When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

When Zhou Min answered the phone, the clock on the wall had just passed 3:32 PM.

"Male, 57 years old, vomited blood twice, black stool, blood pressure 92.6, heart rate 128." She wrote the numbers reported by the emergency center on the back of the receiving form. "Conscious, intravenous access has been established, expected to arrive in eight minutes."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Guoqiang had already been transferred to the intensive care unit. The mattress and monitor cables of bed number three were wiped clean.

Nurse Zhu squatted beside the ambulance, replenishing the used items one by one.

Lin Ye followed Zhou Min to her side, his gaze falling on the newly vacated bed number three.

"Next, you'll be in charge of the emergency ward." Zhou Min handed him the admission form. "You decide which bed is available, how to allocate staff, and the routine procedures. If you need a blood transfusion, an invasive procedure, or if the specialist can't coordinate, then come directly to me."

The phone at the triage desk rang again, and the triage nurse reached out to answer it.

Zhou Min had already turned around to handle coordination elsewhere, without stopping to wait for his reply.

Lin Ye stood there for two seconds holding the receipt, his ears filled with the alerts from the monitors.

In the past, when he received a forecast, his first thought was what to do after the patient entered the room.

Bed number three is still not cleaned up, the patient in bed number two with chest pain has electrodes attached, the patient in bed number four with renal colic has just received a painkiller injection, and there is a wheelchair waiting to be transferred outside the observation area.

He folded the receipt into his white coat pocket and walked towards bed number two.

The patient is in his forties. The first electrocardiogram (ECG) was placed by the bedside and no clear signs of acute ischemia were observed. A follow-up ECG is being performed, and troponin levels have not yet returned.

"Did it still hurt just now? Compared to when you came in, was it less painful or more painful?"

"It's much better now, but I felt a bit stuffy again just now." The patient raised his hand and pointed to the area behind his sternum. "I don't feel anything now."

Lin Ye picked up the first electrocardiogram from the bedside table and compared it with the heart rate on the monitor screen.

"Stay here for now, don't remove the monitoring personnel. If you experience chest pain again, press the call button immediately."

Bed number two cannot be moved for the time being.

The man in bed number four was lying on his side. His brows had relaxed after the pain was relieved, and his right hand was still pressed against his waist.

His wife sat on the edge of the bed, with a plastic bag containing the medical report at her feet.

Upon seeing Lin Ye approaching, she immediately stood up.

"Doctor, does he need to be admitted to the intensive care unit?"

Lin Ye pressed on the patient's abdomen again, asked about the changes in pain, and checked the blood pressure and urine color.

The patient's vital signs are stable, there is no fever, and there is no persistent vomiting. Imaging images are still pending.

"You can be transferred to observation there while we continue to examine you. If the pain worsens, you develop a fever, or you vomit severely, call the doctor immediately."

The woman paused for a moment, then bent down to grab the bed rails.

"If we transfer him out, will no one care? You all saw him writhing on the ground in pain just now."

The transporter had already stood at the foot of the bed, his hand on the brake lever, but he didn't push it forward.

Lin Ye raised his wrist to check the time; there were still six minutes until the ambulance arrived at the hospital.

"His blood pressure is normal after the pain was relieved, and his abdominal signs are stable. There will be a follow-up assessment in the observation area, and the examinations will be conducted as usual." He pulled out the examination report at the foot of the bed and pointed it out to her. "This bed is for a patient who is vomiting blood and whose blood pressure is dropping. If your husband's condition changes again, we will bring him back."

The woman didn't let go; she first turned to look at her husband on the bed.

The man took a breath and pulled the blanket up over his legs.

"Let's go. The pain has subsided since the injection. Leave this place to those who are in a hurry."

The woman's lips moved slightly, and finally she hugged the plastic bag containing the examination report to her arms.

The transport worker released the brakes, and just as the hospital bed was pushed to the door, she turned back to look at bed number three.

"Is the person we're bringing in more seriously injured than him?"

"He's still bleeding and his blood pressure is low. Your husband is stable now, so it's more appropriate to transfer him to observation and continue to wait for further examination."

She nodded and quickly followed the patient to the hospital bed.

