Great Doctor Ling Ran - Chapter 36

‘This is a technique specifically used to suture tendons?’ Ling Ran lifted his hand and looked at the center of his palm as he recollected the pleasant feeling of having a large amount of knowledge flooding into his brain. “A technique specifically used to suture flexor tendons, huh…’

“Yes,” the system answered.

Ling Ran silently evaluated the value of the Single Skill Book.

Even though the flexor tendon was just one of the many tissues in the human hand, it was the most difficult to heal once damaged. In other words, the suturing of the flexor tendon would also be the hardest among all other surgeries in the Hand Surgery Department.

For doctors, mastering such a skill was already enough for them to make a living.

‘Is the system forcing me into the Hand Surgery Department?’ At the moment, the skills in Ling Ran’s skill tree were mostly related to suturing. Along with the barehanded bleeding control technique, he could easily survive in the Hand Surgery Department.

The bigger a hospital was, the higher its elite departments demanded from their employees in terms of their mastery towards certain skills, and the demand the departments had for its surgeons to have a wide range of skills would also lower significantly.

Ling Ran could even thrive in Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department with his one-trick pony—the suturing of flexor tendons. Even if he did not reach Jin Bo Tang’s level, the Master Level M-Tang Technique was enough for him to make a name for himself in Yun Hua. By then, he could care about nothing else and suture torn flexor tendons every day…

“Ling Ran, go with Doctor Zhou to the resuscitation room today.” Huo Congjun was done with his rounds in no time. He turned to Ling Ran and decided to give him another order.

The doctors’ working schedules were fixed, and as a rule, medical interns were only restricted to the observation rooms and treatment rooms. They could only enter the resuscitation room for learning purposes when led by a senior doctor.

Ling Ran immediately responded. Compared to the treatment room where there was endless debridement and suturing to be performed, the resuscitation room was a far more welcoming side.

Doctor Zhou was even happier than Ling Ran was. He chuckled and said, “It’ll be great to have Ling Ran with me. I get to lay back a little.”

“Can’t you be more ambitious?” Huo Congjun groaned, exasperated that Doctor Zhou simply refused to live up to his expectations.

“I just don’t have it in me. I didn’t realize it before this, but Ling Ran being here has shown me much,” Doctor Zhou mumbled listlessly.

He lacked the ambition. Or at least, the ambition to climb up to the pinnacle of medical science. In the hospital, Doctor Zhou did what was required of him and nothing more. He even had the luxury of engaging in playful banter with his department director after working in the hospital for some time.

This did not sit too well with Huo Congjun, but it would not be good to appear too reproachful. He merely said, “As the experienced one, you should always keep an eye on Ling Ran. You can leave non-critical cases and all bleeding cases to Ling Ran, but he’s not allowed to take matters into his own hands like the last time.”

“You’re too kind to Ling Ran. You’re giving me all the heavy work!” Despite saying that, a smile remained on Doctor Zhou’s face.

There were medical interns in the hospital every day, and even without Huo Congjun telling him, he would definitely check on the interns and delegate tasks to them. When it came to experienced attending physicians who often goofed off and allowed the medical interns, housemen, and resident doctors to take over his tasks, Doctor Zhou was the master of them all.

Huo Congjun let out a few snorts. “As a doctor, you’ll have to shoulder responsibilities. Get busy, everyone.”

Like dhloes that were being chased off, the doctors dispersed.

Ling Ran put down his things and went into the resuscitation room with Doctor Zhou.

The resuscitation room was still rather quiet in the morning. There was only a single group of pitiful resident doctors who were passing work on to the next shift.

As the attending physician, Doctor Zhou assumed command and sat at a corner once he entered the resuscitation room. He was even more relaxed than he was in the treatment room.

Ling Ran still harbored the excitement of a rookie. Even though there was nothing much to do, he walked around the resuscitation room to familiarize himself with the equipment and understand the status of the patients.

As they looked through the large glass panes into the resuscitation room, the other medical interns who did not manage to get a chance to perform started to lament greatly.

“This is just too unfair. I don’t mind them showing favors, but they can’t just give every opportunity to him.”

“Ling Ran sutures very well indeed, but we know how to suture too.”

“That’s true. And not every case in the resuscitation room requires expert level suturing, right?”

“Ling Ran managed to get Department Director Huo’s attention because of that barehanded bleeding control stunt of his.”

