Chapter 21: Technique Paves The Way!
“Teacher Chen, there are no special patients today. You go rest first. Peng Kun and I can handle the ward rounds. Several of them were seen by you just the other day…” Lu Cheng said with a meticulous smile in the emergency department’s general ward.
“Mhm…” Chen Song clasped his hands behind his back and carefully glanced at the patient list. After noticing only one new patient who had undergone an appendectomy, he turned and walked away with a wide stance.
Before turning, Chen Song specifically eyed Peng Kun, his gaze lingering on him for a moment.
Peng Kun was tall and slender, with a rather delicate appearance. After Chen Song left, he said with a subtle expression, “Brother Cheng, Professor Chen Song from the Emergency Department has quite a temper, always so arrogant. It’s really impressive that you’ve earned his appreciation.”
Peng Kun touched the small black mole on his right chin, his thumb’s pad carrying a slight stubble, his face full of contemplation.
Peng Kun arrived without any hesitation, acting as if he belonged.
Lu Cheng turned and replied, “Young Master Kun, spare me the mutual flattery.”
“Actually, learning from me might not be that beneficial. I don’t really know how to teach you things…”
Peng Kun nodded and suddenly blinked, “I didn’t plan on going into hand surgery at first, but after I returned, I had my dad accept me for a meniscus repair. However, I messed up the suturing.”
“Calling Tian Shan didn’t help!”
“Later, someone from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital came to finish the job. Tian Shan then had the Medical Affairs Department suspend my surgical permissions.”
“Damn it… I screwed up!” Peng Kun suppressed his emotions immensely:
“I never expected meniscus suturing to have so many pitfalls. When I was at the Second Hospital, I saw Professor Li and the others do it so easily.”
Lu Cheng thought to himself, how many big and small cases had the attending doctors at Xiangya Second Hospital gone through to be retained? To obtain chief surgeon privileges, to be promoted to deputy chief physician or associate professor, one had to stand out from their peers.
Are observing surgical techniques and knowing surgical techniques the same as being able to perform them?
From a hospital’s perspective, surgeries can be avoided, but if you perform one, you must do it well and avoid mistakes, otherwise, the hospital won’t always cover for you.
If you want to go for further training, that’s fine, but whether you can learn it, and how you learn it, the hospital can’t guarantee it for you.
Everyone’s skills are learned by themselves; they are not copied, nor can they be passed down solely through family lineage.
“Perhaps the timing was wrong, or I was just unlucky.”
Lu Cheng replied, then hesitated and asked, “So, Young Master Kun, do you still want to learn tendon suturing? To learn tendon suturing, you must first master the basic skills of suturing.”
Lu Cheng didn’t doubt that Peng Kun had the skills and understood sports medicine well, but the fact remained that he hadn’t performed well.
Deputy Chief Physician Tian Shan, as the ‘head in charge’ of sports medicine at the hospital, was the ‘expert’ on technical matters, and the techniques Deputy Chief Physician Tian Shan possessed were even better than those of the doctor from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.
Even Peng Haibo intervening wouldn’t have helped.
When it comes to techniques, if you can’t execute them, you can’t execute them. Talking big is useless.
“Yes, of course I want to learn… Basic skills are basic skills, I’ll practice them slowly.” Peng Kun nodded, looking at Lu Cheng with a complex expression, then forced a fawning smile:
“I hope Brother Cheng can guide me a lot during this process.”
Peng Kun’s expression appeared to be flattering and polite, but in reality, it held a sense of helplessness, like living under someone else’s roof.
What was his background? He was the son of Director Peng Haibo. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree, he went to Hengnan University First Affiliated Hospital for standardized training. Soon after returning to work, he met Lu Cheng, and less than a few months into his job, he was entrusted for training and pursuing his master’s degree.
Logically, Peng Kun shouldn’t have been able to pursue a Master of Professional Degree; he should have pursued an Academic Master’s.
But with Peng Haibo covering for him, Peng Kun wasn’t worried about not being able to publish papers and graduate. He focused solely on learning techniques, remaining in sports medicine for a long time. Now, upon returning, he wanted to “show off his skills” but found that he had even botched the relatively basic meniscus suturing.
Now, wanting to “change careers,” Professor Chen Song wouldn’t accept him, and he had to learn from ‘Lu Cheng’.
When did an attending physician with a bachelor’s degree become qualified to be his teacher?
