System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

”Teacher Chen, this is the video of Zhou Miguo’s postoperative recovery check on the fourteenth day after surgery. I think it’s quite good; in my opinion, his postoperative range of motion and muscle strength are at an above-average level for postoperative recovery.”

”What do you think, Teacher Chen?” Lu Cheng sought out Chen Song immediately after attending to Zhou Miguo, cautiously reporting.

Chen Song is still at the County Hospital, so there’s someone to cover for him.

Lu Cheng now has a panel, so he’s very clear about the difference between being skilled at performing the Modified Kessler and specializing in the Modified Kessler.

Surgical technique is surgical technique, skill level is skill level.

With his current level of proficiency, the treatment he provides to patients is just above the standard line, and he doesn’t dare compare it with the best postoperative recovery patients.

Chen Song wasn’t in a hurry to reply, but patiently watched the postoperative review video, nodding frequently: ”Not bad, after two weeks, the muscle strength of the repaired extensor tendon can reach grade 4+, which proves the surgery quality is very solid.”

”And look at this range of motion, it’s almost to the extension level, and there’s no inability to extend the finger, which means the recovery is quite good...” Chen Song said, leisurely taking a sip of coffee.

He continued, ”There’s a hand grinder over there, try these coffee beans, see if there’s any difference from what you usually have...”

Chen Song had brought a hand-grind coffee set directly to the department. There’s a small fridge in the on-duty room that can make ice.

Lu Cheng smiled, ”Teacher Chen, take your time sampling, once I finish writing the medical records and revise the medical orders, I’ll join you.”

”Just do a casual job, while we academic doctors should indeed pay close attention to theoretical details, during the ward management, no level of meticulousness is too much, but your recent conduct has been rather excessively scrupulous.”

”We, after all, are surgeons, more time needs to be invested in practicing surgical techniques. We must focus on the bigger picture.”

Chen Song didn’t dare say that Lu Cheng was wrong, but he didn’t advocate such time-wasting.

What Chen Song said wasn’t wrong, Lu Cheng was indeed ’overly meticulous’, striving to reach the pinnacle of his knowledge system.

There’s some benefit to the patients, but the effect isn’t significant.

Compared to the skill point gains of 0.1/0.2 and the gains post-surgery above 1.0, it’s negligible.

But if Lu Cheng didn’t pay attention to these details and only focused on the bigger picture at his current level, that wouldn’t work at all.

Accumulate bit by bit, a drop of water can drill through a stone, even if it’s tedious and even if people don’t understand and find it annoying, as long as the path is right, Lu Cheng has to do it.

”Teacher Chen, I’m young, energetic, striving to lay a more solid foundation, clearing away all irrelevant factors, so I can cautiously move forward.”

”When I’ve firmly established myself, when my skills improve, and I no longer need to eliminate minor influencing factors, and reach a level similar to yours, Teacher Chen, then I won’t be nitpicking anymore.” Lu Cheng’s voice was sincere, with a gentle smile.

Flattery never offends.

Appropriate, specifically directed flattery is even more pleasing.

”This is a normal mindset for a good doctor, doing one’s best, when absolute operational ability is lacking, thinking of using one’s own knowledge and theory to make up for it is also a choice.”

”Then you may continue being meticulous... If you’ve chosen your path, there’s no need to care about other’s gossip...”

”Being meticulous in harmonizing medical orders is not wrong; just because others say you are wrong doesn’t mean it’s bad...” Chen Song accepted Lu Cheng’s flattery and also guided Lu Cheng in the general direction.

”Teacher Chen, later if there’s anything I need to consult you on, or if you need to call me anytime, I’m available.”

”I’ve already arranged lunch, it’s the big bowl rice you like from the bus station side.” Lu Cheng finished and turned directly, not giving Chen Song a chance to refuse.

Chen Song was a little stunned: ”Their place doesn’t do delivery, how did you place an order?”

”Errand service, one of my cousins is doing errand services, I just happened to help his business.” Lu Cheng was already halfway through closing the door.

