She went to look for the staff in charge of housekeeping in the high dependency unit.
"You want us to help with cleaning and bathing patients?"
"Yes."
"But... Why?"
"The sanitary conditions are so bad that it's bad for the patients."
The only support staff the hospital hired were two older ladies.
They both hesitated at Elise's request.
Cleaning and bathing was definitely the support staff's job, but since no one cared about these bums they had been cutting corners.
"Then... the Lady is?"
"I am Rose. I came as a apprentice under Dr. Graham."
In hospitals of the empire, an apprenticeship is given respect as a medical assistant for it is a higher rank than a supporting assistant.
They checked Elise out.
She was wearing a simple outfit but even at a glance, they could tell she was a lady of a good house.
Without much choice, they were forced to nod their heads.
"Yes... I understand."
In this manner, Elise finished the work with the other ladies.
They cleaned what was dirty, swept busily, wiped and gave baths to the patients.
As the hospital ward got cleaner and cleaner Elise's body got dirtier but she didn't let it concern her.
'Well, I can just go wash after I'm done.'
Since she had intelligence from Earth she knew the importance of good hygiene.
According to the research of Florence Nightingale, just the improvement of hygiene practices, significantly lowered the death rate.
'Perhaps even more than medicine or surgery, what easily lowers the death rate is good hygiene practices.'
To think, just by cleaning she could lower the death rate! How could she not put an effort into cleaning?
Then, while she was busy cleaning, the support assistant that was passive and stiff spoke.
"Miss... We will do it."
"Yes?"
"This is our regular job so..."
They looked embarrassed.
At first, they were forced to follow her but after observing Elise working so hard at cleaning they felt guilty. To think such a young delicate lady didn't take care of her own body and did rough work for vagabonds, they were automatically ashamed.
Elise happily answered.
"Yes, thank you, let's do it together."
Since all three worked together, even the endless work that never seemed to end was finished. The vagabond's ward became so clean it was no longer recognizable from the ward before.
"Th-thank you."
"Thank you very much."
The vagrants expressed their thanks to Elise.
It was a hospital but since they all had difficult problems in the late stages that were hard to cure, they were just left there to "wait" indefinitely.
Yet a lady, that they could tell was from a rich household just by looking at her, was willing to do all this for people no one even bothered to look at!
Everyone was greatly moved but Elise kindly smiled and shook her head.
'Now we are truly starting.'
Good hygiene is only the first basic prevention.
She started to look seriously at the patients' files.
"Patient, is there anywhere uncomfortable?"
"My hips..."
As she wandered around the ward she checked every patient's condition one by one carefully.
'This patient fractured his hip in a fall but the fracture is no longer treatable at this point.
Then the only thing that can help the patient... Check his nutrition and disinfect his sores.'
She recognized what she could do and what she couldn't as she checked.
Then she did her best at what she could do for the patient.
"I need to disinfect the bedsores first so please bring disinfectant from the medicine cabinet."
"Yes, Lady."
"There are many patients that are unwell so please bring plenty, enough to spare. Please bring me anesthetic and sterilized knives as well "
"Why a knife?"
The assistant was surprised that such a young lady asked for a knife but Elise spoke naturally.
"To cut away the dead tissues. There's a chance of heavy bleeding so bring plenty of gauze*."
"La-lady is going to do it? By yourself? With a knife?"
The assistant looked appalled, as if she was horrified just by the very thought.
"Yes. I am going to do it."
Elise nodded her head.
In her past life, she even did transplant surgery.
To her, removing dead tissue was so easy it wasn't even considered surgery, at least according to her personal standards.
The medicinal assistant looked like she heard enough and brought the disinfectant, anesthetic, and sterilized knives.
"He-here."
"Please hold the patient in place."
"You-you are going to do it here?"
"Yes, his injury is so bad we need to do it right now ."
Elise answered as she inspected the sores on the patient with an injured hip.
She put on gloves.
