The Enhanced Doctor-Chapter 732 Online Medical Consultation Patients

"Teacher Liu, Teacher Liu, the patient's wife has been diagnosed; she has Taenia solium."

Liu Yiqing came running down from upstairs, overjoyed, shouting and even hopping a couple of times, absolutely delighted.

DING! Consultation task completed.

Experience gained: 100 points.

Liu Banxia chose to ignore the system's reward. It was just a slight oversight, was there a need to be so stingy?

"Alright, now we'll treat the specific disease, not just for him, but his wife too. Have them contact their family to come in for collective stool tests. You write the medical orders, and I'll sign off," Liu Banxia said.

"Teacher Liu, when do we remove the tube?" Liu Yiqing asked.

"Let's wait a little longer," Liu Banxia said. "There might be some reaction after the medication if some cysticerci die and rupture. That's still much better than needing to intubate him again later."

"We still need to be cautious, just in case something unexpected happens. It'll save us from getting overwhelmed, and you won't have to keep watch upstairs constantly."

"Teacher Liu, will there be seizures again?" Liu Yiqing asked.

"That depends on his luck; we can't predict that for sure," Liu Banxia said.

Liu Yiqing chuckled. Right, why did I ask such a silly question?

Liu Banxia gave a big stretch. Now, there were no more problems; this patient's case was thoroughly resolved. It had taken a considerable amount of time and quite a few detours.

"President Liu, President Liu, SOS!" Wu Mingyu exclaimed, running over.

"What's up? Don't you guys have three people already? Why are you calling me?" Liu Banxia asked.

"We can't help it. There are quite a few orthopedic outpatients today, plus follow-up patients. Teacher Wang took Ding Shiqiang into surgery again. Please help us out; I really want to get off work on time today," Wu Mingyu said.

"Oh? Something special going on? What's the occasion?" Liu Banxia asked, suddenly intrigued. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"It's my wedding anniversary with your sister-in-law," Wu Mingyu said. "After all these years, I actually remembered for once! I absolutely have to get home on time, and I still need to buy flowers."

"Say no more!" Liu Banxia declared with a grand wave of his hand. "You're familiar with the follow-up patients, so you handle them. Leave the other patients to me. We'll definitely get you off work on time. This is a major event!"

This 'firefighting' mission was quite significant. On a smaller scale, it fostered camaraderie among colleagues. On a larger scale, it practically maintained world peace!

After a quick word to his team, he happily went off to 'fight the fire'.

The reason orthopedic consultations here were slower was that some conditions required at least two rounds of imaging before the consultation was considered complete.

For example, with dislocations and fractures, even if Liu Banxia could perform a manual reduction, an initial image was still needed for confirmation, followed by another image for validation after the reduction.

This was standard procedure; skipping the first step could lead to potential future complications for the doctor.

And needing imaging inevitably caused delays. X-rays were relatively quicker to process, but some patients required CT scans, which took even longer.

Every department has its own challenges; no one has it significantly easier than anyone else, huh.

Wu Mingyu was quite considerate of him, handling patients who appeared to have severe fractures himself and assigning cases with more general, minor symptoms to Liu Banxia.

After all, Liu Banxia was just there to 'fight fires.' Once this rush was over and Wang Bo and his team were out of surgery, they could resume helping with consultations.

After treating two patients with dislocations and three with fractures, Liu Banxia shook out his hands.

Manual reduction is exhausting; it requires both strength and precise control. But if my effort can reduce the patient's pain and save them medical fees, it's worth it. It wasn't a wasted effort either. Even though these five patients were all minor cases, they still netted me 600 experience points, 1,300 skill proficiency points in orthopedic techniques, and 3 Glory Points. This is already quite good. How long did I work on that Taenia solium patient? And I only got that paltry amount of experience. At least this time, I got a decent amount!

The next patient walked in. Liu Banxia glanced at the chart: Male, 36 years old. Chief complaints: suspected cervical spondylosis, vertigo.

"Can you describe your vertigo? Do you have a history of cervical spine issues?" Liu Banxia asked.

"It's occasional dizziness, and sometimes the room spins," the patient said. "I also feel nauseous and have thrown up once. I have a desk job, so I figure it's probably an issue with my cervical spine."

"How frequent are these dizzy spells?" Liu Banxia continued. "Does the vertigo occur while you're working, when you move your head, or perhaps when you stand up suddenly?"

"I haven't paid too much attention to that," the patient replied. "It happened twice last year, and twice so far this year. Doctor, can you order an MRI for me?"

"Let's not rush into an MRI just yet," Liu Banxia said. "Let me perform a manual examination first. Sitting in an office all day can indeed cause such issues. Do you often work overtime?"

"Isn't overtime normal?" the patient replied with a sigh. "Even if it's not explicitly required, if the boss hasn't left, who dares to leave? Even if you've finished your tasks, you have to look busy."

"I've been meaning to come for a while but only found the time after a project just wrapped up. Otherwise, coming to the hospital means queuing, and that can easily take up the whole day."

"Yes, unfortunately, our hospital is quite busy with patients right now, and many of them require diagnostic imaging," Liu Banxia explained. "If you were to get an MRI, you'd have to queue for that as well."