”Alright then...” Chen Song took these things as a form of respect offered.

He also needed to spend personal connections to find someone to assess Lu Cheng’s basic skills and proficiency.

When not on the same path, accepting respect makes it smoother.

...

”This won’t work, you need to be referred to the State People’s Hospital, this is a Zone II flexor tendon injury, extremely complicated to handle.”

”I can’t do this surgery here.” At noon, 11:40 AM, Lu Cheng sincerely and apologetically told an aunt, then rebandaged the temporarily dressed wound with gauze and bandage.

”Dr. Lu, my friend recommended you, said you could do this kind of surgery, my friend is Old Ning.”

”Sells big bowl rice over at Huangcang.” The aunt, in her fifties, seemed quite shrewd.

”I know, Aunt Ning, right? She also cut her hand before, but hers was an extensor tendon, plus it was Zone 4, so I could do it.”

”Even though yours is also a knife cut, I can’t manage it... it’s not the same... I’m sorry, Auntie.” Lu Cheng maintained a composed demeanor.

Actually, with his current proficiency of 8/10 in the Modified Tang Method, it’s not that he couldn’t do it, but the timing is still immature.

Zone II flexor tendon is a no man’s land tendon injury, requiring microsurgical instruments, and this equipment hasn’t been moved into the operating room yet. Lu Cheng didn’t dare call Director Peng to ask for ’equipment’ to be brought in early.

Lu Cheng didn’t have that kind of face.

This instrument set was waiting for Xiang Dahong from the State People’s Hospital to ’open the package’!

Many surgeons have a fondness for ’new instrument sets’.

Without microsurgical instruments, Lu Cheng’s skills hadn’t reached specialization, the likelihood of a second surgery was still estimated to be high, and Lu Cheng certainly couldn’t take in the patient just for the surgery volume.

”Dr. Lu, you’re not saying this just to avoid trouble with me, are you?” The aunt’s eyes shifted, as if she was assessing something.

Lu Cheng shook his head: ”Certainly not.”

”If it can be done, then it can be done. Even if I am confident it can be done, there might still be failures, but generally, it’s less than five percent.”

”If I feel it’s only 50 to 60%, and this isn’t a life-threatening emergency, I would certainly choose not to take the risk with you, right?”

”You should go to Xiangzhou People’s Hospital, go there, you can at least get over 80% chance of excellent healing. I’d definitely recommend you being referred to them.”

”It’s not to shift responsibility!”

”With a better place, it’s just a bit more costly; surely, money is less important than health.” Lu Cheng pointed out the key points with a smile and shook his head.

”You need a referral, it’s better for you, I don’t have the confidence to do it and can’t harm you.”

The rupture of Zone II flexor tendon, even Associate Professor Chen Song wouldn’t do it, as it requires specialization in the inner layer G-point of hand surgery, non-specialists in ’surgery’ aren’t qualified to do it.

”Sigh... I thought it was similar to Ning Sister’s case, could also be solved at the County Hospital...” The aunt could only sigh.

”Sorry, it’s my lack of skills, I can’t solve the trouble for you.” Lu Cheng sighed, looking quite helpless.

The aunt left the general ward, somewhat disappointed, to call her family.

Lu Cheng was also helpless, if he had absolute skills, he could still report to Director Lin Qianlong to invoke the ’microsurgical instrument set’, performing the unpacking.

But Lu Cheng just didn’t have the confidence, knowing clearly that it’s very difficult here, with a high failure rate, yet still wanting to use new instruments for surgery, if anything goes wrong, wouldn’t he be a sitting target?

The main issue is the lack of confidence, and the fundamental reason for the lack of confidence is inadequate skills...

[Patient counseling for referral, resulting in better functional recovery for the patient, skill points earned: 0.1...]

[Current skill points remaining: 3.8]

Surprisingly, referring patients also earns skill points.

”To cure often, to help often, to console always,” perhaps materialized on this panel.

People are just people, no one is perfect.

Lu Cheng’s thought is to try to make his moments of helplessness, the frequency of helplessness, become fewer and fewer...