Golden Time

The practice students were walking around the hospital in great excitement and tension.

It was the same for Suhyuk. No, he looked around and gave a silent sigh.

There were so many sick people out there who were in dire need of help.

At that moment a nurse came to him, pushing a stretcher car on which a patient was lying. Suhyuk moved to the side and unconsciously read the name attached to the label.

“Other peripheral vascular diseases… does the patient smoke or have any hypertension? Also suspected of having hyperlipidemia, and there is a family history of diabetes … what if the patient has ischemia…?”

Suhyuk continued to mutter, “Using heparin, incense coagulant and removing embolization…”

“Where are you going Suhyuk?”

At Choi Suryon’s voice, he got his head screwed on and stopped walking.

He was following the patient without realising it.

“What is the matter?”

“Nothing.”

Suhyuk was following his peers walking ahead, and once again he looked back. He look at the patient with pupils full of regret, but he turned back instantly.

After that he repeated the same action several times.

Suhyuk himself was not aware of it.

The students briefly listened to the PK practice to be held in the conference room.

2 weeks with the Emergency Department, 12 weeks with Internal Medicine, 7 weeks with Surgery… They should complete a total of 36 weeks of experience and practice to finish the third-year in regular courses. Plus, they should pass a school test and get practice credits. Far from easy.

If they get lazy, getting flunked is a sure thing.

‘I can make it. Definitely,’ Suhyuk promised to himself.

He vowed he would master what he did not understand, and refresh on what he already knew.

‘I’ll run toward my goal without hesitating.’

“Don’t be too scared,” said Park Ganghyun, a first-year resident, who was supposed to contact the interns most often. Park, with his slim jaw and tough beard, melted the frozen atmosphere among them.

“You do not prescribe to the patient directly, nor do you do the surgery. It is literally a practice. If you do it as instructed, and make no mistake, you will be able to complete PK practice well. Of course, you should be working hard.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Just feel relaxed as if you were looking around the hospital today, okay?”

“Yeah!”

Their voice, like that of new-born chicks, made a smile rise on Park’s face.

‘I had those days too.’

Practice is no big deal. When they pass the state exam and enter the internship, that is the beginning of hell. No more personal time.

“Today, there is no making the rounds with the professor. Instead, you come with me to look around the patients building for a taste of the practice. Anybody have any complaints?”

The conference room was quiet. Park opened his mouth again, “Let’s go.”

They went out of the conference room. When Suhyuk was about to go out, Park stopped him to say, “You must be Lee Suhyuk.”

He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Yes, please give me a lot of guidance.”

“The professors have a lot of expectations for you.”

Park then moved to check the condition of the patients.

Suhyuk’s unit followed him.

The unit assigned to PK practice does not change throughout the year. Never, ever.

“I’m shaking,” said Choi Suryon quietly, but Suhyuk relieved her, saying,

“He told us we were just looking around, so we don’t have to worry about it.”

They arrived at a patient’s room.

A patient in his 40s.

Park asked about his condition, “How are you feeling?”

“I feel okay, but I’m not sure.”

“Let me see the surgery area.”

When Park lifted his clothes, the students behind him focused with glaring eyes.

“Thoracic empyema …”

Recognizing the patient’s illness, Suhyuk moved forward before he knew it.

Then one of the students grabbed Suhyuk’s gown and whispered.

“Hey, do not go too close. You stand in the way of him checking the patient.”

But it was already too late.

Park turned his head toward Suhyuk who was up close, and looked at him.

With a slight smile, he asked, “Early thoracotomy in empyema. Why?”

Then he fixed his gaze on the affected area again.

Suhyuk opened his mouth without hesitation, “I think the patient has undergone early thoracotomy because the fibrinolytic enzyme and pleuroscopy failed to induce drainage.”

Park, who was looking at the affected area, suddenly turned his head to Suhyuk again.

He showed an expression wondering how he could know as far as that.

But he soon laughed, thinking that’s why the professors were interested in a chick-like student, who was not an intern.

“Oh, it’s hard to understand. How about you?”

Park asked the other students playfully. There was no reply.

They were just silent like a mute that ate honey.

Laughing gently, Park finished disinfecting the patient’s affected area, and then he looked at the practice students. They wore a blank expression as if they heard an alien language. This is normal. Looking at Suhyuk, he moved to the next patients’ room, shaking his head. It was the same with other students.

***

Lunch hour.

People in the hospital lobby were watching TV and clicking their tongues.

“Nowadays, police are busy sparing themselves even when they see brutal criminals. Tut, tut.”

“That guy must become a cop!”

When each and every one of them said that, with a frown, Suhyuk moved his eyes to the TV.

And he had to look blankly because someone he knew was reported on the news.