who has ever experimented with culture media knows, the fingertips and palms are among the places on the human body with the most bacteria. If your hands touch a wound, the risk of infection increases.”

“Yes.”

“Hospitals are places where there are many germs that cause illness, so you need to be extra careful. You must disinfect your hands before seeing a patient, and you must disinfect them after seeing a patient, and you must disinfect surgical instruments every time you use them.”

In the Middle Ages, it is said that it was common for doctors to not properly clean surgical knives and use them on different patients.

The Empire wasn’t like that, but there are probably some people here who are like that.

“Do you think it’s that important?”

“Thanks to my production of disinfectant alcohol at the Academy, the rate of postoperative gangrene infections at this hospital has been reduced by half.”

“Aha… … .”

“The method of making disinfectant is the same as that of making high-proof sake. Alcohol dehydrates and kills microorganisms. This process can also be observed under a microscope.”

This time, the healers from the North raised their hands again. I nodded.

“Yes.”

“What does it mean that the disinfectant you made is the same as high-proof Cheongju?”

“High-proof Cheongju can also be used as a disinfectant. However, the alcohol used for disinfection has too high of an alcohol content to be consumed.”

“The stronger the alcohol, the better, right?”

If you eat that kind of thing carelessly, you’ll die. The healers from the north laughed heartily.

****

Mint was sitting in Professor Asterix’s laboratory, waiting, thinking about something.

The Academy has received guests from overseas, including influential figures and even non-influential figures. Shouldn’t Princess Mint also visit?

Well, it wasn’t a must to go. But as a princess, it was good to attend if there was an opportunity to show off overseas. For the sake of the empire, too.

Of course, it’s different from a lab or a cocktail party, but the bottom line is that it’s for communication. You’ll also be able to see Mr. Asterix.