Bed number four is now available.

Lin Ye looked up at the observation area and called out, "Ma Hao, the patient in bed four with renal colic has been moved over. The imaging results aren't out yet. He's stable now after the pain relief. Can you help me with the follow-up evaluation?"

Ma Hao leaned out from the entrance of the observation area, holding a medical record in his hand.

"Okay, I'll call you when the results are out. Are more people coming to the emergency room?"

"Gastrointestinal bleeding, low blood pressure. Six minutes left."

Ma Hao walked towards bed number four, which was being wheeled out, tucked the medical record under his arm, and caught the foot of the bed.

Lin Ye turned to bed number three.

"Nurse Zhu, start with bed three for hematemesis. Prepare the monitor, suction equipment, and supplies for both blood transfusion lines. Place the blood typing and crossmatch tubes outside."

Nurse Zhu stood up and opened the bottom drawer of the ambulance.

"The bed rails are still the last part to be disinfected; two minutes."

"After you're done, just make the bed. I'll have the bed turnover nurse handle bed four; you can prepare bed three first."

"clear."

The monitor on bed number two beeped.

Lin Ye turned around and saw that the patient had simply turned over and loosened the finger clamp, and the readings quickly returned to normal.

He went over and clipped it back in place, making sure the leads in his chest weren't loose.

Someone hurried over from the triage desk.

"Dr. Lin, another ambulance." The triage nurse handed him a bulletin board. "Male, 24 years old. Strong degreaser splashed into his right eye while cleaning the kitchen. He's in so much pain he can't open it and his vision is blurred. He was rinsed at the scene for five minutes, and his vital signs are stable. He'll be here no more than two minutes after the previous one."

Lin Ye took the paper: "Is there any residue left on your face? Are you having any breathing problems? Do you still have the cleanser packaging?"

"There's no difficulty breathing, and my colleague has brought the packaging into the car."

The disinfection of bed number three is not yet finished, bed number four has just been moved away, and the monitoring of bed number two cannot be removed.

Nurse Zhu looked up from beside bed number three: "The patient with low blood pressure, please move to bed three. What about the patient with the eye injury?"

Lin Ye looked at bed number four.

The sheets had been removed, but the mattress still bore the creases left by the patient with renal colic who had been curled up in bed.

"Go and pick up the patient with the eye injury," Lin Ye told the triage nurse. "Don't wait until they're in bed to rinse them. Protect the left eye first, and continue rinsing the right eye. Bring the cleaning solution package with you. When they get to bed four, hand them over to the bedside nurse. Afterward, check their vision in both eyes, measure the conjunctival sac alkalinity, and then call the ophthalmologist."

"I'll go pick him up now, and he'll rush off as soon as the car door opens."

The triage nurse noted down the instructions and turned to leave.

Lin Ye called out to her again: "Take the accompanying personnel in the two cars separately, don't block the entrance to the emergency room."

She responded, but didn't stop walking.

Next to bed number four, the nurse in charge of bed turnover had already wiped the mattress and bed rails, changed the sheets, and reconnected the monitoring equipment.

Zhou Min stood outside the emergency room, using her mobile phone to handle coordination on the other side.

Hearing the arrangements, she looked up, and Lin Ye had already turned around to check the preparations for bed number three.

Nurse Zhu had just tucked a clean sheet under the mattress when the sound of a reversing warning came from outside the emergency entrance.

An ambulance came to a stop close to the porch, and another one followed closely behind, turning in.

The two car doors opened one after the other, and a cold draft carrying the smell of gasoline rushed into the hall.

"Dr. Lin," Nurse Zhu pushed open the emergency cart next to bed number three, "Which one should we take first?"

Lin Ye had already walked to the first car.

"The patient in bed three is vomiting blood; Nurse Zhu is with me. The patient in bed four is suffering from a chemical eye injury. After triage, the eye is rinsed at the entrance and then handed over to the bedside nurse. Ma Hao continues to monitor bed two and the observation area."

When the first transfer bed was placed on the ground, the patient's mouth and collar were covered in dark red blood.

Lin Ye gripped the bed railing and raised his hand towards the emergency room entrance.

"Three beds, go straight in."