"However, based on my manual examination just now, your cervical spine joints don't seem to have any significant issues. Do you usually experience neck stiffness, or any numbness in any part of your body?"

The patient shook his head. "No, everything feels normal. It's just that sometimes I suddenly get dizzy. I read online that people with symptoms like mine usually have cervical spondylosis. Wouldn't an MRI show it more clearly?"

"That's not necessarily true; it depends on the specific situation," Liu Banxia said.

"MRIs and CT scans each have their own strengths. CT scans are generally better for detecting osseous lesions in the cervical spine, such as degenerative changes, spinal canal stenosis, bone spurs, and so on."

"MRIs, on the other hand, are good for assessing the intervertebral foramina, as well as conditions within the spinal canal like disc herniation or ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament. So, they each have specific things they are better at showing."

"Do you usually experience any pain in your cervical spine? Patients with cervical spondylosis often have such symptoms. Or do you occasionally find your range of motion limited when turning your head?"

The patient thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not really. It's just that my neck feels a bit tight sometimes if I keep my head down for too long."

"That's normal," Liu Banxia said with a smile. "Our necks have to support the entire weight of our heads. The greater the angle you tilt your head down, and the longer you hold it there, the heavier the strain."

"Alright, let's get a CT scan then," Liu Banxia suggested. "Considering your symptoms, it should allow us to see things more clearly. But honestly, I don't think there's anything significantly wrong with your cervical spine."

"Huh...? That can't be right, can it, Doctor?" the patient asked, surprised. "Doesn't cervical spondylosis usually cause vertigo and nausea?"

Liu Banxia nodded. "Cervical spondylosis can indeed present with these symptoms, but it usually also involves pain and numbness. Just because you have these symptoms doesn't automatically mean it's cervical spondylosis. Have you seen a doctor at another hospital about this before?"

The patient shook his head again. "No, I haven't. I just read about it online, and it sounded exactly like my situation, so I assumed that's what it was."

Liu Banxia chuckled. "That happens quite often. Well, let's start with a CT scan to check your cervical spine. If there's nothing there, we can then investigate other potential causes."

"Information you find online should, at best, be used as a preliminary reference. Everyone's body is different, and the same set of symptoms can be caused by various underlying conditions."

"Doctor, in that case, what do you think my condition might be?" the patient asked curiously.

"Hmm..." Liu Banxia paused. "This is just a guess at this point, mind you, not a confirmed diagnosis. But my hunch is that it might be related to your heart. To be certain, though, you'd need to 'wear the backpack'."

"That can't be, can it?" the patient said, shaking his head. "I'm experiencing dizziness. How could that be related to my heart? Besides, there's no history of heart disease in my family."

"Dizziness is often caused by insufficient blood supply," Liu Banxia patiently explained. "If there's an issue with the cervical spine, it can lead to inadequate blood flow to the brain. Similarly, if there's a heart condition, that can also cause insufficient blood supply."

"In medical terms, we call this cardiogenic vertigo. The primary manifestation is often cardiac arrhythmia, but this can't usually be detected if an episode isn't occurring during a standard examination. That's why you'd need to 'wear the backpack' – a 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram, also known as a Holter monitor."

"Of course, this is just my current hypothesis. Let's start with the CT scan. If we don't, I know you'll keep mulling it over and won't have peace of mind."

The patient chuckled and nodded. The doctor has a point. I spent days researching online, and I was convinced it was cervical spondylosis; otherwise, I wouldn't have registered for an orthopedic consultation. Even though this doctor's explanation is very logical, I still need to go through with the check for cervical spondylosis first. We can talk about other possibilities after that.

After writing out the test request form for the patient, Liu Banxia stepped outside for a look.

Not bad. After such a long, busy stretch, things have mostly quieted down. This was my last new patient for the day. The few still waiting are probably here for follow-ups with Wu Mingyu; I shouldn't get involved unnecessarily. Actually, as soon as that last patient came in and spoke his first few sentences, I already had a strong suspicion. There are quite a few patients in the hospital who self-diagnose based on online research, trying to pigeonhole their symptoms. In a way, such patients should almost be commended; it's much better than having symptoms and acting as if nothing is wrong.

Based on my manual examination and questioning, I've already determined that the patient most likely has cardiogenic vertigo. If it were truly cervical spondylosis, it wouldn't manifest solely as vertigo with no other accompanying symptoms like pain or numbness. But since the patient is so insistent on a cervical spine check, I can't really refuse. Don't think you're being kind by trying to save the patient a bit of money; no one will thank you for it. It's not your money, after all. At most, you only have the right to make a suggestion. Besides, what if the patient's cervical spine genuinely has some minor issue? And just because you wanted to be 'noble' and save them money, you refused to order the test. If something goes wrong later, whose responsibility would it be? At that point, it wouldn't be a small matter. It could escalate into something major, and orthopedic surgeries are quite costly. It's better to just play it safe and be thorough. Why try to be a hero or grandstand? Say what needs to be said, and then make a judgment based on the test results. That's all there is to it.