Chapter 13

Chapter 13

There’s a Malignant Among Us (4)

Everyone’s eyes focused on one spot.

In a corner of the emergency room.

A large man in his 30s was yelling at the top of his lungs.

In front of him, So-dam stood frozen like a statue, looking flustered.

“Hey… what’s going on over there? It looks like So-dam made some kind of mistake.”

Joong-won hyung whispered.

The man’s angry voice continued,

“They’ve poked my father’s arms like a beehive! We came here because it’s Yeonguk University Hospital, and this is what we get after 20 minutes? He’s burning with fever!”

Flinch.

So-dam shrank back.

The large man’s fiery anger was incredibly intimidating.

It seemed like he might grab her by the collar at any moment.

Jo Jin-gi, watching the scene, clicked his tongue as if it were none of his business.

“Ham So-dam finally messed up. Shouldn’t she be able to do an ABGA easily, even if it’s not her first rotation…”

He sneered.

ABGA (arterial blood gas analysis).

It was one of the most common tasks for interns, but it wasn’t a procedure to be taken lightly.

There were countless cases of interns struggling to find the blood vessel, poking repeatedly, and getting yelled at by the patient.

Considering So-dam had been poking the patient’s arm repeatedly for 20 minutes, he could understand why the guardian was angry.

“This is ridiculous. Hey, miss! Please draw my father’s blood!”

The man fumed, grabbing a passing nurse.

The nurse was flustered.

“Sir, this is an arterial blood test, so it has to be done by a doctor.”

“What? A doctor? Someone who can’t even draw blood properly is a doctor?!”

“I’ll call another doctor, but please calm down and stop shouting.”

The nurse was also at a loss.

With the atmosphere on the verge of a riot, she couldn’t help but be scared.

Jo Jin-gi watched the scene and smirked.

“How pathetic. What’s the point of being a royal if you can’t even do a simple procedure like this?”

He spoke as if it had nothing to do with him.

Listening to him was getting on my nerves.

I looked straight at Jo Jin-gi and said,

“Anyone can make mistakes.”

“What?”

“She’s our colleague. It’s not like we can just stand by and watch.”

Jo Jin-gi flinched at my words.

But he quickly retorted with a sneer.

“Well, I can’t help with my hand like this. Why don’t you help her if you’re so concerned?”

That was exactly what I was planning to do.

I put down what I was holding and rushed over to where the commotion was happening.

So-dam’s eyes were already red-rimmed, and she was cowering.

She looked as if she might just disappear into the ground.

“Excuse me.”

“Huh?”

I stepped between So-dam and the guardian.

He looked at me with a hostile expression.

“Who are you? Are you a doctor?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Are all the doctors at Yeonguk University Hospital this incompetent?”

The guardian was furious.

I smiled gently and tried to calm him down.

“I apologize. It can be a bit difficult to find the blood vessels in patients with a larger build, like your father.”

“What? Are you insulting my father for being overweight?”

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. He reminds me of my own father, who also has a large build.”

Of course, that was a lie.

My father, as a raw fish restaurant owner, had a lean physique from his protein-based diet.

And in reality, body size often doesn’t affect arterial blood tests.

But after hearing my words, the guardian’s anger subsided somewhat.

I lowered my head and made eye contact with the patient.

“Sir, this must be difficult for you. But this is a necessary test, so please have a seat here for a moment.”

The patient groaned but sat down obediently.

There’s a term called “rapport.”

It refers to the psychological bond between people.

Building rapport with a patient so they can trust the doctor is a crucial step.

Rapport forms the foundation of treatment, and this trust can influence the effectiveness of the treatment.

These were things I learned firsthand during my month in the internal medicine department.

“You’re going to do it right this time, aren’t you?”

The guardian grumbled threateningly from the side.

“If you make my father suffer again, I’ll turn this hospital upside down!”

“Don’t worry.”

I said it confidently, but I was nervous.

