Chapter 195: Comprehensive Level: Deputy Chief Physician!
“Brother Zhang, you really don’t need to… if you give money, the nature of this will change. It wouldn’t be proper or justified.”
“The suturing technique for parenchymal organs like the spleen doesn’t have a high entry barrier, but I’ll have to wait a few days to give you a tutorial because I haven’t figured out exactly how to practice it yet.” Lu Cheng rejected Zhang Tiesheng’s suggestion.
It wasn’t that Lu Cheng didn’t want to make money, he just didn’t want to make it in this way at this particular time.
Zhang Tiesheng thought for a moment and nodded, “That’s fine too. Anyway, Xiao Lu, as long as I learn it well, your Brother Zhang will definitely not let you lose out.”
As Zhang Tiesheng and Lu Cheng joked, they left the operating room.
The family members were naturally worried about the patient’s condition, so they immediately came forward to ask for specific details, and Zhang Tiesheng proactively and consciously went to communicate and negotiate with them.
Seeing that Zhang Tiesheng was “cornered,” Lu Cheng naturally rushed back to the ward to write medical orders and surgical records.
As a ‘junior’ doctor, he should be the one to write the surgical records.
When he first returned to the ward, Lu Cheng saw Peng Kun leaving the Director of Emergency Surgery’s office. Peng Kun glanced at Lu Cheng from afar, gave him a slight smile, and then left silently without greeting him.
Lu Cheng didn’t think of anything else and went straight to the doctor’s office to start working.
After a while, Director Du Qiang came out of his office, passed by the doctor’s office, and then turned back in.
Du Qiang stood with his hands behind his back, his emotions and expression suddenly becoming particularly conflicted, stopping to the left and behind Lu Cheng.
Lu Cheng had actually noticed Du Qiang’s arrival, but Lu Cheng “for a moment” didn’t know whether he should call him Uncle Du.
“Director Du,” Lu Cheng stood up.
“You have quite the network. Are you starting to throw your weight around?” Du Qiang’s expression and tone immediately became stern.
Lu Cheng remained silent, quietly watching Du Qiang’s performance.
Du Qiang continued, “I’ve told you this before anyway, you’re an adult, and you have to take responsibility for what you do.”
“If anything goes wrong, don’t drag me into it.”
Lu Cheng’s tone was also “slightly cold,” “Okay, Director Du, thank you for your concern.”
Du Qiang then walked over to a computer, sat down, and glanced at Lu Cheng’s surgical record and postoperative medical orders.
He lowered his voice, “Peng Kun from Orthopedics just came to see me. You should know Peng Kun; he’s Director Peng Haibo’s son.”
Lu Cheng continued to be silent, not replying.
“As you said, Orthopedics isn’t an easy place to be. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the person leaves, the tea cools. After Director Peng was investigated, Peng Kun was the first to be put on alert.”
“So he applied to transfer to our Emergency Department next month, and the hospital’s Medical Affairs Department agreed.”
“After all, Peng Kun has a Master’s degree, which is quite a high qualification for our hospital’s image.”
“Secondly, what’s going on between you and Huang Haibo from Internal Medicine? He’s started giving me the ‘you know what’.”
Lu Cheng looked at Du Qiang in confusion, not understanding what was happening at all.
Du Qiang looked at Lu Cheng’s clear and innocent eyes, a bitter smile on his face, “Forget it, it’s useless to tell you this. I can only say that your luck and strength are both good.”
“So everything you’re encountering now is from good people.”
“Huang Haibo doesn’t want to be the Director of the Emergency Department because he doesn’t want to stay in the county. However, he’s a Deputy Senior physician, so he can go to the Emergency Department of Xiangzhou People’s Hospital without going through the selection examination.”
“It seems he wants to take you with him.”
Lu Cheng became even more confused, but he didn’t reply immediately. Lu Cheng knew that Du Qiang was raising these issues now, expecting him to seek clarification after work.
Du Qiang stopped Lu Cheng from anything unrelated to his shift, so Lu Cheng had plenty of free time.
Du Qiang, with his hands behind his back, arrogantly left the doctor’s office.
Once out the door, Du Qiang ordered, “I don’t want to see my name. You can perform whatever surgeries you want; don’t add my name.”
“Even if you add my name, I won’t acknowledge it!”
Lu Cheng could only give Du Qiang two thumbs up for his acting talent.
In fact, Du Qiang wasn’t the first day he’d been like this, and he wasn’t the only one like this in county-level units.
It was just that Lu Cheng had never had the opportunity to interact closely with a director before, so Lu Cheng had no idea about their survival “ecosystem”!
