Chapter 34: Route Selection!
“Suturing basic skills are easy to learn but difficult to master. Following Professor Tong’s advice at Xiangya Hospital, after you complete the suturing practice of stretching the tourniquet, you can begin the suturing practice on a floating foam board.”
“The standard for practice is to place the foam board on the water surface; the foam board must not shake during the suturing process.”
“This is a training for more extreme control of your needle insertion force, insertion angle, needle exit force, exit angle, and over-needle force and angle.”
“This kind of training might not directly show great results in clinical practice, for example, after completing this, you can immediately go and suture tendons. However, according to Professor Tong, if you can complete this step.”
“Only then will you have a chance to perform suturing in situations of arterial bleeding without hemostasis,” Chen Song instructed in detail.
Lu Cheng heard this, his pupils contracting sharply, and asked, “Vascular suturing without hemostasis? Isn’t that pure nonsense?”
Stop bleeding first, then suture, are the rules of surgery and medicine.
Why have such thoughts of challenging the rules?
Chen Song countered with a hint of amusement, “Then what would you do if you encountered a special situation of vascular bleeding that cannot be stopped and can only be sutured?”
“Let the patient die like that?”
Lu Cheng was momentarily speechless, honestly replying, “Our hospital probably won’t encounter that. Even if we did, the ambulance transfer doctor might not be able to safely monitor and send them to the hospital.”
“What I mean is, it’s not about you performing vascular suturing without hemostasis, but about you continuing to practice your basic suturing skills.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to learn things? Just listen obediently,” Chen Song couldn’t explain the fundamental reason anymore.
He could only forcefully feed Lu Cheng.
As for why he had to suture a floating foam board, and what its future significance would be, what could Chen Song possibly know? He wouldn’t dare to do such an extreme thing even at Xiangya Hospital…
“Oh, okay. Teacher Chen…” Lu Cheng immediately nodded, obediently agreeing.
Perhaps, at the level of basic suturing skills, being able to suture tendons would already reach the furthest range of Chen Song’s suturing skill set.
The rest belonged to his knowledge and operational blind spots.
Not all surgeons are particularly skilled at suturing.
“Your recent behavior is a bit strange, you’re not as relaxed as before. Is something going on?” Chen Song sat down, placing his hands behind his head, with the back of his hands resting on the chair to stretch his neck.
He pushed his heels into the ground, his legs straightened as if he had a spinal deformity.
Lu Cheng was taken aback, “Really? Teacher Chen?”
“Can’t it be more obvious?” Chen Song gave Lu Cheng a sideways glare.
Lu Cheng said, “Perhaps. I’m thinking about some things. I’m still unsure if I should do them…”
“What is it? Is it convenient to share?” Chen Song asked, not out of gossip, but out of idle conversation.
“Just some trivial personal matters.”
Lu Cheng shook his head, casually brushing it off, “Teacher Chen, for the next period of time, I will spend more time on the basic surgeries in general surgery.”
Chen Song had already sat up properly, his expression showing curiosity but not strong interest, “Your hospital is quite interesting, after all.”
Lu Cheng knew Chen Song was alluding to Zhang Tiesheng and the others, and perhaps not excluding himself, “I still have to thank you very much, Teacher Chen. Without you, I might not have had any opportunity for tendon suturing.”
Technical inheritance is a very private matter. Even for car repairs, in this age of information, one cannot learn thoroughly just by browsing the internet.
Surgical operations cannot be learned solely through tutorials and methods. The specific purpose of each step of learning, and how to flexibly apply it to patients after practice, requires careful guidance from a teacher.
Besides providing a safety net, the confidence it brings cannot be replaced by “forcing your way through” on your own.
Lu Cheng also understood that in learning surgical techniques in orthopedics, by the time Chen Song finished his rural stint, he had thoroughly mastered all classifications of tendon suturing, reaching his limit.
It was impossible to create techniques Chen Song didn’t know out of thin air.