'However, will they say anything to me since I decided to do this on my own?'
To Surgeon Song Ji Hyun this kind of surgery was nothing, but she was an apprentice who just entered and might get punished for overstepping her position on her very first day.
However, she shook her head.
'This is not a dangerous operation and if I leave him alone his condition will quickly worsen.'
Since he wasn't treated his infection was very bad. The fluid was swollen inside and pressure ulcers were formed. If she left it now the bacterial infection could lead to Sepsis, in which bacteria can enter through sores, especially advanced ones, and infect the bloodstream.
She needed to move quickly.
"Dear Patient, we are going to disinfect the bad scars and extract the pus. We are going to use anesthetic so it won't hurt."
"Yes, yes."
First, she calmed the patient with a soft gentle voice.
Then after she made the patient lie down, she started the Debridement*.
"Please give me the anesthetic first."
Then as she received the anesthetic with gloved hands a single question popped over her head.
'How did the great alchemist Fleming invent all this medicine?'
The disinfection and the anesthetic she was currently using were all invented by him.
And there many other medicines he invented too.
'Even if he's a genius how can he do all this? He couldn't just invent disinfection and anesthetics...
Could it be possible he also lived on Earth like me?'
She even felt suspicious.
That was how great his achievements were.
Of course, if you compare it to all the current medicine on earth it was much weaker in comparison. However, he invented all the basic medicine you need in every field.
Even if he was an alchemist it was impossible to believe this was all the work of one man.
'I would've liked to meet him just once... However, he's been dead for five years.'
She felt regret.
"Patient, does it hurt ?"
"No... It doesn't hurt."
She made sure it was completely numb and slowly started the debriding.
"Give me the disinfectant."
First, she disinfected the pus oozing scars.
She wasn't simply pouring it on but made sure it disinfected the space between each scar with much consideration.
And then...
"Give me a knife."
"Are you re-really going to do it yourself?"
The medical assistant asked her.
Elise nodded her head.
"Yes."
It was a short but decisive answer.
With a pale face, the assistant gave the knife.
"..."
Elise stared at the knife wordlessly.
'Scalpel.'
*Doki Doki*
It was the primitive surgical knife (scalpel).
Holding a scalpel after so long made her heartbeat.
'After I became a surgeon, I barely let go of my scalpel.'
Her face softened.
She must have missed it.
The feeling of a scalpel.
Since her chest was aching.
'I will never become something like an empress. This is my destiny. I will live as a surgeon forever.'
She lowered her scalpel and cut down.
She accurately cut the dead tissue out, blood burst out.
"Ugh!"
The assistants that were watching swallowed back their screams.
However, Elise wasn't affected at all and moved her hands quickly without an inch of hesitation.
She blocked the blood flow with gauze and cut the infected area off with her knife.
Her eyes were no longer the eyes of a lady belonging to a Marquis house but rather the eyes of a surgeon.
Her eyes had a strong, unshakable iron look to them!
In such a fragile, delicate doll-like face, those iron eyes were out of place, yet they were giving out an incredibly beautiful motherly look.
"How can she ...?"
The assistant gawked at her with a surprised expression.
They weren't medical students because they've worked here for a long time, they have seen several surgeries and realized her skills were out of the ordinary.
'Even certified doctors can't handle the scalpel that skillfully?'
They had never seen a doctor at Theresa hospital use a scalpel as skillfully as this young lady.
It was incredibly skillful, as if she was a master at this art form.
Thud!
The last dead piece fell off.
The sores from after the surgery were so clean it was incomparable to the sores from before.
"It's over. Dear patient."
She spoke after finishing with the gauze.
"Th-Thank you. It-It's much better than before."
The patient spoke, greatly moved.
She laughed as she kindly replied.
"From now on it needs to be well taken care of. If there's anything uncomfortable please let me know."
"Yes, thank you so much."
Then she spoke to the two who were gawking at her.
"I'm sorry... Can you help me with the next patient's injuries?"
