I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

Chapter 256: Chapter 170: Progress

Jiang He: ”Understood.”

Zhao Yumin coughed. ”Right then, go talk to the family. I’ll sign off on the records for this surgery.”

Although Jiang He had been granted his full credentials under special circumstances and had officially joined the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department at Affiliated Hospital No. 1, he was still a new hire.

As per regulations, a senior physician had to sign off as the supervising surgeon for emergency procedures to take final responsibility.

”Thank you, Teacher Zhao.”

Jiang He turned and walked toward the airlock door.

He took off his surgical gown, removed his mask, and walked to the scrub sink.

Warm water flowed from the motion-activated faucet, washing over his hands, which were coated in talcum powder.

He lifted his head and looked at himself in the mirror.

His twenty-one-year-old face was young, but his eyes held a calm that was utterly inconsistent with his age.

In that moment, Jiang He’s thoughts drifted back to his previous life.

That had also been an appendectomy, his first true surgery as the lead surgeon.

He remembered that day. The air conditioning was blasting, but his entire back was soaked with sweat.

When he was scrubbing in, his hands had trembled uncontrollably.

Once at the operating table, he hadn’t controlled his strength when making the incision and cut too shallowly. While searching for the appendix, his anxious, rough movements caused a mesenteric tear and bleeding.

The supervising director standing beside him had mercilessly rapped the back of his hand with a hemostat, scolding him so harshly he couldn’t even lift his head.

That surgery had taken a full two hours. Afterward, he sat on a bench in the locker room, staring at his hands for a long time.

He had even begun to wonder if he was cut out to be a surgeon at all.

But today, faced with the same incision and more severe, unexpected bleeding...

...he had handled it with ease.

Twenty years of clinical experience, tempered by thousands upon thousands of difficult surgeries.

Had long since polished him from the panicked rookie of the past into a top surgeon who could calmly face life and death on the operating table...

”Teacher Jiang.”

Xu Chen, Tang Pei, and Meng Shiyu came out as well, taking their places at the adjacent sinks to wash their hands.

Meng Shiyu couldn’t hold back. ”Teacher, was that really your first time as the lead surgeon on your own? Back when I was observing at Xiangya, our attending physician—who’d been working for five years—wasn’t even as calm as you were just now when faced with inflammatory bleeding...”

”I get a lot of practice, that’s all. No need for comparisons.”

Jiang He pulled a paper towel from the nearby dispenser and dried his hands. ”All right, hurry up and get ready. The department is short-staffed out there.”

...

Outside the operating room.

The patient’s parents were pacing back and forth anxiously outside the door.

The mother’s eyes were red-rimmed, while the father kept checking his watch.

The automatic doors slid open, and Jiang He walked out.

”Doctor! How is our son?” The parents immediately rushed over, their expressions tense.

”The surgery was a success.”

Jiang He’s tone was calm. ”The appendicitis was severe and had become purulent, with some localized adhesion. Fortunately, he was brought in just in time, so there wasn’t a widespread perforation or peritonitis.”

The father let out a long sigh of relief.

The mother pressed her palms together, thanking him profusely. ”Thank you, Doctor, thank you so much... When will he wake up?”

”The anesthesia hasn’t worn off yet. The nurses are already starting the recovery process inside. He should be able to be moved back to a regular ward in about half an hour.”

Jiang He explained the post-operative instructions: ”He must not eat or drink anything tonight. After an assessment during morning rounds tomorrow, he can have a little warm water. Also, because of the localized peritonitis, he’ll need antibiotics for a few days post-op to prevent infection. He might run a slight fever, which is a normal reaction, so don’t be too alarmed.”

”Okay, okay, we understand.”

The family was greatly relieved.

After taking care of things there, Jiang He headed down the corridor toward the emergency department’s ward area.

The hospital was extremely short-staffed today.

By taking on this surgery, he had helped the emergency department out of a tight spot, but it also meant his workload for the rest of the day would be heavy.

When he returned to the hepatobiliary surgery ward, he saw that several doctors who were supposed to be off duty today had also been called in to cover shifts.

’All the more reason I can’t rest, then.’ He started making rounds from room to room with Meng Shiyu.

”Let’s go check on the liver rupture patient undergoing conservative treatment,” Jiang He said, flipping open the chart in his hands as he walked.

Pushing open the door to the ward, they saw the patient lying in bed, his color slightly better than it had been that morning.