Could I succeed where So-dam had failed?

‘I can do this.’

I bolstered my confidence.

Unlike So-dam, who spent her first rotation in pathology, I had gained a lot of procedural experience during my month in internal medicine.

First, the basics.

I had to ensure proper hemostasis on the right arm and secure the left arm.

“Sir, could you please press firmly on his right wrist?”

I asked the guardian.

Fortunately, he grumbled but complied with my request.

“Sir, are you comfortable? You need to stay still.”

After securing his left arm to prevent movement, I examined the area where So-dam had poked him.

‘Oh dear…’

I gasped inwardly.

So-dam had already made a mess of the patient’s arm.

Looking at his swollen wrist with hematomas, I felt beads of sweat forming on my back.

“So-dam, did you do the left arm first, and then the right arm just now?”

“Yes…”

So-dam nodded slightly.

ABGA – arterial blood gas analysis.

It usually involved inserting a needle into the radial artery in the wrist to draw blood.

The blood vessels in our body could be divided into arteries and veins, and the ones usually visible on the skin were veins.

Arteries were located deeper, making them invisible to the naked eye.

Therefore, you had to feel the pulse of the artery with your fingers and then insert the needle into that spot.

If the needle missed the blood vessel and only caused injury, arterial blood, unlike venous blood, would bleed profusely.

When bleeding occurred in a blood vessel deep beneath the skin, the blood couldn’t escape and formed a large lump, which was called a hematoma.

‘I can’t use the wrist.’

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

I had to feel the pulse with my fingers before inserting the needle, but the large hematoma made it impossible to feel anything.

I had no choice but to move a bit more proximally and try my luck there.

‘This is more difficult than I thought… Can I succeed in one try?’

As I hesitated…

A scene from the ECMO incident in the internal medicine department flashed through my mind.

—Wow, as expected of Yu-ju!

—Senior, do you have ultrasound on your fingers?

<Song Yu-ju from thoracic surgery>.

That person found the blood vessel without any hesitation when inserting the ECMO. How could they do that?

Was it hand skill?

Experience and knowledge?

Or maybe they just succeeded by intuition.

‘Right. That person found the blood vessel of a moving patient in one go… I can’t fail to find the blood vessel of a patient who’s lying still!’

Thinking like that, I suddenly felt a surge of competitive spirit.

I visualized the blood vessel in my mind.

‘This is where the blood vessel passes, and I can feel a faint pulse in the upper part. Then it must pass through here.’

Even though I couldn’t see it, I had no choice but to rely on my knowledge, experience, and the sensation in my fingertips to find the artery.

“Sir, this will hurt for a moment. Please bear with me.”

Push!

I inserted the needle into the patient’s arm.

‘Artery, please don’t run away…’

The more I pushed the needle in, the more nervous I became.

But surprisingly, blood didn’t appear right away.

Was the artery really this deep…?

Just as I was pushing the needle in with uncertainty!

Bright red arterial blood appeared at the tip of the syringe.

‘I found it!’

Who could understand this feeling of exhilaration?

To put it into an analogy, it was like the feeling of seeing a red notification pop up on your phone from the person you’ve been longing for.

The syringe slowly filled with arterial blood.

I secured my left hand and carefully pulled the syringe back 1mm at a time with my right hand.

Finally, I collected about 0.5cc of blood.

The patient, his family, and So-dam were all watching this process.

I calmly withdrew the needle.

“There, it’s done.”

“Huh? It’s over?”

The patient’s eyes widened.

I spoke as if I had finished easily, without any difficulty.

“Thank you for your patience while we drew a bit of blood.”

“It was very painful earlier, but this time it only hurt at the beginning, and I didn’t even know you were drawing blood~.”

At the patient’s words, the guardian’s expression finally brightened.

“Wow, this doctor is skilled! What’s your name? I saw some kind of compliment card or something at the entrance. I should fill one out for you!”

