As Director Han lifted the lid, a cloud of steam wafted up from his zisha clay tea cup. He took a thoughtful sip.
Although Yang Ping was already an attending doctor, Director Han had planned to put him on a resident's rota. He was now having some second thoughts and decided to reassess the situation.
Cupping the warm zisha clay cup, he said, "You're new here and unfamiliar with everything, so why don't you start by shadowing someone during their rounds? You'll be paired with Dr. Zhang Lin from my group."
Yang Ping nodded.
As an attending doctor, being scheduled as a resident and having to shadow a doctor with less experience was somewhat vexing for him, but it was necessary for now.
Typically, large hospitals divide staff into groups, each with a mix of ranking officials. Each group usually has a senior ranking Chief or Associate Chief, a mid-ranking Attending, and a few junior Residents. Some groups also include interns, graduate students, and visiting students, if the hospital is a teaching one.
Residents are generally tasked with directly managing patients, admitting them, writing their medical histories, arranging surgeries, changing medications, and so on. Attending physicians, on the other hand, rarely manage patients directly. Instead, they primarily assist their group leader with operations and guide residents in their patient care.
Each group operates as an individual unit, with the group leader bearing full responsibility for the medical techniques used within the group. Apart from a few special instances when the Department Director needs to handle cases, surgeries are typically completed within the group. Each group operates separately and doesn't interfere with each other, but is capable of collaborating if necessary.
Some hospitals don't have Department Directors working with groups, while others do. Director Han leads a group himself, composed of Attending Doctor Song Zimo and Resident Zhang Lin.
"I'll be taking Song Zimo with me to a conference in a few days. If anything comes up, you can lend Zhang Lin a hand. If you can't handle something, report it to Director Tian immediately. Director Tian is a decent person with a scholarly demeanor. You openly questioned his diagnosis at the meeting today, but he wasn't angry. Instead, he promptly corrected his mistake. What you did today was correct. If it hadn't been for your timely reminder and insistence, we would have been embroiled in a medical dispute, and the patient would have had to undergo another surgery. The guiding principles of science are to not be awestruck by authority or books, but to only be convinced by facts. Although, once a decision has been made, you can disagree, but you must never disobey – let alone act on your own. Doctors operate within a ranking system, and this traditional hierarchy is a cornerstone of patient safety."
"I understand, Director. I'll keep your words in mind," Yang Ping promised sincerely.
"Alright, work hard. Sanbo is a good platform and our orthopedics team is excellent. You'll see that in due course." Director Han had surgery shortly, so he needed to end their conversation.
Yang Ping went to find Zhang Lin, who was behind his computer issuing medical orders.
Zhang Lin was a recent Master's graduate with a skinny and tall figure. Acne peppered his face. He wore glasses and didn't socialize much.
"Dr. Zhang, hello. I'm Yang Ping. Director Han—" Yang Ping began, extending his hand.
"I know, Director Han called me. Writing medical histories? Changing medications? You know how to do all that, right?" Zhang Lin's tone was somewhat unfriendly; he didn't even bother shaking Yang Ping's hand.
"Damn it! I'm already an attending doctor, and you're asking me if I can write medical histories and change medications. Are you treating me as an intern?" Yang Ping withdrew his hand, feeling disgruntled.
"Yes, yes, I can do everything!" Yang Ping's thick skin saved him from a lot of needless hassle, otherwise they would've been arguing, or worse, squabbling.
Zhang Lin adjusted his glasses; his eyes never once left his computer screen. "Beds 1, 3, 8, 10, 11, and 12—change their medications and check for any missing progress reports, complete them all."
"Aren't there any surgeries today? Shouldn't we not change the medications pre-surgery?" It was only just past nine. Yang Ping wanted to check out a surgery, and gain some experience even if it was just while observing.
"Oh, you don't need to do surgery today. Just change the medications in the ward." With that, Zhang Lin walked away with his head held high.
"Thinks he can do surgery after looking at a few x-rays, completely lost sight of himself," grumbled Zhang Lin under his breath in the elevator.
"Damn, he's really treating me like an intern."
Well, you can't really fight it when you're in someone else's territory. Yang Ping found the medication room, prepared the necessary items, put on a mask and cap, and started pushing the cart through the ward, changing medications one by one.
"You there, don't just stand! Come over here and help carry these struts and weights to Bed 33." A resident doctor waved him over. Although Yang Ping was clearly busy changing medications, he was repeatedly mistaken for being idle.
"Hey! You over there, come help push the bed." After delivering the traction setup, a nurse called Yang Ping over to help push a patient down to get an X-ray.
After much toiling for half an hour, he had to return and finish the progress reports. Not being familiar with these patients and not receiving an adequate briefing from a colleague made completing the medical histories a challenging task.
He found some patients' progress reports hadn't been updated for a week, it was impossible to catch up on all that.
"Boss!"
"Boss my ass, I'm being treated less than a lackey."
It was a call from Little Five.
"Did you eat gunpowder for breakfast or what? This is Little Five!"
"Mmm, if you have something to say, say it. If you need to fart, just let it out!"
"I've found a house for you, right across the street from the hospital. It's just a quick walk over a footbridge. I'll bring you the keys after work this afternoon. I also got a call. I'll be going for a Residency in the Emergency Department, specializing in working with ambulances. In a few days I'll go for the interview. It physically demanding work, but I've got the strength for it. And there's no disgrace in working hard," Little Five babbled away.
"That's enough, call me at seven. We'll have dinner tonight, my treat." Yang Ping's mind was in turmoil. How would he manage these case histories?
Since his previous apartment was in the city's urban village and he had now moved to the outskirts. Yang Ping was short on time, so he asked Little Five to terminate the lease and find a new place near Sanbo Hospital.
The hospital had its own dormitories, but these were shared suites, which wasn't convenient. The queues for the restroom were endless. Renting his own place offered more freedom.
Over the next few days, Yang Ping found himself at the beck and call of Zhang Lin, reaching the hospital at seven am and leaving after eleven pm. His legs felt as heavy as lead, his hands were on the verge of developing tendonitis, his eyelids felt heavy, and he was forever yawning.
His life mimicked those of serfs, but life had to go on.
He decided to visit his own private world in the system. He opened the treasure chest, using the last newbie package—five thousand limb reattachment surgeries.
Five thousand surgeries! Yang Ping was astounded. This was an unrivaled treasure trove of resources for a doctor—case histories. These five thousand surgeries represented a number that many doctors couldn't complete in their lifetime.
Upon entering the training space, the system simulated various reattachment surgeries for him. There were simple knife wounds, crushing injuries, avulsion injuries, injuries split into several parts, skin-deficient wounds, fingers, toes, hands, wrists, ankles, forearms, upper arms, lower legs, thighs, elbows, knees, disjoined at the shoulder, or the hip. The system had simulated every possible injury he could encounter. However, the majority of the surgeries were finger reattachments, including infants newly born, premature babies, babies with congenital malformations.
Every conceivable scenario was simulated.
Surgery is a skill developed through practice, and practice requires a large number of surgeries. This volume transitions into quality; this was an ironclad rule. It was impossible to have the rigorous volume of training that the system provided in reality.
Moreover, Yang Ping vaguely felt that the efficiency of training within the system was higher than that in reality.
Nevertheless, this kind of practice was hard to bear. He wanted to give up several times, but he ground his teeth and persisted.
Unconsciously, he spent his time in intensive training in the system, he had no idea how long it had been, presumably a few months.