I want to ease the burden on other doctors

Application from Zhang Zhan, physician in the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of Renmin Hospital at Wuhan University, on Jan 18.

In the war against an invisible enemy, no one will be spared! I am applying for a long-stay position in the observation room to carry out examination-and-sorting work on patients. That would reduce the need for constant in-hospital consultations, which would ease the burden on other doctors.

In addition, patients could receive continuous treatment, so beds in the observation room would be available for others in need.

If the hospital's leaders agree, please ask Professor Hu not to arrange any duties for me in the department and also to suspend my specialist clinic.

In addition, please strengthen prevention and protection of the observation room and regularize the arrangements with subordinate doctors in the observation room to prevent them from participating in tasks such as initial inspections and attending meetings.

I didn't tell Mingchang (Zhang's husband, Li Mingchang, deputy director of the first Department of Neurosurgery of Renmin Hospital at Wuhan University) about my decision. I don't think it's necessary, because as a doctor, the battlefield can be everywhere!

In 1918, Spanish flu killed tens of millions of people. After many years, it was concluded that the virus was the primary cause of the deaths, but the panic it engendered prompted many people to rush to hospitals, where they became infected. That resulted in a large number of deaths.

This is not the first time a variant of the respiratory virus has infected humans, nor will it be the last. So, there is no need to panic, and clinicians today have far more extensive and better clinical experience than ever before.