"Ah... Yes, yes!"
They quickly scrambled to follow Elise's direction.
In this way, Elise, one by one, cured all the patients in the vagrant's ward.
*********************************************************************************
A week passed by.
The young professor, Baron Graham, at Theresa hospital received a call when he was deeply engrossed in the middle of his research.
"What's going on?"
"I wanted to know how the lady recommended by Viscount Kate was faring. Is she doing well?"
"..."
Graham was, for a moment, at a complete loss for words.
'...How was she?'
After he left her in the vagrant's ward he didn't bother to think of her.
No, to be honest, he forgot about her.
'Now that I think about it. Why is there no one talking about her? Did she quit without notice?'
Obviously, after a day or two, she would come looking for him to quit but there simply had been no information at all from her. She might have been surprised by the vagrants and ran without even a greeting.
"Why is there no answer? Did she not come to you?"
The chief of medicine, Viscount Goate furrowed his eyebrows.
"No, it's not that. It's..."
Graham started to stutter his words.
".....She's doing self-study."
"Self-study?"
"...Yes. So she can learn her way around the hospital."
His vague answer was enough for the Head of Medicine to realize what was going on and raised his voice.
"Graham, are you going to be like this? It's just not any person but a person recommended by Viscount Kate!"
"I'm s-sorry."
Viscount Kate.
He was a noble under the owner of this hospital and was the empire's chancellor.
He was a powerful noble with weight in his own right.
"Go do it correctly!"
"Yes, I am sorry."
Graham, after lowering his head for a while, left the office.
He let out a big breath.
'Damn it. I am busy enough as it is but I have to take that lady around and teach her? If she's that important why doesn't he teach her himself?'
He thought that inside but he was a son of a fallen noble family and was a powerless doctor at the bottom of the hospital hierarchy. He had to do what he was told.
'I don't know if she's still around. She probably ran away already.'
He moved his feet half-heartedly towards the vagrant's ward.
She went to look for the staff in charge of housekeeping in the high dependency unit.
"You want us to help with cleaning and bathing patients?"
"Yes."
"But... Why?"
"The sanitary conditions are so bad that it's bad for the patients."
The only support staff the hospital hired were two older ladies.
They both hesitated at Elise's request.
Cleaning and bathing was definitely the support staff's job, but since no one cared about these bums they had been cutting corners.
"Then... the Lady is?"
"I am Rose. I came as a apprentice under Dr. Graham."
In hospitals of the empire, an apprenticeship is given respect as a medical assistant for it is a higher rank than a supporting assistant.
They checked Elise out.
She was wearing a simple outfit but even at a glance, they could tell she was a lady of a good house.
Without much choice, they were forced to nod their heads.
"Yes... I understand."
In this manner, Elise finished the work with the other ladies.
They cleaned what was dirty, swept busily, wiped and gave baths to the patients.
As the hospital ward got cleaner and cleaner Elise's body got dirtier but she didn't let it concern her.
'Well, I can just go wash after I'm done.'
Since she had intelligence from Earth she knew the importance of good hygiene.
According to the research of Florence Nightingale, just the improvement of hygiene practices, significantly lowered the death rate.
'Perhaps even more than medicine or surgery, what easily lowers the death rate is good hygiene practices.'
To think, just by cleaning she could lower the death rate! How could she not put an effort into cleaning?
Then, while she was busy cleaning, the support assistant that was passive and stiff spoke.
"Miss... We will do it."
"Yes?"
"This is our regular job so..."
They looked embarrassed.
At first, they were forced to follow her but after observing Elise working so hard at cleaning they felt guilty. To think such a young delicate lady didn't take care of her own body and did rough work for vagabonds, they were automatically ashamed.
Elise happily answered.
"Yes, thank you, let's do it together."
Since all three worked together, even the endless work that never seemed to end was finished. The vagabond's ward became so clean it was no longer recognizable from the ward before.