If one were to talk about hypocrisy, Lu Cheng could see it from any of the senior attending physicians.
Including Zhang Tiesheng, Zeng Huanqi, Xiang Kuihua, and others…
However, the patient’s family didn’t come to find Lu Cheng. Lu Cheng was the actual chief surgeon, but the chief surgeon listed on the surgical record was Zhang Tiesheng, a Deputy Senior physician.
Zeng Huanqi was on the day shift in the ward. After ‘Black Brother’ entered the doctor’s office with a yawn, he immediately said with a smile, “Teacher Lu is here, and the coffee I ordered has arrived.”
Lu Cheng quickly said, “Brother Zeng, the patient from the recent surgery will be back in the ward soon. Please pay close attention to the drainage volume at that time!”
“Pay more attention to the drainage.”
Zeng Huanqi waved his hand, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, Teacher Lu, aren’t you confident in the quality of your own surgeries?”
Lu Cheng was still “dawdling,” “After all, it’s a relatively unfamiliar surgery, so it’s best to be careful. If the drainage volume exceeds 60ml, perform a bedside color ultrasound immediately.”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’ve noted it all down.”
Zeng Huanqi laughed, “I wouldn’t dare not to take notes, for fear of being annoyed to death by Xiao Lu.”
“Oh, by the way, Xiao Lu, can Tian Zhuang start doing tendon suturing? I just found out he took people into the operating room alone today.”
Lu Cheng smiled and nodded, “Yes, Fifth Brother has been working very hard. After learning for so long, he’s indeed started the basics of tendon suturing, and he can handle simple tendon injuries now.”
“Besides, isn’t Fifth Brother your debtor? Show him some care.”
Zeng Huanqi rolled his eyes and continued to complain, “The door to my place is now paid for by me, and his brother is really stubborn.”
“He’d rather be locked up for a longer time than pay, as if he thinks he doesn’t have to pay at all if he doesn’t pay now. Civil and criminal matters are separate, you know.”
“Forget it, I can’t be bothered with this nonsense.”
“But Tian Zhuang has had it tough too. I saw it on the monitor; he had to perform surgery at least six or seven times to cut off these troubles completely.”
“If it weren’t for someone with a pure heart, they probably couldn’t bring themselves to harm a child,” Zeng Huanqi said with a helpless expression.
Tian Zhuang was definitely a good-tempered person, but being forced to threaten his nieces and nephews with a knife showed how awkward his situation was.
Similarly, such a person, once they’ve made up their mind about something, can never be swayed.
“Brother Zeng, let’s not talk about this anymore. I know what you mean, but regarding Zhuang Ge, I really don’t want to get too involved.”
“I don’t want to be a teacher and become a burden myself,” Lu Cheng shook his head, speaking rather selfishly.
What was the point of Lu Cheng teaching Tian Zhuang the technique before?
Tian Zhuang was an adult, no matter how naive he was, managing his own relatives and not bothering his teacher was something he should have done.
He was no longer a seven or eight-year-old, or even a seventeen or eighteen-year-old child.
“Yes, that’s true.”
“By the way, Xiao Lu, Director Du also came to me just now and said that from now on, when you’re on duty and there are surgeries for appendicitis or other general surgery cases, you need to call him first.”
Zeng Huanqi took a few deep breaths before saying irritably, “This person’s mind is so narrow. I don’t know how he became a director.”
Zeng Huanqi understood Du Qiang’s actions very well: he wanted to block Lu Cheng’s surgeries. You might be able to do them, but your level isn’t high enough. Du Qiang would take them all himself.
This was very common in the county, all for the sake of getting more surgical volume.
It wasn’t without reason, because Du Qiang’s appendectomy surgical quality was certainly no worse than Lu Cheng’s, it was just his methods that were unpleasant.
Lu Cheng sarcastically asked, “What about tendon suturing and finger replantation? Should I call Director Du for those too?”
If you’re going to play the game, play it all the way.
Although Lu Cheng didn’t quite understand, he had to learn from Du Qiang’s example.
“Yes, we’ll call and see what Director Du says then.” Zeng Huanqi was no good person, he was subtly mischievous…
The surgery shift was a 24-hour nature. Originally, such surgery shifts could be waited for at home, on standby.
However, Lu Cheng’s surgery shift covered a wide range of procedures, and he was not picky, so he stayed in the department.
After seeing off Zeng Huanqi’s day shift, Lu Cheng welcomed Zhang Tiesheng’s night shift.
The night shift was relatively peaceful. Lu Cheng and Zhang Tiesheng played together in the lounge for four hours, and no patients with external injuries visited.
