Author: Economic Daily Han Bingzhi

Translated by: Wu Xia

There is such a female doctor. She had participated in the fight against SARS 17 years ago; now, she is reckless and applied to the front line of fighting the new coronavirus.

Her name is Zhang Zhan, and she is a doctor in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Renmin of Wuhan University.

"In a battlefield where the enemy is invisible, no one can be spared. I applied for a long stay in the observation room for the next step of disease screening." With the development of the epidemic, Zhang Zhan, as the secretary of the Party branch of the department, submitted a letter of request to the Party Committee of Wuhan University Renmin Hospital, without telling her husband.

"It is a battlefield everywhere"

Long-term stay in the emergency observation room means that the probability of contacting high-risk patients is much greater than in ordinary clinics. However, Zhang Zhan, the secretary of the party branch of the department, said: "When it comes, we fight it."

When submitting the application, Zhang Zhan has her own reasons: applying for a long stay in the observation room can avoid the constant consultation in the hospital, which can reduce the burden of other doctors, and patients can get continuous treatment..

"If the leaders agree, please inform Professor Hu (Note: the head of the department, Hu Ke), and stop my expert clinic. In addition, please strengthen the protection of the observation room and fix the lower doctors." January 18, 2020, the hospital's party committee approved the application on the same day Dr. Zhang handed it in.

At the time of writing the application, Zhang specifically stated that she had not informed his husband of this matter, Professor Li Mingchang, who was also working in Renmin of Wuhan University and was the Deputy Director of the Department of Neurosurgery.

"I didn't tell Mingchang about this. I don't think I need to tell. There are battlefields everywhere!"

After learning his wife's decision, Li Mingchang first asked three words "Have you decided?" After receiving a positive response, he said three more words: I support you.

Zhang’s Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine is the place where patients with severe respiratory diseases are concentrated. Since December 2019, multiple cases of viral pneumonia have been found in Wuhan, Zhang has been involved in the treatment of related patients. Before submitting the application, Zhang's department had cured and discharged two batches of patients with symptoms of dyspnea. Among the second batch of 6 patients, the serum antibody test results by Wuhan Virus Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences showed that the new coronavirus-specific IgG antibodies were positive, confirming that they were all infected by the new coronavirus.

The scale and complexity of the outbreak since then has exceeded everyone's imagination. Zhang recorded the high-intensity work of the front-line medical staff.

Since the outbreak, more than 7,000 employees of Renmin Hospital Wuhan University have given up the Spring Festival holiday and devoted their full time to fighting the outbreak. On January 31, 2020, with the transformation of the eastern district of the hospital into a centralized treatment site for patients with new-type coronavirus pneumonia, their medical treatment tasks became more onerous. From January 18 to the present, Zhang has been standing by the epidemic in the emergency observation room.

"Be sure to cut off the transmission of the virus"

In addition to her heavy work, Zhang did not forget to think about clinical research. "The new coronavirus is a new public enemy of humans. To deepen our understanding and find a way to deal with it, it is necessary for our first-line clinical doctors to sum up experience in a timely manner while treating the patients." Click the WeChat public account of the department where Zhang Ye is located, and you can find her latest research results and thoughts.

After a round, Zhang, who had no contact with the patient, changed back to a surgical mask, but then she felt tired and weak. Fortunately, she was not infected. Based on her own feelings, Zhang wrote an article "Focus on the signals given by the body", reminding the front-line medical and nursing colleagues to pay attention to self-protection.

“Never get too tired, this is very important.” Zhang said, “I'm afraid that the young doctor will work too hard. That is why I wrote ‘pay attention to the signals sent by my body’. In my cognition, as long as you feel uncomfortable and take care of it quickly, whether it is rest or medication, the physical problems can be suppressed quickly. However, if you ignore it, it is easy to develop again after fatigue. This is what I really want to say to my colleagues. "

Recently, Zhang and her colleagues observed that the first symptom of some patients with new-type coronavirus infection was only diarrhea, and they suspected that the digestive system might be the route of transmission. Later, the laboratory of Shi Zhengli, a researcher at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed that viral nucleic acids were found in the stool and anal swabs of these patients. Zhang once again posted on the WeChat public account to suggest that clinicians, especially digestive physicians, should pay close attention to the atypical symptoms of the new coronavirus pneumonia and take personal protection against vomitus and feces. This important information has recently attracted widespread attention from society and the public.

Zhang Huan participated in the battle against SARS in 2003. At that time, she worked at the Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, where she undertook a large number of SARS patients. Zhang Ye learned to approach the epidemic with calmness and science.

Recalling her experience that year, Zhang said, "Once the director was intubating a patient, all the doctors present coughed. At that time, no one cared. Only then did everyone realize the patient must be an atypical SARS patient. However, why did none of the people present fall down? "Zhang carefully thought about the reason. She thought that the ventilation conditions in the ward were very good. This experience is used in this battle against the new coronavirus.

"As medical workers, we will not panic. SARS in 2003 was quickly controlled under the correct scientific command of the party and the government. I believe that this time we can control the epidemic more quickly and win the war of epidemic prevention and control. "Zhang said with confidence.