There still was love in the ICU during the Spring Festival, as the forefront of life and death!

Spring Festival holiday, for most people, was the most expectable period. Usually they spent times in meeting friends and families, traveling or taking the opportunity to reward their own hard work. However, there was such a group of people around us who did not take real holidays. Even in the Spring Festival holidays, they sticked to the front line.

Nervousness, Being Busy and Sticking to their Post

- A Different Kind of Spring Festival for ICU Health Care Workers

Ordinary people's feeling of the new year may be involved with mother's Chinese New Year's Eve meal. Maybe they were with the annual Spring Festival Evening TV program ... ... However, for intensive medical department of Linyin division of Zhejiang hospital, their experience was often accompanied with the staff's non-stop footsteps, the sign of life on the heart monitor, the music of alarm on the ventilator ...... ... ... 

In this Spring Festival holiday, 30 beds of ICU Linyin division of Zhejiang Hospital are full. Just because the patient is in critical condition, many medical staff were made give up the Spring Festival vacation to save a lot of patients from death. During that festival’s 7 days, they were still asked eight times to complete the task of consultation and rescue missions in the areas, like Quzhou, Shaoxing, etc. According to Gong Shijin, director of the Intensive Medicine Department of Zhejiang Hospital, The period like the Spring Festival was the busiest time for the ICU.As in previous years, the ICU in the Lingyin division increased the number of the staff than usual and many medical staff stuck to their jobs. During the Spring Festival, Yan Jing, party secretary of Zhejiang Hospital, visited the ward many times and expressed concern and affirmation for their work in the ICU.  

Mr. Chen (alias) was in his prime, but he was unfortunately hit by the flu before the Spring Festival. As the Spring Festival approached, his condition went worse and developed to severe pneumonia. He was arranged to live in the ICU of Lingyin division. A small cold developed to a very dangerous degree, during which he was unable to get out of bed for ten days. During the New Year, the ICU medical staff of Lingyin division dare not slack off for a moment. Through single isolation, high flow oxygen, reclining ventilation, lung beating, early bedside rehabilitation treatment, etc , with the variety of non-invasive treatment ,patients get his lungs improved。Afterwards，he would be transferred to the general ward. Mr. Chen getting a better situation was very grateful. During the New Year, he delivered a big red envelope to the medical staff who cared for him. However, they all returned to him. As deputy head nurse of the intensive medicine department of Zhejiang Hospital, Shen Xin, who is sticking to his job, said: “The staff in ICU didn’t think about holidays. Their life was full of intensive and busy work as well as sticking to their posts. - it's a different kind of Spring Festival life for ICU health care personnel."

On the third day of the new year, many people were immersed in the festival were happily welcoming the God of wealth. However, for the medical staff of ICU in Lingyin division, it was another hard battle. Mr.Wu (alias) who was hospitalized for acute heart failure and pneumonia a few days ago had a sudden cardiac arrest on this day. The doctor on duty, respiratory division and nurse responded quickly and immediately carried out rescue such as extra thoracic cardiac compression, endotracheal intubation, establishment of venous access, use of first-aid drugs......Under everyone's active rescue, the heart that had stopped beating finally recovered! Chen Li, deputy head nurse of the Department of critical medicine of Zhejiang hospital, who has always been on the front line of rescue, said: "our efforts to continue the life to be lost is the best gift for our medical staff this Spring Festival."

On the occasion of New Year's Eve to welcome the New Year zero, the lCU of Lingyin division admitted a patient with acute pulmonary heart disease, severe pulmonary hypertension (80mmHg), whose life was at stake. Then the medical staff immediately started the life support means like CRRT and tracheal intubation. The patient had now turned to safety. At 1:00 a.m. on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, a patient who had been tracheotomized and had severe respiratory failure again was admitted to the ICU and ran into a difficult airway. Finally, an artificial airway was established. To this day, Dr. Wang Minjia from the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Zhejiang Hospital recalls that anxious and dangerous tense scene and still has palpitations ......

During the seven days of Spring Festival holiday, ICU of Lingyin division treated a variety of patients with critical illnesses such as severe pneumonia, severe heart failure, type II respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ dysfunction syndrome. As the staff in the ICU of Zhejiang Hospital, it was a common practice to stay at work on holidays. It was their constant belief to keep patients safe. Gong Shijin and Dr. Yu Yihua, deputy director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital, will visit the wards every day, carefully check the condition of patients one by one, analyze the condition together with the doctors on duty and formulate treatment plans; Dr. Yuan Tingting of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital, who was in poor health himself ,had gastrointestinal bleeding and still stood by with illness; Dr. Chen Changqin from the Department of Critical Care Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital, who was on duty on New Year's Eve, took the initiative to withdraw from the train ticket to return home to Yichang, Hubei on the first day of the New Year to stay and help. Both Wang Duhong and and Zhao Jiaping as respiratory physicians in the Department of Intensive Care Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital volunteered to stay and cover shifts during the Spring Festival. There were several other medical and nursing staff in the department who have not been home for the Chinese New Year for several years ......

   Chinese New Year was the traditional reunion festival for the Chinese nation. However, as a medical worker in the front line of clinical work, ICU staff of Zhejiang Hospital were persevering in their own positions and doing their best to live their own festival with a different "taste of New Year".

A day of reunion to welcome the old and the new.

Guarding life without stopping.

