Chapter 151
Clack, tap-tap-tap.
Hasty footsteps rang out.
“Professor! We got the DMAT deployment request! The National Emergency Medical Center called!”
The orange DMAT vests and bags that had been laid out in the corner of the ER sprang into motion.
“Hey, hey! Everyone on the DMAT team, gather up! Hurry! Grab your gear!”
Professor Kim Seong-chan, who was on day shift today, shouted as he ran.
The atmosphere in the ER went oddly still even as it simultaneously grew busy.
Professor Kim Seong-chan hurriedly took off his coat and put on the DMAT vest as he came toward me.
“Hyeonjae.”
“Yes, Professor.”
I unconsciously snapped to attention.
Because Professor Kim Seong-chan's expression was anything but normal.
“Today’s ER day shift... it’s you, second-year Baek Eun-seo, and first-year Yoon Tae-hyun. So the backup is just the three residents, right?”
“Yes, that's correct.”
“I called Minjae earlier. His voice was a bit hoarse, like he'd just woken up, but once I explained the situation he said he'd take a taxi and get here within ten minutes. I'll also send emergency call-ups to the others too, focusing on whoever's nearby. But it'll take some time.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“And I probably....”
Professor Kim Seong-chan bit his lip hard.
“I think I’ll have to head out with DMAT right away. The scene doesn’t look good.”
No staff.
That meant the ER's final decision-maker would be gone.
Professor Kim Seong-chan gripped my shoulders hard with both hands.
“So... I trust you. Hyeonjae.”
“Huh? No, uh....”
My brain froze for a second.
Even though I’m a third-year, I’m still not ready to take charge of a disaster situation.
“You did well during training. And I trust you. I know you’ve got good sense, and I have no choice but to trust you. That’s the situation we’re in.”
Professor Kim Seong-chan continued quickly.
“Since the district public health center chief is vacant right now, the department chief has to go as the on-site emergency medical director. So everyone who can get here within ten minutes can’t come to the hospital right now. There won’t be anyone left inside.”
“…Ah.”
I understood the situation.
Once an on-scene emergency medical post is set up, you need a doctor to direct it.
Usually that's the public health center chief, but if they're absent, the regional center chief goes out.
In other words, both Chief Park Woong and Professor Kim Seong-chan are going outside the hospital.
“Anyway, until Minjae or the other staff get here, even if it’s only for a very short time, you have to be the control tower here. Organize things. If panic sets in, everyone dies. You can do it, right? No, you have to.”
There was no choice.
I took a deep breath and nodded.
“Ah... y-yes! I can do it! I’ll do it!”
“Good... thanks. So....”
Brrring-
Snatch.
A nearby nurse answered the ringing phone.
“Yes. Yes. ER speaking.”
Her hand scribbling on a notepad was so fast it was almost invisible.
Then she quickly set the handset back down.
“It looks like there was a pretty big accident at the Oncheon branch of Jeongmin Department Store, and it was accompanied by a gas explosion!”
Saturday morning.
The time with the highest foot traffic.
The worst-case scenario.
An enclosed space, a crowded area, and fire.
“For now, they’re saying 14 patients triaged as critical at the scene are coming in right away! ETA is within 15 minutes!”
“What?”
Professor Kim Seong-chan was stunned.
“What do you mean they didn’t disperse them? Tell them to send them to other centers. Don’t just dump 14 people all at once....”
The nurse shouted urgently.
“They did disperse them! The 14 is what they came up with! They sent the minor cases to secondary hospitals, and split the critical patients among the other major hospitals(* university hospitals)!”
“…….”
I was speechless.
“This is insane, seriously. Ha....”
Professor Kim Seong-chan ran a hand through his hair and slung the DMAT bag over his shoulder.
“Anyway, Hyeonjae. I’m counting on you! I’ll go to the scene and try to cut it down as much as I can!”
“Yes! Please be careful on your way!”
As soon as Professor Kim Seong-chan ran out, an administrative staff member hurriedly picked up the phone and reported the situation.
“Yes, yes. DMAT just left. It’s Cheongdae Hospital. They departed as one team of four—one doctor, one nurse, one paramedic, and one admin—and will arrive at the scene within 15 minutes. Yes, yes....”
Bang-clatter.
The ambulance left the hospital with a loud siren.
What was left was just us.
Third-year Han Hyeonjae.
Second-year Baek Eun-seo.
First-year Yoon Tae-hyun.
And the nurses and paramedics.
We had to take in 14 critically injured patients with this staff.
'Forget what I said about the weekend feeling nice.'
At that moment, first-year Yoon Tae-hyun came running back with a bloodless face.
“S-sir!”
“What!”
“Should we maybe request a Code Black...?”
Code Black.
The highest-level alert that mobilizes in-hospital medical staff and secures beds in the event of a mass-disaster situation.
What if it’s just a false alarm?
What if those 14 patients were the first and last critical cases?
But.
There are 14 of them.
Fourteen by itself is already an absurdly large number.
And it’s an explosion, too.
There’s no way we can manage with the staff we have now.
Triage them, intubate, get lines in, transfuse.
We’re short-handed.
“No, don't... no.”
I drew in a short breath.
Quick judgment.
Heavy responsibility.
“Let's do it. Request Code Black. If anyone asks, say the request came from the ER’s top decision-maker right now.”
Well, that’s not exactly wrong.
The ER’s top decision-maker right now.
Me
(for 10 minutes)
“Yes! Understood!”
“And Eun-seo!”
“Yes, sir!”
Baek Eun-seo hurried over from somewhere and answered.