"Th-thank you."
"Thank you very much."
The vagrants expressed their thanks to Elise.
It was a hospital but since they all had difficult problems in the late stages that were hard to cure, they were just left there to "wait" indefinitely.
Yet a lady, that they could tell was from a rich household just by looking at her, was willing to do all this for people no one even bothered to look at!
Everyone was greatly moved but Elise kindly smiled and shook her head.
'Now we are truly starting.'
Good hygiene is only the first basic prevention.
She started to look seriously at the patients' files.
"Patient, is there anywhere uncomfortable?"
"My hips..."
As she wandered around the ward she checked every patient's condition one by one carefully.
'This patient fractured his hip in a fall but the fracture is no longer treatable at this point.
Then the only thing that can help the patient... Check his nutrition and disinfect his sores.'
She recognized what she could do and what she couldn't as she checked.
Then she did her best at what she could do for the patient.
"I need to disinfect the bedsores first so please bring disinfectant from the medicine cabinet."
"Yes, Lady."
"There are many patients that are unwell so please bring plenty, enough to spare. Please bring me anesthetic and sterilized knives as well "
"Why a knife?"
The assistant was surprised that such a young lady asked for a knife but Elise spoke naturally.
"To cut away the dead tissues. There's a chance of heavy bleeding so bring plenty of gauze*."
"La-lady is going to do it? By yourself? With a knife?"
The assistant looked appalled, as if she was horrified just by the very thought.
"Yes. I am going to do it."
Elise nodded her head.
In her past life, she even did transplant surgery.
To her, removing dead tissue was so easy it wasn't even considered surgery, at least according to her personal standards.
The medicinal assistant looked like she heard enough and brought the disinfectant, anesthetic, and sterilized knives.
"He-here."
"Please hold the patient in place."
"You-you are going to do it here?"
"Yes, his injury is so bad we need to do it right now ."
Elise answered as she inspected the sores on the patient with an injured hip.
She put on gloves.
'However, will they say anything to me since I decided to do this on my own?'
To Surgeon Song Ji Hyun this kind of surgery was nothing, but she was an apprentice who just entered and might get punished for overstepping her position on her very first day.
However, she shook her head.
'This is not a dangerous operation and if I leave him alone his condition will quickly worsen.'
Since he wasn't treated his infection was very bad. The fluid was swollen inside and pressure ulcers were formed. If she left it now the bacterial infection could lead to Sepsis, in which bacteria can enter through sores, especially advanced ones, and infect the bloodstream.
She needed to move quickly.
"Dear Patient, we are going to disinfect the bad scars and extract the pus. We are going to use anesthetic so it won't hurt."
"Yes, yes."
First, she calmed the patient with a soft gentle voice.
Then after she made the patient lie down, she started the Debridement*.
"Please give me the anesthetic first."
Then as she received the anesthetic with gloved hands a single question popped over her head.
'How did the great alchemist Fleming invent all this medicine?'
The disinfection and the anesthetic she was currently using were all invented by him.
And there many other medicines he invented too.
'Even if he's a genius how can he do all this? He couldn't just invent disinfection and anesthetics...
Could it be possible he also lived on Earth like me?'
She even felt suspicious.
That was how great his achievements were.
Of course, if you compare it to all the current medicine on earth it was much weaker in comparison. However, he invented all the basic medicine you need in every field.
Even if he was an alchemist it was impossible to believe this was all the work of one man.
'I would've liked to meet him just once... However, he's been dead for five years.'
She felt regret.
"Patient, does it hurt ?"
"No... It doesn't hurt."
She made sure it was completely numb and slowly started the debriding.
"Give me the disinfectant."
First, she disinfected the pus oozing scars.
She wasn't simply pouring it on but made sure it disinfected the space between each scar with much consideration.
And then...
"Give me a knife."
"Are you re-really going to do it yourself?"
The medical assistant asked her.
Elise nodded her head.
"Yes."
