This doctor is already middle-aged, and he's only just started practicing medicine.

Chapter 3: A Hospital Focused Solely on Outcomes!
In the emergency department, in the observation ward doctor's office, sunlight slanted into the corner.

Professor Chen Song casually pulled up a chair, sat down, picked up his coffee, and said in a relaxed tone, "Xiao Lu, I heard from Director Lin that you just started working in the emergency department? How old are you? Why did your previous department let you go?"

Lu Cheng smiled and said, "Teacher Chen, I'll be thirty in two months!"

"I don't have any special skills, so why would any director be reluctant to let me go?"

Chen Song shook his head. He was slender and had a refined appearance. After taking a sip of his coffee, he said, "That's not the case. He's only thirty. He's still very young."

“At your age, you should definitely master the basics first. Otherwise, once you actually enter the field of surgery, you won’t have the chance to take the time to solidify your basics.”

"The level of basic skills also largely determines the upper limit that a person can reach in the surgical profession in the future."

"I checked your fundamentals the day before yesterday, and they're very solid! They're comparable to some of the PhDs in our department."

"What was your former director like? Did he just turn a blind eye to all this?" Chen Song's expression was unusually relaxed. After all, this wasn't Xiangya No. 2 Hospital, where professors were keeping him in check, so his tone was particularly casual.

Lu Cheng also picked up the same coffee as Chen Song and took a sip: "Teacher Chen, this is a county hospital after all. What we need are doctors with technical skills, doctors who can treat and save lives."

"With my limited abilities, I can't perform any surgeries, so of course I'm useless." Lu Cheng didn't complain to Chen Song, who wasn't his uncle.

Rushing to complain about your former boss in front of Chen Song could easily get you blacklisted.

"Nonsense!" Chen Song rolled his eyes. "Surgery requires learning. If you have a good foundation, you'll be able to learn specialized surgeries more quickly, and you'll be more adept at handling localized procedures."

"Did you not have many opportunities to use your phone before?"

Chen Song had a refined appearance but a sharp eye and an incredibly shrewd tongue: "Before I came here, I heard people say that the water in the county hospital might be even deeper than that in the prefecture-level city hospital."

Lu Cheng looked reserved, unsure of what Chen Song meant, so he replied cautiously, "Professor Chen, we still need to consider the specific surgical techniques."

The hospital where Lu Cheng previously received his residency training also placed great emphasis on basic skills and fundamental theories, but Longxian People's Hospital did not care about these.

In surgery, there are only two points: Do you know how to treat patients?

Do you know how to treat illnesses?

As for why you know how to see patients, why you know how to cure diseases, and why you don't, I can't be bothered with that. I don't have time to listen to your rambling. Doing practical things is the key.

Chen Song put down his coffee cup and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together repeatedly: "Such a simple and violent result-oriented approach certainly has its advantages, and it can better see a person's ability to treat diseases, but in reality it is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."

"What department did you work in before?" Chen Song didn't ask further. After all, he was just a doctor working in the countryside, and he believed in adapting to local customs.

He may be high and mighty, but he can't change the big picture; he can only change the small environment around himself.

“I’m in orthopedics, Professor Chen,” Lu Cheng replied.

Chen Song explained specifically: "Orthopedics, that includes emergency cases like fractures, joint dislocations, limb injuries, and tendon ruptures, all of which fall under your jurisdiction."

Which of these diseases I've mentioned have you encountered?

Lu Cheng answered each question in detail: "The most common surgery we encounter in the department is fracture. We send fractures to the orthopedic specialist for surgery. Our emergency department cannot perform this kind of surgery."

"For limb injuries, our emergency department and orthopedics department have an agreement: cuts smaller than 5cm are handled by the emergency department, and cuts larger than 5cm are handled by the orthopedics department."

"For joint dislocations, we only perform manual reduction for the most typical dislocations. As for tendon ruptures, Director Peng advised that the department not to perform them."

Chen Song chuckled: "You've fallen into quite a few traps, haven't you?"

Lu Cheng nodded, slightly embarrassed: "Two patients are still complaining."

Chen Song wasn't surprised: "Tendon suturing is difficult to learn and master. Even getting started is not easy! Doing it well is even more difficult. I've fallen into the pitfalls of this stuff several times before!"

"Fortunately, our hospital has a professional hand surgery department, so we can have someone come and cover for us."

"It's tricky. Especially with the increasingly tense doctor-patient relationship... The best advice is not to get involved lightly..."

