Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 26

#26 Gangnam Station (5)

“A doctor?”

“He’s a doctor, that man!”

At the word ‘doctor,’ the crowd parts as if Moses himself were parting the Red Sea.

Tap!

I stepped into the heart of the accident scene, but I didn’t know where to begin.

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.

Thump, thump—

My heart was pounding in my ears.

I felt adrenaline surging more intensely than when dealing with a cardiac arrest patient in the emergency room.

‘Do as you learned, stay calm!’

I tried to recall what I had been taught at the hospital.

First, report it.

“You there, in the blue shirt! Please call 119 [South Korea’s emergency telephone number]!”

“Yes… Yes!”

The man who had been blankly watching seemed to snap out of it and started calling the rescue team.

In situations like this, it’s better to designate a specific person rather than asking the crowd in general; this helps ensure a faster response.

“There are a total of 9 injured, including critical patients!”

At my words, the man on the phone with 119 nodded hastily.

Okay, what should I do now?

Let’s stick to the basics.

‘119 is called, next is ABC!’

A—Airway, is the airway open?

B—Breathing, is the patient breathing well?

C—Circulation, is the heart beating well and blood circulating properly?

It’s a quick and immediate way to assess emergency patients.

I shouted to those around me.

“Those standing near the injured, please help! If there’s anyone who isn’t breathing or is having difficulty breathing, you must tell me immediately!”

Soon, regardless of age or gender, several people stepped forward to examine the injured.

People want to help in these situations.

They just don’t know how.

As soon as I revealed that I was a doctor, people began to actively follow my instructions.

This is the leadership I learned from Teacher Yeo Bong-cheol over the past month.

Of course, that’s not all I learned in the emergency room.

‘Triage.’

Emergency patient classification.

Realistically, since we can’t care for all patients simultaneously, we have to prioritize coldly.

Then, two phrases flashed through my mind.

[Excessive bleeding]

[Cardiac tamponade]

‘Right… the other patients won’t become critical even if I don’t intervene immediately. I need to find these two patients first!’ In this situation where every second counts, my mind started racing faster than ever.

‘Let’s find the excessive bleeding patient first. I need to stop the bleeding quickly!’

I ran towards the person who was lying unconscious.

It was a woman who looked to be in her 50s.

“Ma’am, can you hear me?”

“Ugh… young man. What’s going on?”

Fortunately, the woman seemed to have collapsed from shock and only suffered abrasions on her elbows and palms from falling backward.

‘A 50-year-old woman who can open her eyes and speak… this patient’s GCS score [Glasgow Coma Scale, a neurological scale used to assess level of consciousness] isn’t low.’

Just in case, I examined her further, but no major bleeding sites were found on her body.

‘This woman isn’t from the news!’

I coldly turned my attention to the next patient.

A man screaming with his leg trapped under a steel structure!

People were already gathered around, trying to move the steel structure.

Tap—

I ran towards the male patient.

As I got closer, I saw that a fallen steel structure was crushing the patient’s right shin.

“Aaaagh… my leg.”

The patient, who appeared to be an office worker in his 30s, was wailing in pain.

“Can you see me?”

“Leg….”

The man seemed conscious but couldn’t speak due to the pain.

The steel structure was heavier than I thought.

“One, two, three!”

“Aaaagh…!”

Several people gathered and tried to lift and move the steel structure, but it didn’t budge easily.

I was about to roll up my sleeves and help when—

A familiar voice came from behind me.

“Can you step aside for a moment?”

I knew who it was without even looking at his face.

It’s Muscle-ook.

At this moment, he is a more reliable reinforcement than a thousand troops.

“Seon-han, move over a little.”

Swoosh!

Muscle-ook, who had rushed over, took his place next to me.

“Okay, let’s try again. One, two, three! Uryaah! [A Korean rallying cry, similar to ‘heave-ho’]”

Whoosh!

Muscle-ook’s arm muscles bulged.

Ooh—

A gasp echoed from the surroundings.

Who knew Muscle-ook’s love for fitness would shine like this!

As the steel structure was moved to the side, the patient’s wound was exposed.

Gurgle, gurgle—

The area below the knee was deeply cut, and bright red blood was gushing out.

Excessive bleeding!

I knew it as soon as I saw it.

This patient is one of .

“Eek….”

“So much blood…!”

People recoiled in horror at the sight of the pool of blood spreading on the street.

Muscle-ook and I calmly looked at the wound.

We, as mere two-month interns, had never seen this much bleeding before.

“Unless an artery is severed, there’s no way this much blood would be flowing, right?”

“Slightly below the knee, so maybe the popliteal artery? Or the path of the tibial artery?”

“There seems to be significant bone bleeding too.”

It’s a complex wound.

Even at this moment, an enormous amount of blood is pouring out of the patient’s leg.

‘So, how do I stop the bleeding now….’

Just as I was pondering, Muscle-ook looked at me.

“When you watch war videos, they tie off the proximal [nearest to the point of attachment] area to stop the bleeding after stepping on a landmine.”

“You mean like tying it with a tourniquet?”

He Nodded.

We exchanged glances and took action.

Soon, Muscle-ook took off his clothes and began to tie them tightly above the patient’s knee.