When he was at Xiangya Second Hospital, because he was good at managing relationships, his instructors were at least deputy chief physicians. During his standardized training at Hengnan University First Affiliated Hospital, he had even mingled with the directors and deputy directors of the department…
“Young Master Kun, you’ve had formal training at Xiangya Second Hospital, so your learning materials are definitely more detailed than mine.”
“I can’t really guide you. I learned following the standard procedures, without any special tricks…”
Furthermore, Lu Cheng’s tone became serious: “Also, if Young Master Kun doesn’t meet the standards for tendon suturing, I won’t dare let you be the chief surgeon. I need to say this upfront.”
Even if you, Peng Kun, have a director father, Peng Haibo can’t force me to let you be the chief surgeon…
I have my establishment. At worst, I won’t be promoted to deputy senior. What more can you do to me?
Peng Kun chuckled, “If I’m not qualified for surgery, of course I won’t be the chief surgeon. I wouldn’t dare forget this basic line. Otherwise, my teacher would come personally to discipline me.”
“Medicine is not a game, it’s not a joke.”
Play is play, and fooling around is fooling around, but who dares to joke with patients?
Medical disputes are already tense nowadays. Doctors’ social status is high only ‘on the surface’; if you cause trouble, it’s very difficult to escape responsibility!
If the medical accident is too severe, even his father might be implicated.
Everyone is just trying to get by cautiously, okay…
“Then, Young Master Kun, you must first practice your basic skills and learn some fundamental theories of hand surgery, such as tendon zones. I suggest you practice the basic skills of suturing while also practicing the modified Kessler suturing technique…” Lu Cheng, with considerable dedication, unreservedly taught Peng Kun his training ladder model.
Peng Kun nodded after listening, appearing rather indifferent, not even asking Lu Cheng for photos or documents.
It seemed Peng Kun had other channels to obtain learning materials, so he looked down on Lu Cheng’s meager ‘resources’…
After all, in Peng Kun’s opinion, Chen Song wasn’t even the best ‘supervising teacher’. If it weren’t for the dire circumstances forcing him to be dependent, Chen Song, who knew nothing about hand surgery, was nothing. How dared he be a teacher in hand surgery?
The hand surgery department at Xiangya Second Hospital would make him laugh to death!
However, this is Long County People’s Hospital, so let’s not worry too much about the rules.
Technical peaks are technical peaks; let’s first master the conventional techniques and procedures…
Lu Cheng then took Peng Kun to round the wards. However, Peng Kun couldn’t bear Lu Cheng’s “dawdling.” After ward rounds on only three patients, he said, “Brother Cheng, you keep looking and asking. I’ll write the medical orders first!”
“We’ll change dressings together later. You’ll change for three beds, and I’ll change for two.” Peng Kun proactively and ‘reasonably’ assigned the tasks.
Peng Kun came to learn, and it wouldn’t do if he only learned and didn’t do any work. Therefore, Peng Kun took on the responsibility of dressing changes for one extra bed.
Lu Cheng nodded and said, “Okay, Brother Kun, then you go write the medical orders first. I’ll be back after I finish ward rounds…”
After finishing his ward rounds, Lu Cheng only accumulated 0.3 skill points from his dawdling.
When he returned to the ward, Lu Cheng found that the medication Peng Kun had prescribed was similar in type to what he had instructed, but the specific medications were different. Lu Cheng immediately said, “Young Master Kun, didn’t I tell you to prescribe An Kang Xin for bed 2?”
“Aren’t they all about the same?” Peng Kun replied dismissively.
“An Kang Xin hardly inhibits platelets, while Celecoxib inhibits thromboxane. I’ll adjust it myself…” Lu Cheng said.
Peng Kun’s expression was conflicted, “Lu Cheng, is there really a need to dwell on this? They’re both just pain relievers.”
“I think it’s necessary. It’s my shift right now.”
Lu Cheng turned, his expression serious and his tone calm, “Young Master Kun, I can do everything myself… If you wish, you can go back and practice the basic skills of suturing. You can come back when you’ve reached the appropriate level.”
Peng Kun’s expression flickered for a while before he let out a resigned sigh, “Fine!”
The operating rules in a county hospital are based on results.
Although Peng Kun has a master’s degree and is an expert in sports medicine, if he can’t perform tendon suturing, he can’t argue with Lu Cheng.
If it were in the field of sports medicine, Lu Cheng would be in the same situation; if you don’t understand, don’t talk big.
Connections can only get you more opportunities; the core rule is still opening the way with skill.
