When the Doctor Uses A Hack

Chapter 710: Chapter 710: A Doctor Without Outpatient Service Is Not a Complete Doctor! (Added more for “Pits in the Sky” 6!)

In the afternoon, several people trickled in one by one.

A high school student who came to vent his emotions.

An old man who had nowhere else to go and decided to sit for a while.

An auntie who couldn’t get in line and came to Chen Cang to get a checkup form.

And a young woman who thought Chen Cang was handsome and wanted to flirt with him.

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Chen Cang had first discovered that, in fact, outpatient service was nowhere near as interesting as emergency.

Just as the seemingly endless outpatient clinic was about to finish,

finally a decent patient arrived!

At least she had come because she truly felt unwell.

An auntie, nearly sixty years old.

After a whole afternoon’s experience, Chen Cang had already adopted a carefree attitude. Although he had long heard about the oddities in outpatient care, today he had truly expanded his knowledge. No wonder people say that a doctor who has never worked in outpatient care is not a complete doctor.

After swiping her medical card, the auntie’s information appeared on the computer screen.

In her hands was a sizeable clear plastic bag filled with various kinds of medical examination reports and booklets.

Shortly after sitting down, the auntie couldn’t help coughing dryly.

A moment passed before she finally eased up!

The old auntie was rather embarrassed after her coughing fit!

“Doctor, I’m truly sorry, I can’t control my coughing!”

Chen Cang smiled, “It’s all right. If you felt comfortable everywhere, you wouldn’t come to the hospital, would you? Auntie, what’s been troubling you?”

The auntie was thin and very polite. Hearing Chen Cang speak, she couldn’t help but smile too, “I’ve been having a dry cough recently, for over a month now.”

Chen Cang nodded, looked at the auntie’s information, and saw she was a teacher from Wan’an County in Dongyang Province.

Wan’an County is not close to here; driving would take about three hours. It’s a nationally recognized poverty-stricken county.

The winters in Dongyang Province are generally dry and cold, so colds and coughs are normal. Chen Cang wasn’t too concerned.

While they were talking, the auntie took out a pile of medical examinations and medical records from her bag and handed them to Chen Cang.

“Doctor, please take a look. These are all the examinations I’ve had recently at the outpatient clinic. Here are the chest X-rays, the thoracic CT scans, and these lab reports.”

Chen Cang was stunned by the huge stack of papers.

“You’ve had so many examinations? Why haven’t you been admitted for a thorough check-up?”

In Dongyang Province, where economic development is average, health insurance typically only reimburses hospitalization costs, with outpatient expenses usually being out-of-pocket.

Seeing so many examinations and tests, Chen Cang knew they must have cost a lot, so he kindly reminded her.

The old auntie smiled, “I’m in charge of the key class; the kids are about to prepare for their college entrance exams. I really can’t afford to take any time off. I rush to see the doctor whenever I find a chance, usually during the weekends.”

“But after a long time without improvement in Wan’an County and not being able to find the cause, I had to come to the city to see the doctors.”

“Today is Friday afternoon, and I don’t have classes. So I asked my son to bring me to the city. But Qin Xiaoyuan’s specialist appointment is all booked up; I couldn’t get one.”

“I plan to get up early tomorrow morning when they release more appointments. My son is dutiful; he will stand in line all night waiting for the release!”

Chen Cang nodded.

Qin Xiaoyuan is a giant in internal medicine, a national expert with a State Council allowance!

The internal medicine department at the Second Provincial Hospital has a strong reputation in the province, particularly in oncology and gastroenterology.

Getting an appointment with Qin Xiaoyuan is not easy; although an appointment costs only fifty yuan, there are only about a hundred spots available, and they are hard for ordinary people to secure.

And to be honest,

the hospital’s appointment system is complicated. For example, out of Qin Xiaoyuan’s one hundred spots, perhaps only around thirty are released online, about fifty through physical queueing, and the remaining twenty or so are managed internally by the appointment office.

These are things you simply can’t control. Even Qin Xiaoyuan himself can’t. The upper level has policies, the lower level has their own ways.

But everyone turns a blind eye,

at least ensuring that ordinary people can secure over eighty appointments is considered acceptable.

Those remaining twenty-plus spots are not all handled by scalpers, but also include appointments given away as favors to the hospital’s internal staff.

These are matters beyond your control.

Even Qin Xiaoyuan could do no more than that, he could only add a bit more to his daily outpatient workload, usually seeing up to about 120 patients.

Therefore, many patients from outlying areas essentially have to queue overnight in the Emergency Hall registration room.

This is rather common in any hospital with specialized departments.

Qin Xiaoyuan is truly skillful, managing to see 100 patients in a day, when many esteemed doctors and experts limit appointments to 20 a day, which you simply can’t secure.

Otherwise, why would it be considered hard work?

Hearing the aunt’s words, Chen Cang didn’t say much and took the initiative to offer assistance in securing an appointment.

After all, the hospital has its own rules.

Chen Cang couldn’t take care of everyone.

Chen Cang picked up the chest X-ray and CT scan and started to examine them.

Luckily, Chen Cang was quite experienced in interpreting chest imaging results.

After reviewing the chest X-ray and CT scan, Chen Cang breathed a sigh of relief, everything was normal, without a single issue.

This essentially ruled out the possibility of lung infections, lung cancer, and other pulmonary diseases.

He also reviewed the lab report, and the more Chen Cang read, the more startled he became.

Normal!

Normal!

Everything was normal!

Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?

How could a completely healthy person be coughing?

No wonder the local hospital couldn’t handle it.

As he flipped through several medical records, Chen Cang’s curiosity grew even more.

All the diagnostic opinions were: Pending investigation, unclear!

However, when he saw the past medical history, there was hypertension.

Suddenly thoughtful, Chen Cang asked, “Auntie, did you have high blood pressure before?”

The elderly lady nodded, “Hmm, I’ve had hypertension for over a dozen years, I’ve always taken An Nei Zhen for it.”

Upon hearing An Nei Zhen, Chen Cang also furrowed his brows.

The regulations now were very clear!

The patient had no respiratory diseases, no gastroesophageal reflux disease, no bloating, no history of acid reflux, and did not use any blood pressure medication that could cause dry cough as a side effect. The cause of the dry cough remained unknown.

What in the world was going on?

Thinking this, Chen Cang said, “Let me listen to your lungs.”

Chen Cang picked up his stethoscope and started listening to the front and back of the lungs, also checking the breathing sounds.

Suddenly, just at that moment, Chen Cang, getting closer, noticed that something was amiss!

He abruptly asked, “Auntie, have you ever had hyperthyroidism? Or any thyroid disease?”

The auntie, being somewhat of an intellectual herself and aware of such things, shook her head immediately upon hearing Chen Cang’s question, “I don’t think so!”

Upon hearing this, Chen Cang immediately said, “Let me perform a thyroid palpation for you.”

Thinking this, Chen Cang started to examine the thyroid with both hands.

As he examined, Chen Cang’s frown deepened!

“Bilateral thyroid enlargement, grade 1 enlargement on the left, grade 3 on the right, multiple nodules palpable, with a hard nodule about 2cm in size on the right side.”

At that moment, Chen Cang suddenly had an epiphany!

Perhaps the reason had been found, “Auntie, I suggest you go for a thyroid ultrasound now. While it’s still before closing time, hurry and get it done.”

“Your thyroid is enlarged, and nodules can be felt; I suspect it’s an invasion of nerves that may be causing the dry cough!”

Chen Cang left one thing unsaid, he suspected it was thyroid cancer!

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PS: Asking for monthly votes, I’m being caught up to… Anxious!