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For most Chinese people, Spring Festival is a break from work and a chance to relax and spend quality time with family and friends.
But for Beijing resident and emergency physician Ma Qingbian, the most important Chinese holiday only means more work.
She missed her family meal on the eve of Spring Festival, and did not spend the first day of the Lunar New Year with her loved ones.
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 Doctors and nurses treat a patient at the emergency department at Peking University Third Hospital during the Spring Festival. Provided to China Daily |
"For emergency doctors, holidays are luxuries," says the 36-year-old, who is vice-director of the emergency department at Peking University Third Hospital, one of the busiest hospitals in the capital.
"We are often busier than usual when people are enjoying the holidays."
In 2013, her department treated between 600 and 700 patients every day.
Having only 140 doctors and nurses, the department divides its medical staff into four groups to work on shifts throughout the day and night. There are usually about 35 doctors and nurses on duty.
Every physician has only one day a week to rest, and all are on call 24 hours a day, in case their expertise is needed or the department falls short of doctors in an emergency.
As a medical specialist and one of the department heads, Ma works under greater pressure than others, because she not only treats patients, but also needs to organize the department to work efficiently.
"People sent to an emergency department are often in a critical situation," Ma says. "We need to be fully prepared every second."
The Spring Festival season is challenging for the whole department.
Taking good care of dozens of patients who remain in intensive care wards over the holiday is not easy.
All of them are lingering on the edge of death, and medical staff need to be alert to any subtle change in vital signs.
At around midnight on Spring Festival eve, an elderly man hospitalized after suffering a stroke, suddenly had a heart attack and organ failure of his lungs and kidneys.
Thanks to the quick response of nurses and doctors, the man in his 80s was saved.
There is always an increase in the number of patients during Spring Festival, Ma says.
The cold weather aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and increases risks of heart attack, stroke, asthma and respiratory failure.
The holiday lifestyle, which mostly consists of late nights and large amounts of food, also contributes to more cases of heart disease, stroke, internal bleeding and acute pancreatitis.
There are also severe cases of stomach upset, alcohol intoxication, and injuries from fights and fireworks, as well as acute deterioration of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hepatitis.
On the first lunar day of 2014, a man in coma was sent to the department. Medical staff members quickly found him as having disordered blood indicators and very low blood pressure, which could restrict blood to organs, resulting in organ failure.
Ma quickly determined that he was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication caused by a shortage of insulin in patients with diabetes, and it turned out her diagnosis was correct.
The man was rescued, and later confessed that he stopped using insulin and ate food he wasn't supposed to have.
Her 12-hour work days mean Ma has little time to accompany her family, and her 4-year-old daughter is mostly taken care of by her grandparents.
But Ma never regrets her decision to become a doctor.
"I make the most of every minute I'm with my family, and I'm very thankful that they are supportive of my work," Ma says.
"It is common that doctors and nurses don't have much time for family and friends, and that's how we save lives."
liuzhihua@chinddaily.com.cn