Lu Cheng nodded. His theoretical knowledge was quite high, and he was aware of many pitfalls in tendon suturing. For example, some classic tendon suturing techniques are not suitable for certain tendon ruptures, which is why scholars worldwide have flocked to innovate and improve tendon suturing techniques in hand surgery.

Chen Song added, "However, Xiao Lu, I think your suturing skills are quite good. If you practice for a while longer and can master the 'relative contraindications' for suturing tendons in special locations, you can definitely try it out."

Have you read any books on hand surgery?

Lu Cheng replied, "I've read some. Before the surgery, all I had left was reading books and practicing the basics."

"It's good that you've read some books. Since you're an orthopedic surgeon, let's see if we can treat a few patients with ruptured tendons today. Here's a little appetizer for you."

"Won't people curse you behind your backs after you take in a patient with a ruptured tendon?" Chen Song asked, somewhat amused.

The function of a hospital is to treat and save lives, but the salaries of doctors and nurses are linked to the number of patients. There are a lot of vacant beds in every department of the county hospital.

If the emergency department were to monopolize the 'diseases' of specialized departments, wouldn't that be like digging up the ancestral graves of a large number of people?
Longxian People's Hospital is not Xiangya No. 2 Hospital. Every ward at Xiangya No. 2 Hospital is overcrowded, and appointments are always in high demand. The specialists would love for your emergency department to share some of their workload.

Chen Song was not the first person from Xiangya No. 2 Hospital to come to Longxian People's Hospital for rural work, nor was he even the first in the emergency department.

There's no smoke without fire, and rumors often come from the mouth. If you criticize or insult someone, they might hear something in return.

Chen Song was also quite wary of this.

Lu Cheng shook his head decisively: "That's impossible, Teacher Chen. Director Peng of the Orthopedics Department has made it clear during the shift handover that the department will no longer perform tendon suturing and hand surgery. Anyone who wants to do it should apply to the Medical Affairs Department and be responsible for it themselves."

"Patients with tendon ruptures, except for those with Achilles tendon ruptures, will be referred to other hospitals."

Lu Cheng sighed softly: "Patients in our county can usually only be transferred to Xiangzhou People's Hospital or Enzhou Central Hospital in Hubei Province next door!"

"To have to travel this far for a ruptured tendon is quite an ordeal."

Xiangzhou in Hunan Province and Enzhou in Hubei Province are both Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefectures, and they are geographically adjacent.

In Lu Cheng's view, it is inevitable that patients from the county hospital will seek treatment outside the county. However, tendon injuries should be a skill that the orthopedics department of the county hospital should be able to handle. It is truly pitiful that such a minor disease has to be referred out of the county.

But this is not a situation that Lu Cheng can change. The hospital and department do not perform this kind of surgery at all. How can Lu Cheng create the technology out of thin air?
Learning entirely online?

Surgeons learning online is the least reliable approach.

"You want to learn?" Chen Song's gaze swept over Lu Cheng, his calm tone revealing a hint of appreciation.

Lu Cheng's face beamed with a smile that looked like he'd had cosmetic surgery several times: "I'm willing to learn anything that you, Teacher Chen, are willing to teach, not just in orthopedics."

"Teacher Chen, I am no longer an orthopedic surgeon; I am an emergency surgeon."

Chen Song laughed heartily: "Your awareness is quite good..."

After saying that, Chen Song looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "Surgical techniques still need to be mastered. You need to understand not only the surgical procedure but also the underlying causes of the disease."

"For example, that splenectomy today, if I were to handle it, I would choose to perform a spleen-preserving surgery instead of a splenectomy."

“You’re also willing to learn other surgeries, and there’s nothing else going on right now, so you can carefully consider the patient’s specific diagnosis and the fundamental reasons why a spleen-preserving surgery could be performed.”

Chen Song began his impromptu teaching, not in generalities, but with specific examples and evidence.

Lu Cheng was stunned for a moment after hearing this, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed...

Chen Song started by subtly implying that Director Lin of the emergency department was incompetent. Did he have to be so direct?

Chen Song understood the dynamics within the county hospital. He picked up his coffee, stood up, and explained in a ethereal voice, "Every surgeon has different ideas and philosophies. As long as the problem can be solved, there's only good or better, no right or wrong..."

The slanting sunlight was blocked by Chen Song's back, and the golden light shone on his back, creating a slight halo.

(End of this chapter)