"Yes, Brother Zhou," Fang Ziye nodded hastily.
There were three professors leading groups in the department: Professor Deng Yong, Professor Han Yuanxiao, and Professor Dong Yaohui. As Professor Dong Yaohui's group didn't have as many attending physicians, and Jin Hongzhou was Dong's own student, Jin Hongzhou worked with Professor Dong's group despite being the chief resident of the department.
Professional master's students who had obtained their medical licenses were required to be on call. In addition to regular ward duty, they also had to be on call for emergency surgeries.
Being on call for surgery meant that when there was an emergency operation, you had to go and assist.
Seeing that Fang Ziye had been stopped, Lan Tianluof quickly said with a smile, "Teacher Jin, Brother Ye, I've finished my tasks, so I'll be going now."
Both Fang Ziye and Jin Hongzhou nodded.
Jin Hongzhou, being the chief resident, had to handle emergency consultations every day and occasionally assist with emergency surgeries in the ER.
"Great, you can come with me to the emergency operating room!" Jin Hongzhou, who had probably just returned from the ER and hadn't participated in the department's handover, said as he grabbed Fang Ziye.
When Jin Hongzhou asked Fang Ziye to assist with an emergency surgery, Fang Ziye couldn't refuse directly.
Even if he had other commitments, he would have to find someone to cover for him.
...
"Quite free today, aren't you?" Jin Hongzhou, walking side by side with Fang Ziye and of similar height, had a slightly less appealing face and relied purely on his skills.
He had dark circles under his eyes, and both his upper and lower eyelids were puffy, making him look like he was in the late stages of nephritis[1].
But those who knew him understood that this was the result of pulling all-nighters.
"Brother Zhou, isn't it because you've been taking care of us? You've assigned more people to our group this month, which is why I've had the chance to mentor Lan Tianluof and my junior," Fang Ziye said. He didn't particularly like the smell of smoke but could understand Jin Hongzhou's need to smoke to relieve stress.
Unpredictable emergency consultations and regular consultations were exhausting.
Jin Hongzhou suddenly realized, "Oh, right, it's August now. We get new ward doctors in August."
As they walked, he flicked his cigarette butt into the ashtray of a nearby trash can.
"Come on, this surgery isn't difficult. Let's try to finish early and wrap up," Jin Hongzhou said casually.
"It's just a partial muscle tear," he added matter-of-factly.
Fang Ziye followed closely behind.
...
The task of discussing and signing consent forms fell to Fang Ziye. He took a pen to the ER, printed out the surgical informed consent form, and completed it in front of the patient's family.
Meanwhile, Jin Hongzhou was chatting with the ER's chief resident, pleading, "Brother Shu, I'm heading to emergency surgery. If anything comes up, please call my phone, and whatever you do, don't call the department."
Lai Zishu, the ER's chief resident, was also a fellow sufferer and understood the situation.
Calling the department to look for the chief resident was just asking for trouble for the chief resident.
Lai Zishu patted Jin Hongzhou on the shoulder and asked, "How much longer until you're off duty?"
"No idea. Our department didn't keep anyone on this year, so there's no one to take over yet. You're almost done, right, Brother Shu?" Jin Hongzhou asked while stretching his neck.
Lai Zishu rolled his eyes, "Thanks to those 'geniuses' in our department, damn it, I have to work another year. Shit!"
"It's like they can't afford to pay the phone bill..."
Jin Hongzhou immediately understood that something must have gone wrong in the ER ward. The on-duty doctor hadn't reported it, and when an accident occurred, the chief resident became the scapegoat. Any issues in the ward became his responsibility.
...
Finally, after the patient was transferred to the emergency operating room, Jin Hongzhou told Fang Ziye to quickly wash his hands, then start disinfecting, draping, and preparing the local anesthetic medications.
After entering the operating room and seeing the patient, Fang Ziye lifted the temporary bandage. There wasn't much bleeding, indicating that no blood vessels had been damaged; otherwise, they wouldn't be in the minor emergency surgery room.
Disinfection and draping were basic surgical procedures that Fang Ziye had long since mastered.
Once everything was prepared, Jin Hongzhou and Fang Ziye were fully geared up. "Alright, you administer the anesthetic and do a little debridement. I'll suture the tendon afterward," Jin Hongzhou instructed.
Fang Ziye didn't hesitate; this wasn't his first time administering local anesthesia.
Taking the syringe, he skillfully injected a small amount of anesthetic just under the skin. The patient yelped, but the pain quickly subsided due to Fang Ziye's local lidocaine injection.
Fang Ziye reassured the patient, "See? As I said before, it only hurts for a moment, and then the pain goes away. The first needle always stings a bit. Don't be nervous."
After the pain subsided, the patient joked, "Doctor, you could have just said it always hurts the first time!"
Fang Ziye immediately fell silent, realizing this guy was on a whole different level of wit.
He decided to focus on the debridement.
Jin Hongzhou joined in on the banter, "Brother, are your 'first times' always with needles?"
The patient immediately lifted the corner of the surgical drape, glaring at Jin Hongzhou, who was clearly more skilled at this game, "You've got some nerve! Just wait till I can get up!"
Jin Hongzhou raised an eyebrow at him, "Come on, bro, it's no fun if you take the jokes seriously."
The patient covered himself up again.
They had already done a simple rinse before disinfection. Now, under Jin Hongzhou's guidance, Fang Ziye got the rare opportunity to perform the debridement himself.
However, this patient's wound was simple; they only needed to remove any foreign objects, as there was no necrotic tissue to cut away.
After removing some sand and gravel and rinsing again, Jin Hongzhou began suturing. Fang Ziye assisted while standing on tiptoe to watch Jin Hongzhou suture the muscle.
Once the muscle was sutured, Jin Hongzhou turned to look at Fang Ziye and handed over the task of suturing the subcutaneous layer and skin to him!
Simple skin suturing was no problem for a master's student like Fang Ziye.
Fang Ziye's suturing skill had now reached level 2, allowing him to suture an orange peel without breaking it, with excellent approximation. How much easier would normal skin be?
He finished the task in no time.
Jin Hongzhou wasn't particularly impressed, as he had no idea how good Fang Ziye's suturing skills were before. The current level of suturing was just average, far from impressive in his eyes.
After rinsing the skin surface again and disinfecting with iodine complex, they applied gauze and cotton pads, secured them with adhesive tape, and began removing the simple sterile drapes.
"Alright, you can go downstairs later to get a tetanus shot and take some antibiotics. Remember to change the dressing in two or three days and remove the stitches in about fourteen days..." As Fang Ziye was giving these instructions, he noticed something.
His Knowledge Points suddenly jumped by 2 points, even more than when he had previously excised a small lesion. It was as much as he had gained when leaving the ward earlier.
And the number of procedures he had performed in this surgery was not small – minor debridement plus suturing!
For infections, diagnosis is equally important.
But for such a minor injury, diagnosis wasn't significant; treatment was more crucial.
Could this be the correct way to gain Knowledge Points?
"Doctor, you look like you've given too many injections," the patient said to Jin Hongzhou after being bandaged and standing up, starting to 'output' again.
"You think you could match my level? Got enough times and duration?" Jin Hongzhou bantered back as he helped the patient out the door.
"How many times?"
"Others howl all night long."
"Bro, you're awesome!" Their conversation was getting increasingly off-track.
Fang Ziye's lips twitched as he followed behind. Then, seeing the four Knowledge Points appear on his panel, he started to feel happy again.
Translation Notes:
[1] Nephritis: A kidney inflammation