"The patient's temperature was in the rage of 36.5-37.2 degrees Celsius, pulse 60-92 times/min, blood pressure at 110-134/50-72 mmHg, oxygen saturation 85%. With the transoral tracheal intubation scale 23cm and ventilator assisted breathing, there were medium amount of yellow mucus sputum. The urine volume was 50-100ml per hour, total 2100ml in 24 hours ......" At 7:30 a.m. on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Lin Juan, head nurse of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at Zhejiang Hospital, had just completed a bedside handover with her colleagues to understand the patient's medical care during the previous shift. After that, she helped the patients to perform nursing care such as suctioning, turning and back-buttoning on time according to their different conditions. Late in the afternoon on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, she came out of the ward and saw Dr. Chen Shangzhong, who was originally on vacation, come to the hospital. Then Dr. Chen said, "There were so many patients. I was worried at home and came to take a look."

From New Year's Eve to the sixth day after the New Year, the intensive care unit was always at full capacity.Dr. Cai Guolong, chief physician of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine of Zhejiang Hospital, introduced that every holiday like the Chinese New Year was the busiest time in the ICU.On the one hand, a large number of critically ill patients couldn't go home for the Chinese New Year and needed to stay here for further treatment. On the other hand, they must receive new admissions and even patients who were transferred from the surrounding areas. Therefore, many medical and nursing staffs stayed in the wards and did their best to treat many critically ill patients.

During the seven days of Spring Festival holiday this year, the Department of Intensive Care Medicine of San Dun division of Zhejiang Hospital treated a variety of patients with critical illnesses such as cerebral infarction, abdominal injury, respiratory failure, cerebral hemorrhage, acute pancreatitis, infectious shock, multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and traumatic kidney rupture.

"All the people Were Engaged in Work. Life Was not Easy For Anyone." ICU Nurse Blessed the Injured Delivery Man.

There was such a group in the city who were running in the streets and alleys every day and feeding the hungry with steaming meals. We called them the take-away workers. During the Spring Festival, the 19-year-old guy from Yunnan, Xiao Li chose to continue to stay at the post. At ten o'clock in the morning, he started going out, riding an electric car. He spent one to two hours to finish his lunch and went hurry to work till 9 pm.

"Greeting to my family in advance, in this New Year we won't go back and wanted to earn more overtime wages." Xiao Li said lying on the hospital bed. "I have not yet told the family. I hope they do not know about it." The word of "it" was the New Year's Day car accident in that morning. When he delivered the food near San Dun division. Due to brake failure, he was hit the pole and directly led to his kidney rupture. The doctor performed an interventional embolization of the left renal artery after being sent to Zhejiang Hospital's San Dun division and then was transferred to the ICU. In that period, the ICU medical staff constantly comforted the tearful Xiao Li, told him not to worry and that he would be discharged from the hospital and back to work soon. In the coming weeks, the division also carried out multidisciplinary consultation on Xiao Li. “Life Was not Easy For Anyone. We felt very much.” Lin Juan said, "I hope he can recover soon."

Halfway Through New Year's Eve Dinner

He Rushed to the Hospital to Do Surgery.

During the Chinese New Year, it is not only the intensive care medicine department but also the operating room that holds the fort. The hospital operating room with the doors closed all the way would let the lights on all night, 365 days a year, even on New Year's Day. The operating room's mode to enjoy the "New Year's Eve " is to stand firm. The biggest wish of the medical staff was "no surgery arrangements ". That was clear to say that everyone was safe and sound for the New Year! During this year's Spring Festival, the operating room of San Dun division made silent efforts to protect everyone's life and health.

At the night of New Year's Eve, Mr. Xu,40-year-old, drank a few cups of white wine at the New Year's Eve dinner. Riding an electric car on the way home, he was hit by a tree. Because of the open road together with the faster speed of the electric vehicle, his car was hit several meters far away. Hit by the tree, Mr. Xu got a round of painful screaming and was immediately sent by his family to San Dun division of Zhejiang Hospital. The hospital immediately opened a green channel for emergency surgery.

According to Mr. Xu, "I do not know how to hit it. When the wound was bleeding with pain, I just felt dizzy abdominal distension, sweating, panic and shortness of breath. “After receiving the call, Zhang Chunjie from general surgery of Zhejiang hospital and Xie Dafei, as deputy chief physician stop having super and immediately rushed to the hospital for his surgery. When the doctor opened the surgical site to probe, these were found, such as, the abdominal cavity bleeding, part of the intestinal tube necrosis, multiple intestinal tube damage ...... The medical staff urged to prepare with blood transfusion and conducted the excision of necrotic intestinal tube, repairing of damaged intestinal tube. With unremitting efforts, their medical team finally let Mr. Xu escape the clutches of death. After the operation, the patient was transferred to the Department of Intensive Care Medicine for monitoring. According to Dr. Wang Guoliang, Director of General Surgery of Zhejiang Hospital, Mr. Xu had been transferred to the general ward and his vital signs were stable. The patient would be into the next round of treatment.

They are on call and do their duty. Sometimes, they may be too busy to drink water. However, they are still willing to work. For medical workers, the Spring Festival is no different from the usual. But they had an idea of the heavy responsibility on their shoulders. To rescue patients, they were standby and utilized every second to protect life with action.

Source:  Department of Critical Medicine, General Surgery, Anesthesiology

Writing:  Guo Jun, Wu Linglong from Publicity Center