It was a short but decisive answer.
With a pale face, the assistant gave the knife.
"..."
Elise stared at the knife wordlessly.
'Scalpel.'
*Doki Doki*
It was the primitive surgical knife (scalpel).
Holding a scalpel after so long made her heartbeat.
'After I became a surgeon, I barely let go of my scalpel.'
Her face softened.
She must have missed it.
The feeling of a scalpel.
Since her chest was aching.
'I will never become something like an empress. This is my destiny. I will live as a surgeon forever.'
She lowered her scalpel and cut down.
She accurately cut the dead tissue out, blood burst out.
"Ugh!"
The assistants that were watching swallowed back their screams.
However, Elise wasn't affected at all and moved her hands quickly without an inch of hesitation.
She blocked the blood flow with gauze and cut the infected area off with her knife.
Her eyes were no longer the eyes of a lady belonging to a Marquis house but rather the eyes of a surgeon.
Her eyes had a strong, unshakable iron look to them!
In such a fragile, delicate doll-like face, those iron eyes were out of place, yet they were giving out an incredibly beautiful motherly look.
"How can she ...?"
The assistant gawked at her with a surprised expression.
They weren't medical students because they've worked here for a long time, they have seen several surgeries and realized her skills were out of the ordinary.
'Even certified doctors can't handle the scalpel that skillfully?'
They had never seen a doctor at Theresa hospital use a scalpel as skillfully as this young lady.
It was incredibly skillful, as if she was a master at this art form.
Thud!
The last dead piece fell off.
The sores from after the surgery were so clean it was incomparable to the sores from before.
"It's over. Dear patient."
She spoke after finishing with the gauze.
"Th-Thank you. It-It's much better than before."
The patient spoke, greatly moved.
She laughed as she kindly replied.
"From now on it needs to be well taken care of. If there's anything uncomfortable please let me know."
"Yes, thank you so much."
Then she spoke to the two who were gawking at her.
"I'm sorry... Can you help me with the next patient's injuries?"
"Ah... Yes, yes!"
They quickly scrambled to follow Elise's direction.
In this way, Elise, one by one, cured all the patients in the vagrant's ward.
*********************************************************************************
A week passed by.
The young professor, Baron Graham, at Theresa hospital received a call when he was deeply engrossed in the middle of his research.
"What's going on?"
"I wanted to know how the lady recommended by Viscount Kate was faring. Is she doing well?"
"..."
Graham was, for a moment, at a complete loss for words.
'...How was she?'
After he left her in the vagrant's ward he didn't bother to think of her.
No, to be honest, he forgot about her.
'Now that I think about it. Why is there no one talking about her? Did she quit without notice?'
Obviously, after a day or two, she would come looking for him to quit but there simply had been no information at all from her. She might have been surprised by the vagrants and ran without even a greeting.
"Why is there no answer? Did she not come to you?"
The chief of medicine, Viscount Goate furrowed his eyebrows.
"No, it's not that. It's..."
Graham started to stutter his words.
".....She's doing self-study."
"Self-study?"
"...Yes. So she can learn her way around the hospital."
His vague answer was enough for the Head of Medicine to realize what was going on and raised his voice.
"Graham, are you going to be like this? It's just not any person but a person recommended by Viscount Kate!"
"I'm s-sorry."
Viscount Kate.
He was a noble under the owner of this hospital and was the empire's chancellor.
He was a powerful noble with weight in his own right.
"Go do it correctly!"
"Yes, I am sorry."
Graham, after lowering his head for a while, left the office.
He let out a big breath.
'Damn it. I am busy enough as it is but I have to take that lady around and teach her? If she's that important why doesn't he teach her himself?'
He thought that inside but he was a son of a fallen noble family and was a powerless doctor at the bottom of the hospital hierarchy. He had to do what he was told.
'I don't know if she's still around. She probably ran away already.'
He moved his feet half-heartedly towards the vagrant's ward.