Therefore, for the remaining time, Lu Cheng should focus on some ‘disease types’ in general surgery. Tackling disease types that even county hospitals’ general surgery specialists cannot handle would be the optimal solution.
“Surgery is fundamentally a technical job. If you know it, you know it. If you don’t… it’s hard to force it…”
“Everyone’s surgical talent is different. You have relatively good surgical talent, and you want to identify and fill gaps. This is a blessing for your county’s patients.”
“Take it slow. Learning techniques cannot be rushed,” Chen Song said, then raised his hands above his head and stretched his entire body, fully relaxed.
Then he stood up and left, his ‘proud’ voice echoing back, “It’s time for your dawdling…”
Lu Cheng watched Chen Song’s retreating back, and another conversation picture appeared in his mind—
“No boyfriend, really? Impossible, right?” Lu Cheng said with a hint of joking in his tone.
Mu Nanshu replied, “Really, no. You should know how difficult it is to find a suitable partner.”
“Actually, I’m just a girl who’s relatively lucky. Maybe I’m not as excellent as you think. My family background is also average, and I’m not good at talking.”
“Can boyfriends be allocated by the state…” Mu Nanshu said.
“Haven’t heard of that policy yet…” Lu Cheng replied with a silly smile.
—
Is Mu Nanshu excellent? That depends on who you ask.
To others, Mu Nanshu would certainly be considered someone with a “relatively big temper,” rather ‘arrogant.’
But in Lu Cheng’s eyes, the previously somewhat ‘quiet and reserved’ Mu Nanshu who directly came to Huashan Hospital’s Orthopedics Department to argue with him, with her sharp, ‘fiery, and caustic’ demeanor, had indeed left a deep impression on Lu Cheng.
Later, Mu Nanshu gave up the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies at Huashan Hospital and directly pursued the ‘pay-to-win’ route abroad.
Of course, Lu Cheng was just Lu Cheng, a humble undergraduate student. Mu Nanshu was also just Mu Nanshu, a humble undergraduate student.
Lu Cheng’s failure in the postgraduate entrance examination, and Mu Nanshu’s abandonment of her “admission opportunity,” did not cause even a ripple at Huashan Hospital. They were all buried in history, known only to a few.
【Current Skill Point Balance: 10.2 points】
【Improved Tang Method（Proficient 8/10）】
“Let’s get to work!~” Lu Cheng was not feeling ‘tragic.’ Effort might be accompanied by regret, but if an individual doesn’t even make an effort, they can only wait for death.
While Lu Cheng was still writing the surgical record, an incoming call from Brother Zhang Tiesheng arrived.
“Brother Zhang?” Lu Cheng asked.
“Xiao Lu, is the surgery finished? Everything went smoothly?” Zhang Tiesheng’s tone was gentle and full of concern.
Lu Cheng replied, “Just finished not long ago. I’m just starting to write the surgical record and issue postoperative medical orders.”
“It’s like this, brother. I have to admit that Lu Cheng, your talent is definitely superior to mine.”
“So, can your brother make a shameless deal with you?” Zhang Tiesheng proposed.
“Huh?” Lu Cheng seemed a little confused.
“Starting tomorrow… I’ll apply to Director Lin to switch shifts. You and Professor Chen will no longer work regular day shifts, only be on standby for surgery.”
“Except for relatively basic surgeries, you can follow Professor Chen for the entire time to learn techniques with peace of mind.”
“During this period, you don’t have to deal with the medical record writing, ward rounds, and dressing changes in the department. The more techniques you can learn, the better.”
“This way, as you learn more techniques, your brother will also have a long-term teacher in the future,” Zhang Tiesheng’s tone was refined, not pretending to be noble.
If you want something, be specific.
Zhang Tiesheng was asking him to follow all of Chen Song’s surgeries and only learn techniques, without doing basic tasks: “Will Director Lin agree?”
“Man proposes, God disposes. If Director Lin doesn’t agree, you can go and persuade him.”