Squeeze!

After a moment, the amount of bleeding visibly decreased.

It was the coolest I had ever seen Muscle-ook.

Muscle-ook’s newly bought clothes were stained with blood, and so was I.

But neither of us hesitated.

“Muscle-ook, since this person fell from the 3rd floor, there might be other bleeding sites inside the body. Just in case, let’s do a pelvic binder too.”

“Pelvic binder?”

It’s a judgment based on my experience in the emergency room.

I took off my coat and said to Muscle-ook.

“Here, use this to tighten the pelvic area firmly! I’ll go check on the other patients.”

“Got it!”

Muscle-ook nodded and began to compress the pelvis with the help of others.

Tap!

I quickly moved to find the next patient.

Assuming I’ve found the patient, where is the next patient?

It’s not easy.

Excessive bleeding was visible, but this is too difficult!

.

Simply put, it means blood is pooling around the heart.

There’s a membrane called the ‘pericardium’ that surrounds our heart, and if blood accumulates here, it puts pressure on the heart.

Since the heart can’t function properly, it can lead to death.

‘Damn it, this is too difficult!’

How am I supposed to identify a cardiac tamponade patient in the middle of Gangnam without ultrasound equipment?

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time—

119 Safety Center.

Less than 30 seconds after the report was received, a Starex ambulance quickly departed.

As soon as the MDT [Mobile Data Terminal] announced the location, they started driving towards the accident site.

Soon, a radio message came in that ambulances had also departed from other centers.

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh—

The driver stepped on the accelerator and played a message over the speaker along with the siren.

Please yield to the left and right. We are responding to an emergency.> ‘Yield’.

Avoid (避), concede (讓).

The crew themselves feel it every time, but it’s unclear why they have to use such difficult words.

It would be better to use words that citizens can understand more easily!

Soon, some vehicles were seen clearing the first lane, but it wasn’t easy to secure the main road.

Gangnam Station on a weekend evening.

As they approached the intersection, the traffic congestion became severe, and all lanes of Gangnam-daero were full.

Honk, honk—

The road is congested.

Taxis cutting in, cars trying to come out of alleys, trucks temporarily parked on the side of the road, large metropolitan buses….

The intersection was completely blocked by all kinds of vehicles.

“Damn it!”

The driver cursed.

The ambulance couldn’t move forward easily.

The accident site was only about 2km away, but the distance felt like a thousand miles.

Wee-ooh, wee-ooh—

Please yield to the right!>

The paramedic shouted urgently into the microphone.

Even at this moment, the lives of emergency patients were rapidly dwindling.

* * *

“The ambulance will arrive in 5 minutes!”

The man who called 119 ran to me and said.

5 minutes!

Then, will the excessive bleeding patient be okay?

I stopped the bleeding as quickly as possible, so they should be fine if they are transferred to the hospital soon.

But the cardiac tamponade patient is different.

If I don’t find this patient quickly, the future won’t change even if the paramedics arrive.

‘Ah… why are you giving me such a difficult problem?!’

I tried to recall what I had learned during my medical school days.

‘If the cardiac tamponade gets worse, they will lose consciousness… and what else was there? It will take some time before they lose consciousness….’

I desperately racked my brain.

Damn it, please come to mind!

And then.

Suddenly, a hint came to mind.

‘Beck’s triad!’

It refers to three medical signs that can indicate cardiac tamponade.

It’s named after the doctor who devised it.

I remember drawing triangles in my notebook and memorizing it during my medical school days.

1. Hypotension [low blood pressure]

2. Jugular vein distension [swollen neck veins]

3. Muffled heart sounds

Since I don’t have a stethoscope, number 3 is difficult, but I can check numbers 1 and 2 even in the middle of Gangnam Station right now.

‘Okay. Let’s do it!’

Tap!

I approached each patient one by one to check if they were losing consciousness due to low blood pressure, and felt their wrist arteries.

“Ugh….”

A young man in his 20s who fell from the 3rd floor is clutching his right chest.

It seemed like he had broken several ribs and bruised his lungs, but his wrist artery was beating strongly, and his jugular vein was not swollen.

‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you right now. You are not !’

Thinking that, I head straight to the next patient.

It was a middle-aged man sitting sprawled out, with several parts of his body pierced by glass shards.

When I grabbed his wrist, the man asked, puzzled.

“What… are you checking my pulse? Are you a herbal medicine doctor?”

“No, that’s not it. Are you dizzy?”

I’m not someone who can know the state of the internal organs through the pulse like a herbal medicine doctor.

I can only distinguish patients with significantly low blood pressure through the strength of the artery in the wrist.

‘This patient isn’t it either….’

While checking each person like that.

Bee-ooo—

The sound of an ambulance was faintly heard in the distance.

But the speed at which it is approaching is slow.

‘According to the news, the situation is such that cars can’t easily enter, so it will take more time to get here.’

I ran to the next patient.

‘If I just follow the flow like this, a patient will die here! I have to find them and do something!’

My heart is getting more and more urgent.

While looking at each person like that.

Someone suddenly grabs my hand.

“Excuse me, doctor!”

“……?”

“You… you said you were a doctor, right? Could you please check my friend quickly? Please!”