Both of them felt a little dizzy.
Lu Cheng put down his phone, “Brother Zhang, let’s play more games together next time. I’ll go check on that surgical patient, take a shower, and then rest.”
“Okay, then I’ll go take a shower first.”
“This is what a comfortable on-call shift is like: patients are peaceful, no one is injured, and we have leisure,” Zhang Tiesheng yawned and then casually ate a winter jujube.
Lu Cheng didn’t charge them, but Zhang Tiesheng was very thoughtful and bought a lot of snacks, not only a fruit plate but also spicy beef from a snack shop, focusing on pleasing men through their stomachs…
【 Overall Proficiency: Deputy Chief Physician.】
【 Basic Theory: Surgery （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Orthopedics （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Hand Surgery （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Trauma Surgery Basic Theory （ Specialized 0/20 ）, Emergency Medicine （ Specialized 5/20 ）…】
【 Basic Surgical Skills: X-ray Interpretation （ Proficient 10/10 ）, CT Interpretation （ Specialized 10/20 ）, MRI Interpretation （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Surgical Instrument Operation Experience （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Physical Examination （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Auxiliary Examination Reading Skills （ Proficient 10/10 ）】
【 Basic Surgical Operations: Open Reduction and External Fixation for Fractures （ Proficient 1/10 ）, Closed Reduction of Fractures （ Specialized 10/20 ）, Open Reduction and Internal Fixation for Fractures （ Proficient 0/10 ）, Closed Reduction of Joint Dislocations （ Specialized 12/20 ）…】
【 Specialty Surgical Procedures: Limb Replantation Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Gallbladder Removal Surgery （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Appendectomy （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Splenectomy （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Spleen Preservation Surgery (Specialized 20/20), Gallbladder Preservation Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Liver Protection Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）】
【 Suturing （ Expert 20/200 ）
【 Suturing Specialty Basic Skills: Tendon Suturing （ Specialized 16/20 ）, Nerve Suturing （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Vascular Suturing （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Bone Suturing （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Membrane Suturing （ Proficient 10/10 ）】
【 Suturing Specialty Skills: End-to-End Vascular Suture （ Proficient Specialized 0/20 ）, Tendon Unnamed Suturing Technique （ Specialized 15/20 ）, Unnamed Tendon Suturing Technique （ Specialized 8/20 ）, Nerve Epineurium-Perineurium Suturing （ Specialized 0/20 ）, Unnamed Spleen Suturing Technique （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Unnamed Nerve Suturing Technique （ Specialized 0/20 ）, Unnamed Vascular Suturing Technique （ Proficient 10/10 ）…】
Lu Cheng casually glanced at his overall proficiency again and indeed saw the words “Deputy Chief Physician” in plain sight.
Regardless of anything else, if Lu Cheng hadn’t reached the level of Deputy Chief Physician in the specialty surgical procedures section, then the average level of Deputy Chief Physicians would be terrifyingly high—
【 Specialty Surgical Procedures: Limb Replantation Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Gallbladder Removal Surgery （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Appendectomy （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Splenectomy （ Proficient 10/10 ）, Spleen Preservation Surgery (Specialized 20/20), Gallbladder Preservation Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）, Liver Protection Surgery （ Specialized 20/20 ）】
Specialized level skills are definitely not cabbage. Specialty surgical procedures with specialized proficiency can be even higher than Associate Professors.
With the addition of mature procedures, new procedures, and new suturing techniques for “added flair,” Lu Cheng himself felt that the panel’s overall strength assessment was very grounded.
With strength, Lu Cheng naturally isn’t afraid.
Lu Cheng doesn’t care if his actual skill level is higher than his current title; he’s only afraid if his actual skill level is lower than his title, then it would be hard to get by.
…
In the following days, Lu Cheng indeed saw Director Du Qiang’s “methods”!
When Lu Cheng was not on duty, he received no calls. Even for patients with tendon injuries, no one in the department called Lu Cheng.
Not to mention other related injuries.
Lu Cheng naturally had things to do. When he was free, he finally had time to find Professor Chen Song.
Professor Chen Song had already prepared the first batch of naked mouse models for animal experiments and contacted Lu Cheng, asking him to find a time to go to Jishi City to perform the first batch of operations.
Lu Cheng also took the time to contact Professor Tong Yuan’an from Xiangya Hospital and confirmed the selection of a few individuals to learn nerve and vascular suturing techniques.
These attending physicians and associate professors immediately came to Long County to do two things.
The first thing was to witness the miracle Lu Cheng had created with their own eyes, as Lu Cheng had again created vascular and nerve techniques that never existed before, which was truly amazing.