Jiang He walked to the bedside and first glanced at the data on the ECG monitor; both the heart rate and blood pressure were stable.

He lifted the corner of the blanket, pressed a few key points on the patient’s abdomen while asking about his pain level, and then checked the abdominal drainage tube.

”The color of the drainage fluid is lighter, and the volume is decreasing.”

Jiang He turned to Meng Shiyu and gave instructions: ”Go order a stat CBC. Also, reduce the glucose concentration in the intravenous nutrition by another five percent.”

”Okay.” Meng Shiyu quickly jotted it down in his notebook.

Next was the Bismuth type IV hilar cholangiocarcinoma patient who had been given a ”death sentence.”

Jiang He carefully compared the patient’s biochemical markers from this morning with the current drainage status.

”The jaundice reduction is working. Total bilirubin is down by forty units. Continue with the current treatment plan tomorrow.”

By the time he had finished one round, dealing with urgent issues for over a dozen critical care beds, it was already quite late.

Just as he was starting to feel a bit tired, a nurse looked up and called out, ”Dr. Jiang, Director Yang wants you to go to his office. He just got out of surgery too.”

”Got it.”

...

The Director’s Office.

It was clear that Yang Xu was also exhausted today.

”Teacher.” Jiang He greeted him politely.

Yang Xu chuckled. ”Old Zhao just called me. Said you performed exceptionally well over in the ER, huh?”

Jiang He nodded. ”It went well.”

Yang Xu asked again, ”Your first time as lead surgeon. How did it feel?”

”It was fine.”

Yang Xu didn’t press the matter.

After all, he had already witnessed his student’s capabilities on the night of the car crash rescue.

A case of purulent appendicitis, despite a critical moment, was hardly a major challenge for Jiang He.

Yang Xu said, ”After the hospital’s disciplinary committee took Ma Huaide away this afternoon, they followed the trail and sealed the medical administration office’s scheduling ledgers for the past three years.”

”This afternoon, in our Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, three attending physicians and one Deputy Chief Physician were pulled directly from the wards for questioning. They haven’t been released yet.”

”That’s a big gap,” Jiang He stated the fact.

”Yes, and that’s not even counting Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, and Oncology. Minister Lin is using Vice Dean Zhang Sui’s new appointment as an opportunity. He’s given a strict order: anyone involved in illicit dealings with Ma Huaide, or who improperly admitted high-turnover patients to get kickbacks from pharmaceutical reps, will not escape.”

”Suspension pending investigation is just the first step. Once the facts are confirmed, these people will face, at best, a major demerit and demotion. At worst, they’ll be fired outright, have their medical licenses revoked, and be handed over to the judicial authorities. The higher-ups are serious about this crackdown.”

Yang Xu looked at Jiang He, his gaze deepening. ”In other words, for a long time to come, perhaps permanently, Affiliated Hospital No. 1 will have a large number of vacancies—from frontline attending physicians, to team leaders, and even deputy department heads.”

Jiang He listened quietly.

He knew that Yang Xu hadn’t called him here alone just to share hospital gossip.

Sure enough, Yang Xu said, ”Jiang He, you may have just started and lack seniority, but your dual red and green licenses were specially approved by the higher-ups. Legally and procedurally, you are already an official practicing physician at Affiliated Hospital No. 1.”

”Moreover, with our SAP early prediction model and the national-level P3 laboratory about to break ground, you hold two very strong cards. Looking at the entire South China region, or even the whole country, no one your age can show your kind of achievements. The only thing you lack is the time typically spent climbing the ladder within the system.”

”Affiliated Hospital No. 1 is short-staffed.”

”So, Jiang He, let me ask you... do you have any thoughts about using this reshuffle as an opportunity to... advance?”

Yang Xu’s meaning was clear:

As long as Jiang He had the ambition, he, Yang Xu, would stake his reputation to push Jiang He up during this major personnel reshuffle.

He didn’t know how high he could push him, but he would push, regardless.

Jiang He, however, didn’t need to hesitate at all.

What he needed most was to increase his clearance and authority.

With Zhang Sui blocking him so rigidly, if his clearance was insufficient, he would forever be stuck performing only Level 1 surgeries.

If he wanted to perform a pancreatic cancer resection—a Level 4 Surgery—he had to advance.

So Jiang He looked at Yang Xu and said with all seriousness, ”Teacher, I want to advance more than anything.”