“Barehanded bleeding control is way too unconventional. The risks just don’t justify the attempt. Good luck may have saved him once.”

The medical interns discussed among themselves in dissatisfied voices. However, as their discussion progressed, their voices faltered.

They may have been denied several opportunities to work in the resuscitation room, but they more or less understood the flow of events there.

The Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital was a typical large Emergency Department. With four operating theatres, it was comparable to the standards of tertiary grade B hospital. Many types of treatments were carried out there. Common conditions such as acute appendicitis, fractures involving the limbs, and the dislocation of joints would be treated within the department without having the patients transferred to other departments.

Due to these circumstances, work in the resuscitation room was not easy, and the standards of the doctors there were above average.

Ling Ran was able to cut a prominent figure in Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department by showing to everyone that he was a master suturer, complete with the ability to perform barehanded bleeding control. The other medical interns would not be able to reach those heights, even if they tried.

Nine-thirty in the morning.

As if rehearsed beforehand, three consecutive ambulances arrived at the hospital.

Those in the resuscitation room immediately got to work.

“One has a myocardial infarction, one was in a car accident, and another broke a leg while climbing over a wall.” Calm and composed, Doctor Zhou circled the resuscitation room together with Ling Ran and said with a sigh, “It’ll be a little busy here today.”

Ling Ran looked at the busy resident doctors, and then at Doctor Zhou, who was sipping water from a cup, and asked, “What do we do?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“If the one with a myocardial infarction is resuscitated, he’ll be transferred to the Cardiology Department or the Cardiovascular Surgery Department. If resuscitation fails, he’ll be sent to the mortuary. The one who got into a car accident has been sent into the operating theatre. As for the one who broke a leg, if his condition isn’t serious, we’ll keep him in our department. If his condition is serious, he will still have to be transferred to the Orthopaedics Department.” It had been a long time since Doctor Zhou rushed off eagerly to perform physical labor like the resident doctors.

However, a department needed patients and income in the form of medical expenses to survive.

This was why the Emergency Department kept adding on to the types of treatments they carried out, all so that they could try their best to retain the patients.

It took some time, but Ling Ran had finally understood some of the hospital’s circumstances. He asked, “A broken leg is within the range of expertise for the Orthopaedics Department, right?”

“The Orthopaedics Department will look for our department director if they have a problem with it. We just have to secure our surgery quota,” Doctor Zhou said calmly, “The Orthopaedics Department in our hospital is constantly under a heavy workload. With emergency cases like this, they won’t be too keen on the patients if their problems aren’t complicated enough. Forget about how low those medical bills would be. The Orthopaedics Department wouldn’t even have enough operating theaters to operate on those patients. So, the Orthopaedics Department wouldn’t come seeking trouble even if we retained the patient.”

“So… we are scrambling for patients bound to be rejected by the Orthopaedics Department?” Ling Ran quickly concluded.

Doctor Zhou was no longer able to keep a straight face. He explained, “There’s a reasonable division of resources among everyone. Things like scrambling for cases, accepting cases, and rejecting cases is out of the question. This is only for our hospital. When it comes to smaller hospitals, even their Orthopaedics Department itself rarely get to perform surgeries. That’s when they would really have to scramble for cases.”

Ling Ran nodded a little, but it was unclear if he took those words to mind.

Doctor Zhou gave him some advice.

“You’re still a medical intern. When you’re really looking for a workplace, you should look out for the large hospitals. Large hospitals would never run out of patients, and all the doctors are put to full use. Small hospitals don’t have enough patients, and it would be most difficult for rookies to improve their skills.

“Yes, I should head for a large hospital.” Ling Ran agreed.

His family ran a small clinic, and the most severe conditions they encountered were similar to that of the laceration that befell the knife-cut noodles restaurant’s Boss Yang. Moreover, Boss Yang was only there to temporarily stop his bleeding before going to the hospital. However, in a large hospital, such an injury could only be considered minor.

“Department Director Huo’s words carry wisdom. When you have time, you should walk around with Department Director Huo more.” Doctor Zhou shared another thing that he had learned from work. Both his father and grandfather were doctors, but his medical skill points were wasted on skills that were rather… useless.

Ling Ran nodded with a smile as he thought about how even the plain-looking Doctor Zhou had a cool side.