“Call Burn Surgery first! If it’s an explosion, burn patients are going to pour in.”
“Our burn surgery attending doesn’t have weekend duty.”
Baek Eun-seo shouted.
Right.
Our hospital’s burn surgery department exists in name only.
A bizarre setup where one specialist takes weekend call every other day.
And today, of all days, is their off day.
“Then call General Surgery at least!”
For now....
For now, let’s call the departments we’re going to need.
“Call General Surgery, Trauma Surgery, Plastic Surgery, and Pulmonology ahead of time! Tell them to send down every intern who knows how to do dressings too! If there are airway burns, we’ll need intubation, so call Anesthesiology as well!”
“Yes!”
Residents and interns all grabbed phones at once and started calling each department’s on-call room.
“Tae-hyun, Zone B! Handle the relatively stable vitals, simple fractures, and minor burn patients! Dress them as you see them, give pain meds, and ask if you don’t know! The departments will be coming down soon anyway, so just hold out until then!”
“Yes! Understood!”
Yoon Tae-hyun shouted with a grave expression.
“Eun-seo, cover Zone A! Patients who need intubation, people with large burn areas, people whose lines won’t go in—you handle all of them first! I’ll take the resuscitation room and handle CPR and super-emergency patients! You hold out too until the other departments come down!”
“Yes! Don’t worry!”
Baek Eun-seo’s eyes flashed.
“And if Dr. Lee Minjae or any other specialists arrive, tell me immediately! I have to hand over control!”
“Got it!”
The moment I gave the orders, I dashed into the center of the station and shouted at the top of my lungs.
“All the minor patients here right now! Get everyone on IV fluids out first!”
At my shout, the nurses began moving in perfect unison.
“Anyone who can sit, put them in wheelchairs and send them to the lobby! Anyone with a guardian, have them help escort them out! If they can be discharged, give them their meds and send them out right away! Move the urgent critical patients to EICU(* Emergency Intensive Care Unit) beds, and tell each ICU to preemptively clear out anyone who can be stepped down to the general ward early!”
Right now, ER beds are more valuable than gold.
If explosion victims start pouring in, we may have to lay them on the floor.
“We need to free up the beds! Both Zone A and Zone B! And get the hallway bed setup ready too!”
“Yeees!”
The nurses began clearing beds, almost forcibly hauling patients to their feet.
Protests rang out from all over, but now we didn’t have the luxury of dealing with them.
“Tae-hyun!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Post an unable-to-accept message on e-gen(* Emergency Medical Information System). From now on, because of the massive disaster, we can’t take in anything, emergency or non-emergency!”
“Understood!”
Sorry, local residents.
From now on, our hospital ER is an extension of the fire scene.
“Hoo....”
I stood at the entrance to the resuscitation room, breathing hard.
The physical prep was done, at least.
We’d cleared the space, assigned the staff, and blocked outside inflow.
Now all that was left was my prep.
I fell into thought for a moment.
'Possession skill.'
30 minutes of direct possession and one hour of map mode.
Which would be more efficient in this situation?
Fourteen people are coming in all at once.
Burns, trauma, airway injury, fractures.
It’ll be a mix of all kinds of critical injuries.
There’s no point in directly possessing someone just to save one patient like a madman.
Even if I became Superman and flew around, I only have one body.
Then.
'Guidance is better.'
I needed someone to float beside me for an hour, scan the whole scene, point out what I missed, and set the priorities.
I opened a blue window in the air.
But who should I call?
Burn surgery? Trauma surgery?
Or anesthesiology for airway management?
Or pulmonology for inhalation burns?
'I don't know, damn it.'
I didn’t have time to agonize over it.
They’re experts, so they’ll figure it out themselves.
[Dead Medical Experts Gallery]
===================
Figure it out among yourselves.
Author: HellJoseonSlave1
What are we deciding?
I’ve got Code Black (fire accident) up right now
Need someone to possess. Basically, discuss among yourselves and appoint one representative within 10 minutes.
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It wasn’t exactly possession, but explaining it as map mode would take too long, so I just lumped it together under possession.
The moment I hit upload, notifications exploded as if they’d been waiting.
[Comments]
BackInMyDay : ??
ㄴ BackInMyDay : In a fire accident, internal medicine is obviously needed. You have to handle respiratory issues and carbon monoxide poisoning too, so of course I should go—what are the knife-wielders doing there?
ScalpelGod : ?
I'llMoveYourNoseBridge : For a fire, doesn't plastic surgery need to be there too?
ㄴ ScalpelGod : Get lost, newbie.
…
=====================
I only checked the comments that far.
They can fight among themselves or play rock-paper-scissors, whatever.
In any case, the most confident one will step up.
They’re smart, so once they sort out the situation, they’ll send the optimal person.
“The minor patients are all out, right?”
“Yes, we’re almost done!”
I stood in the center of the resuscitation room and slipped on a plastic gown.
Whee-ooo-ooo-
While we were waiting in the resuscitation room, the faint siren I could hear from far away gradually began to grow louder.
It wasn’t just one.
The sound of sirens from dozens of vehicles all at once was drawing near.
Screeeech!
Sound of sudden braking.
“Patient coming in!”
Whirrr-
The automatic doors opened, and urgent voices shouted from the entrance.
“Aaaagh!”
“Male in his forties, suspected second-degree facial burns and inhalation injury. Mental status: alert(* lucid), vitals stable!”
“Moderate severity! I’ll take him to B!”
Follow-up shouts rang out.
“Next patient coming in!”
“Move! Clear the way!”
'Please.'
I clenched my fist tightly.
Let's hold out.
Let's see what you've got.