System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

”This is something our emergency department and the hospital are both happy to see, so we let the medical department step in and cut all your day shifts.”

Lu Cheng: ”...”

”Director Lin, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?”

What Lin Qianlong meant was cutting Lu Cheng’s day shifts, so Lu Cheng would only work night shifts, which also reduced a lot of rotations compared to others.

”Zhang Tiesheng, do you think it’s appropriate?” Lin Qianlong asked.

”Appropriate, why wouldn’t it be? Teacher Lu’s time should be spent more on critical tasks.”

After Zhang Tiesheng made a polite statement, he directly explained: ”Lu Cheng, working more day shifts doesn’t have much benefit. It’s better to use the free time to teach us some surgery skills.”

”If it weren’t for your title not being promoted, I would have suggested to Director Lin to cut your night shifts too, so you could be on surgery standby every day.”

As Zhang Tiesheng spoke, sounds of a conversation between Tong Yuan’an and Tian Zhuang came from outside; it was Tian Zhuang asking Tong Yuan’an some basic questions.

Lin Qianlong quickly stood up: ”Professor Tong has returned from his rounds... He specifically mentioned this morning that he had something to discuss with you... Xiao Lu, you should go quickly.”

”Alright.” Lu Cheng stood up as well, and took the three meal boxes out of the director’s office.

After Lu Cheng left, Lin Qianlong scratched his own hair and sighed deeply: ”Truth be told, Xiao Lu is outstanding, but being his leader is really tough.”

”Over time, it can lead to psychological distortion.”

Zhang Tiesheng understood Lin Qianlong because Lin Qianlong was the Director of Emergency Surgery, and previously Lu Cheng could perform tendon sutures, which was beyond Lin Qianlong’s business scope and belonged to an uncontrollable category, thus he had to listen to Lu Cheng.

Now, Lu Cheng has nearly overshadowed Lin Qianlong in all aspects, making Lin Qianlong’s position as director a bit untenable.

A director not being the ”top expert” in the department is somewhat laughable.

”Director Lin, there’s nothing you can do with someone like Xiao Lu, you can’t suppress him, it’s better to just go with the flow.” Zhang Tiesheng echoed what Lin Qianlong had previously said.

”I never said I wanted to suppress Xiao Lu, I was planning...if there’s an opportunity to keep Xiao Lu, that would be great.”

”It’s just a pity, the hospital platform is too small...”

Lin Qianlong’s tone was somber: ”Otherwise, you all would have a much easier time in the future than I’m having now, not needing to argue with the surgery department over one or two surgical cases.”

…

In the cramped space outside the emergency surgery office’s fire escape, Tong Yuan’an was smoking.

”The situation is as it stands, this time the provincial micro-surgery competition for young physicians in Xiang Province is hosted by the Second Hospital.”

”These people, in order to save trouble, are planning to intercept the registration list from the county...” Tong Yuan’an finished and spat.

Lu Cheng was naturally at a loss as well. Standing there with his arms hanging, he was quite helpless: ”Teacher Tong, I was actually too arrogant before. Even if I compete this year, I might not get good results.”

”Actually, those teachers at the Second Hospital didn’t do anything wrong. If they let all the doctors from the county hospitals register, it would indeed increase the burden of organizing the competition.”

The preliminary round of the provincial micro-surgery skills competition was hosted by the Second Hospital, while Xiangya Hospital was a co-host, so they only had advisory power over some rules.

At the start, Xiangya Second Hospital probably didn’t expect so many participants.

It’s understandable; such competitions and academic conferences offer chances for public-funded travel, learning new things, and gaining experiences, or they provide opportunities to raise one’s value.

Perhaps winning a second or third prize at the provincial level isn’t much use, but afterwards?

In the county?

If the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital wins a provincial third prize, and Renmin Hospital doesn’t get anything, wouldn’t that be a benchmark for promotion?

So everyone adopts a ”try it whether it bears fruit or not” approach, registering just to participate, especially since the registration fee and travel expenses can be reimbursed.

”Bullshit, this is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!”

Tong Yuan’an said: ”Now it’s already like this with just a provincial competition, what if a national competition is hosted in Xiang Province in the future?”

”Of course, this isn’t something the two of us can decide, our hand surgery big boss is going to meet with Boss He from the Second Hospital and Boss Song from micro-surgery to discuss.”

Lu Cheng heard the undertone in Professor Tong’s words: ”Teacher Tong, are only people from hand surgery participating in the micro-surgery competition?”

”Of course not, micro-surgery and hand micro-surgery are two different specialties, urological surgery, neurosurgery, and general surgery can all participate.”

”As long as it’s minimally invasive, it’s still micro-surgery...”

Tong Yuan’an glanced at Lu Cheng and smiled, ”Starting to panic now?”

Lu Cheng remained silent, which was a tacit acknowledgment.

He realized he had considered things too simplistically...

”Teacher Tong, in the end, I’m not very worldly.” Lu Cheng answered sincerely.

Before, Lu Cheng was at Zhongnan Hospital, but he was just a resident doctor in training, without even a master’s mentor, so he hadn’t seen much of the world.

Every day managing his wards was already demanding enough, coupled with loads of clinical learning tasks, where would he find time to care about what specific specialties the hospital had?

”You can rest assured about this, even if doctors from other county hospitals cannot compete, you still can.” Tong Yuan’an comforted him.

Lu Cheng shook his head: ”Teacher Tong, I’m not worried about not being able to compete, I just feel that even if I do, I might not achieve good results...”

Lu Cheng felt a sense of desolation in his heart.