Chapter 564, Suture Thread

Translator: Silavin

 

Su Bai looked at the densely packed Wolf Tail Grass Paper on the table and put down the quill pen in his hand. He wanted to have a proper sort through everything, then continue to see what needed supplementing.

 

“The personnel must be professional. We need to make others feel they can trust them.” Su Bai murmured to himself.

 

He picked up a sheet of paper and examined it carefully. Written on it were the standards regarding personnel.

 

Of course, these standards applied to the medical staff currently in the hospital. There were already several medical staff members in the hospital now. All of these medical staff had begun training before the hospital was even established, which was before the snow season.

 

Every day they would go to the classroom to receive knowledge training, as well as conventional techniques such as bandaging, stopping bleeding, treating wounds, and so forth.

 

Not only that, but they also learned many small medical techniques daily, including what to do for headaches, stomach aches, and the likes.

 

After all, these people would all need to work independently in the hospital, so they certainly needed to be taught these things properly.

 

Initially, many people underwent training, but some were eliminated due to problems such as fainting at the sight of blood or being unable to react in the face of stressful situations. The few remaining could be said to be the elite of the elite.

 

They had learned very well in all aspects. Whether in practical or theoretical knowledge, they had mastered everything and could work independently. This meant that even if injured alone in the Wilderness, they would not die from excessive bleeding.

 

Although Primitive Tribes had many methods, there were also many people who did not know what to do, often losing their lives due to the lack of basic knowledge of how to treat oneself.

 

[These few personnel can still cope with the current population of the Tribe, but if there are more people in the future, it might be difficult…] Su Bai thought to himself.

 

He was already thinking about when spring arrived next year. If the Flame Dragon Tribe’s population continued to grow, once they had any minor ailments or pains, they would all go to the hospital. At that time, those people would be overwhelmed.

 

“We need to train more people. Anyway, there’s nothing much to do during the snow season so we can focus on their training.” Su Bai muttered to himself.

 

Although the current staff still had much to learn, since this study could never be completely mastered, what they knew now was sufficient.

 

Since their current knowledge was adequate, and with the snow season leaving little else to do, he would let them begin training others. This would also be in preparation for next year’s spring.

 

“The selection of personnel must still follow the previous standards. Let those people continue experimenting in the hospital. They can go catch some of the small wild beasts outside and conduct learning experiments on them.” Su Bai wrote and sketched on the paper with his quill pen.

 

He planned to have those medical staff begin learning to suture wounds or study some bodily structures. But these things were a little difficult.

 

“After arranging the training, we’ll definitely need to make some uniforms to distinguish them from others,” Su Bai frowned.

 

In the Primitive Era, there was certainly no way to make snow-white clothes. ‘White angels’ could not be present in this era, but different coloured ‘angels’ were still possible.

 

“We can use dyed linen to make doctors’ and nurses’ clothes, but the dyeing will have to wait until spring,..” Su Bai glanced at the fruit juices in the corner.

 

Last time, he had picked tomatoes from the wooden shed and extracted much juice, intending to use them for dyeing clothes. However, it needed to ferment for some time.

 

After the fermentation was complete, he could begin using this fermented fruit juice to dye clothes.

 

“This matter can only be postponed for now. What needs to be done next is the hospital’s signboard.” Su Bai took out his quill pen and drew on the paper.

 

He perfectly drew a cross on the paper, then drew a square around the cross, effectively framing the cross within it.

 

This symbol was the hospital symbol back on Earth.

 

Since the personnel had already been trained, the hospital’s sign board must also be present, so people could tell at a glance that this was a hospital.

 

“This signboard isn’t difficult to make, but the colours must be chosen carefully, otherwise they’ll easily fade after being rained on.” Su Bai began considering the choice of pigments.

 

He still decided on white and red. Only these could represent the solemnity of white angels and hospitals.

 

“This can be done by the workshop. What needs to be done next is some medical equipment. These must also be made first, ready for use in the spring,” Su Bai murmured to himself.

 

He continued to pick up his quill pen and draw on the paper, sketching small surgical knives, surgical scissors, and some thread. These were all quite important.

 

“But what material should be used for suture thread?” Su Bai fell into another difficult problem.

 

In this era, there was no such thing as thread. At most, there was linen thread, but these were used for mending clothes and certainly would not work for suturing wounds.

 

Although back on ancient Earth, people used linen thread or plant fibres to suture wounds, as well as some cotton thread and so forth.

 

Even though these things could all be used to suture wounds, removing the stitches would cause a lot of pain, and these threads were not particularly clean or hygienic.

 

Of course, people commonly used horsehair at that time, but this was not a particularly good thing either. They too would not break down over time and had to be manually removed.

 

“Is there a material that would gradually break down when in our body? If there are such things for suturing wounds, it would be much better…” Su Bai frowned.

 

He began thinking about what exactly ancient Earth had used to suture wounds, excluding those things that could not be broken down.

 

“In this era, making that kind of suture thread is definitely impossible. We can look for better suture thread materials. If all else fails, we can only use linen thread.” Su Bai said.

 

Su Bai frowned and continued murmuring to himself, “There is also catgut… Never mind that for now, we’ll experiment with everything when the time comes to seek out a better alternative.”

 

Back on Earth, the concept of catgut existed in 150 BC, mainly made from the intestinal mucosa of sheep or cattle.

 

He thought about first taking all these materials for experimentation to see which material could be better accepted by the human body, then choosing the optimal one from among the several materials.

 

“That’s about right. When the time comes, we’ll see who in the Tribe gets injured, give them some more dried meat, and ask them to help out with the experiment.” Su Bai put down his quill pen.

 

After taking a sip of hot tea, he continued thinking, because there were still many things that needed to be perfected for the hospital.