Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment an exhausted operating theatre nurse collapses on the floor right next to her patient at 4am before she is seen scrubbing up and returning to work just minutes later.
Nurse Wang Yaning, of Xianyang First People’s Hospital in China’s north-western province of Shaanxi, returned to the operating room just 45 minutes later to help finish the surgery.
Ms Wang was among two nurses and three surgeons operating on a patient who had suffered internal bleeding and a ruptured spleen following a fall.
She was given a chair to sit on after feeling light-headed, the hospital said, but CCTV footage from the operating theatre shows her falling unconscious at 4:14am local time on 13th January.
In the video, Ms Wang falls to one side and collapses onto the floor next to the patient and operating table, with her colleagues, including lead surgeon Guo Chunguang, all caught by surprise.
As doctor Guo and others continue to treat the patient, Ms Wang is helped up and can later be seen resting against the operating theatre wall.
But just 45 minutes after she fainted, Ms Wang is seen standing up and scrubbing in once more to take part in the surgery, which the hospital says ended at 5:30am.
The operating room nurse decided to power through the final 30 minutes because they were not able to find a replacement in time, reports said.
Ms Wang told local media: “I’m generally in very good shape, but I was a bit tired after having taken part in three surgeries.
“Each operating theatre staff has a specific job to do. When one isn’t able to carry on for whatever reason, it means the remaining ones have to do more.
“Surgeries require great meticulousness; there’s no room for any carelessness.
“At the time, I just wanted to help in any way possible.”
Ms Wang has been an operating theatre nurse for nine years.
She has received praise for returning to the operating room despite her collapse.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