The second thing was, of course, to actively seek apprenticeship.
One could guess with their rear end that this was a benefit Tong Yuan’an had secured for them, including but not limited to using these techniques to participate in competitions and show off…
With all these benefits, these older brothers learned very enthusiastically and diligently.
Of course, on top of their active efforts, Lu Cheng also roughly understood how a student should please superiors and teachers in a teaching hospital; the arrangements were truly comfortable…
Massages, KTV, drinks, meals, and so on were all included.
In addition, they actively contacted Lu Cheng to help him with teaching and writing papers, including but not limited to teaching Lu Cheng how to write meta-analyses, and even arranging for Lu Cheng to have a few SCI articles published in peripheral zones three and four.
If Lu Cheng hadn’t already had a girlfriend and their relationship was quite good, Lu Cheng swore that these guys would have definitely dragged him into the abyss…
Compared to these considerate older brothers, Xie Yuan’an, who returned to Long County with Mu Nanshu to learn tendon suturing techniques and spleen parenchymal organ suturing techniques, was much more naive.
Xie Yuan’an only knew to treat Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu to meals when they went out; she didn’t have many other arrangements.
Mostly, she went shopping and eating with Mu Nanshu. When they had free time, they would even take a day trip to Yushi for hot pot, a day trip to Shashi for stinky tofu, and a day trip to Hanshi for hot dry noodles…
By the time of Lu Cheng’s fourth surgery shift of November on November 9th, Zeng Huanqi, on the day shift, finally explained Du Qiang’s statements in the department to Lu Cheng.
“Director Du said that Lu Cheng will leave sooner or later. If you move all those businesses into the department now, who will take over after Lu Cheng leaves?”
“Then, if we lose the business we could have handled, and the leaders hold us accountable, who will be responsible?”
“At that time, wouldn’t the referrals still happen?”
“At that time, wouldn’t the patients continue to face life risks?”
“If you keep calling Lu Cheng, the higher-level leaders will think you can solve this kind of problem routinely!”
Zeng Huanqi, while on duty at the emergency clinic day shift, saw off a patient with gastroenteritis and said, “You know, Director Du’s twisted logic actually has some truth to it.”
“It’s like this in the system: if you can do things, then you’ll have endless things to do.”
“Conversely, sometimes by lying down, you won’t have as many people bothering you.”
Lu Cheng’s departure was a foregone conclusion, something Lu Cheng had openly stated.
Because it was of considerable benefit to the hospital, the hospital administration did not strongly oppose this.
Moreover, the hospital was in chaos recently, everyone was on edge, and they were too busy to worry about whether Lu Cheng would leave.
Lu Cheng’s staying was merely icing on the cake for the hospital. If the current situation wasn’t handled well, and the inspection team dealt another blow, it would be true “kicking someone when they’re down”!
Lu Cheng said, “Brother Zeng, let’s just follow Director Du’s arrangements. I have to be on four surgery shifts within ten days, which isn’t that few.”
“It’s not a few, but compared to your previous on-call frequency, it’s much less.”
Zeng Huanqi continued, “Actually, when you’re not on duty, Professor Tong Yuan’an is occasionally on duty, so emergency patients in hand surgery are quite lucky.”
“It’s just…”
“Forget it, never mind, it’s fate.”
Zeng Huanqi didn’t put any more pressure on Lu Cheng and changed the subject, asking, “Xiao Lu, I heard that you refused Xiangzhou’s talent introduction program and want to cross the single-plank bridge by yourself.”
“What were you thinking?”
Lu Cheng replied with a smile, “My talent introduction is improper and unjustified, so I wouldn’t dare to seek special treatment at this time.”
“Besides, rights and obligations are relative. The benefits of talent introduction are indeed good, but the service period is longer.”
“The contract I’ve signed now is a regular contract, and the selection examination is an internal personnel change within Xiangzhou.”
Zeng Huanqi wasn’t stupid and said, “Meaning, you still plan to jump ship whenever you have the chance after your service period is up?”
Lu Cheng’s calculations weren’t something everyone couldn’t understand.
Lu Cheng didn’t refute.
Zeng Huanqi then said, “Then you’ll need to be careful when you go to the prefecture tomorrow for the examination.”
“What do you mean?” Lu Cheng asked.
Zeng Huanqi said, “Given the current situation with the inspection team, although the selection examination was planned in advance and must proceed as scheduled.”
“But if some people can’t pull strings internally, they might try to manipulate things externally.”
“But if some people can’t engage in insider dealings, they might resort to external ones.”