He said, peering at my name tag.

Compliment cards were the only gifts patients could give to interns.

There was a rumor that receiving many compliment cards would improve an intern’s evaluation score.

So, it seemed some interns even begged patients for these compliment cards to boost their scores.

I said with a smile,

“This doctor is usually very skilled, but it seems like it didn’t go well today. We all have good days and bad days.”

“Yes, yes. I feel much better now.”

Just like that, I calmed down the guardian and the patient.

As So-dam and I returned to the station, I felt someone’s gaze on me.

Dr. Yeo Bong-cheol was looking at me with interest.

“I was bringing the ultrasound, but how did you find the blood vessel?”

“I found it manually.”

“Wow, impressive. You managed to do it just by touch?”

I nodded.

Dr. Yeo Bong-cheol gave my shoulder a friendly squeeze and added.

“Well done. But next time, wait until I bring the ultrasound. It’s a good thing you succeeded on the first try. If you had failed again, it would have been a disaster.”

“Yes, I’ll do that next time.”

“Okay, okay.”

Yeo Bong-cheol’s face was full of smiles.

He no longer seemed to doubt me because I was from a local university.

Having gained Yeo Bong-cheol’s trust, I was off to a good start in the ER.

“And Ham So-dam.”

“Yes.”

“You…”

Yeo Bong-cheol started to speak but stopped.

I glanced at So-dam and was at a loss for words.

I couldn’t bear to look.

So-dam’s face, filled with despair, looked like she was about to burst into tears.

“Don’t cry in front of everyone. Go to the bathroom.”

“Yes.”

So-dam bowed her head with red eyes and disappeared.

Yeo Bong-cheol sighed deeply.

“Sigh… Take good care of your colleague. She might end up being treated like a ‘malignant.'”

Yeo Bong-cheol’s words made me grimace.

<Malignant>.

Derived from “malignancy,” it referred to a cancerous tumor.

However, when doctors used the word “malignant” in their daily lives, it had a slightly different meaning.

They called a colleague “malignant” when they had a bad reputation or were someone you didn’t want to work with.

Being called a “malignant” by your colleagues was probably the worst-case scenario.

I looked at So-dam’s retreating figure with a heavy heart.

***

“Please take good care of So-dam unni.”

“Who? Ham So-dam?”

Yeon-seo nodded.

It was the second week of April, and the sun was shining warmly.

She had called me outside during lunch break just to tell me this.

I opened the banana-flavored milk that Yeon-seo bought me and said,

“Why are you suddenly bringing her up?”

“Because I feel sorry for her.”

“Sorry for her?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

Although she made a mistake during the first week, it was a common occurrence.

“Actually, So-dam unni has had a hard time since university. She was subtly ostracized even among her classmates.”

“Oh, really?”

I didn’t know that.

Considering So-dam’s personality, it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t get along well with her peers.

Yeon-seo continued,

“She made a lot of mistakes during practice, and people would whisper behind her back, ‘She can’t even do that, even though she’s a royal…’ So she seems to be getting more and more withdrawn.”

Ah.

I think I understand.

People tend to crumble under psychological pressure.

Especially someone with a timid personality like So-dam. After experiencing that a few times, she probably retreated further into her shell.

I chewed on my bread and said,

“I understand what you mean, but I’m busy enough taking care of myself. I don’t have the confidence to look after others.”

“Wow, that’s harsh.”

“Of course, I can help her out a little. But basically, she needs to be able to do her own work.”

“That’s true, but…”

Yeon-seo pouted.

“I’m worried. What if she makes a big mistake?”

A big mistake.

Of course, it was a possibility.

But the tasks interns could do were limited anyway.

Unless a mistake happens that could kill a patient, the rest of the time should pass without incident, right?

“Don’t worry too much. What could possibly happen during a month of internship…”

Just as I was about to answer—

My vision suddenly went dark.

And another glimpse of the future began to unfold.

—————

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