Most hospital staff will be familiar with the torment from the management to hurry and discharge patients who are deemed as medically fit, to clear out beds and ensure there was bed-space for the constant flow of new arrivals in need of it. One could argue this was in order to ensure everyone who stepped foot into the hospital received the care they needed in a timely manner. The worked frontline workers though knew all too well, that the core reason was none other than money. More patients seen equates to more money earned. Anyone who was considered to be bed-blocking, was wasting the hospital’s resources.

Unfortunately, like most other hospitals, the rate at which SNUH discharged patients could not quite keep up with the intake. Because of this, the ER was often viewed as the villain amongst the hospital departments. After all, the ER is the most commonly used entryway to the premise. It would befall upon the ER doctor to triage, assess, and eventually refer the patient to other hospital departments. Much to Soonbok’s dismay, as the nurse practitioner who was more qualified than the “standard” nurses, yet not deemed to be at equal standing as the qualified doctors, she had been allocated with the tedious and never-ending task of filtering through the paperwork of ER patients pick out those who were safe for discharge, and most importantly, minimise the need for hospital admission.

Crouched in front of a computer behind the nurse station, the lifeless nurse blew a raspberry as her eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown, framing her eyes which which were glaring intently at the computer screen. Feeling a twitch creeping towards her left eye, Soonbok blinked furiously, while her hand moved unconsciously, typing out the surname “Lee” into the search bar of the patient file system.

“Don’t even think about it,” a flat voice disrupted unceremoniously.

“I’m no fool Oh Sehun,” clucking her tongue, Soonbok did not bother turn her attention towards the newcomer.

“You may be no fool, but you can be impulsive fool.”

Soonbok bit her tongue, for she could not fully disagree with the male. All she could do, was remind herself of the repercussions if she were questioned about why she had accessed the file of a patient who she had clinical reason to do so.

“Talking about impulsive,” Sehun continued with nonchalance as he slid a file towards Soonbok, “I’ve got a patient in bay 3 who ran into oncoming traffic while screaming about cockroaches crawling all over him.”

“I’m assuming there were no cockroaches found on him?” Soonbok queried despite knowing the answer already.

She ignored Sehun’s look of impatience, instead, acknowledging Taeyeon’s presence as she just returned from escorting a concussion patient to the neurology department.

“There’s a patient throwing a huge fuss upstairs in neuro,” Taeyeon shook her head in disapproval, “something about getting bored and being stuck here for too long. He’s even throwing the do you know who my uncle is card. Poor doctor Lee is on the receiving end of it all.”

Soonbok’s eyes widened in alarm. Her brain went into full gear as all sorts of scenarios ran through her head.

“Nurse Gae?” Sehun cleared his throat, his tone sounding uncharacteristically strict.

Still distracted, Soonbok scanned through the file of the patient in bay 3, taking note of his past hospital admissions and gastro referral.

“Did his bloods show elevated GGT and ALT? Tactile hallucination can be an alcohol withdrawal symptom. Feeling cockroaches crawling all over the body is quite a common presentation,” Soonbok mumbled halfheartedly, her eyes jumping towards Taeyeon who had now left to attend another patient, leaving Soonbok with no more source of information.

“I’ll get Taeyeon to complete a CIWA then,” Sehun nudged Soonbok. “You go assist doctor Lee.”

“Huh? But—”

“As the resident doctor in charge now, I’m ordering you to go assist doctor Lee in neurology to deescalate the situation. It sounds like the patient may require some psychological support for the mental distress caused by his unexpectedly long hospital stay.”

Now Soonbok found herself blinking confusion. Sehun nudged her once again as he brushed his hand through his hair, masking the subtle wink he sent her way. Realising dawned upon Soonbok as he caught onto his intentions.

“Riiiight. The hospital is such an unfamiliar environment. It’s understandable that the patient may be in distress, and it is my role as nurse to support doctor Lee in providing the best care for the patient.”

Nodding in understanding, Soonbok gave Sehun’s arm a squeeze of appreciation. Without hesitation, she jolted out of her chair and dashed into the lift that would lead her towards the neurology department.

Sehun bit back a smile, feeling bizarrely proud about his indirect input into the operation.

・・・

“Mr Lee, I understand your frustrations, ho