Path of Medicine With a System

On the second day after Zhang Fan and the others arrived in Bluebird City, the Bluebird City government organized a fancy welcoming party for them. The Vice Leader of Bluebird City also attended this party. He gave a long and boring speech on China’s policies, friendship between Bluebird City and the border province, and so on for half an hour.

Several head politicians of various cities in the border province arrived, led by a Vice Leader of the entire border province. The Vice Leader of Bluebird City then gave another speech with almost the exact same content for another half an hour.

Zhang Fan was absolutely astounded when the party finally began. He saw shrimp, large shrimp, along with lobsters that were even thicker than Zhang Fan’s arm, large crabs, and all sorts of seafood that he had never seen before. Ten people were sat at each table, and quite a few people from the border province wouldn’t eat shrimp or crabs. Well then, Zhang Fan ate their share for them.

After everyone ate their fill, they would be assigned to various departments in BCU Hospital. Zhang Fan had arrived on the slot for the surgery department, but no specific department under surgery had been specified for him. The hospital’s higher-ups asked Zhang Fan what type of surgery department he wanted to go to, so Zhang Fan said he wanted to go to traumatic injuries.

Bluebird City and its best hospital were much larger than Kuake City and the latter’s hospital, respectively. This meant that there were many more patients as well as surgeries. Zhang Fan was placed in the traumatic injury department as he wished. The head of the orthopedic surgery department (the traumatic injury department was under orthopedic surgery), Director Lin Cong, knew nothing about Zhang Fan, so he arranged some simple surgeries for removing metal plates from patients’ bodies for Zhang Fan to perform. This was to measure Zhang Fan’s skills. If he was unable to even do something as simple as removing metal plates, he would need to be slowly trained starting from the basics.

BCU Hospital’s superintendent had held many meetings stressing the importance of this political task of properly training the border province doctors, and that everyone had to take this seriously. Thus, Director Lin Cong arranged for a veteran attending physician to be Zhang Fan’s surgical assistant. This attending physician was Huo Qinghua, who had received the second-highest level certification in traumatic injury several years ago. However, BCU Hospital didn’t have enough higher-ranking job positions open, so he could only remain an attending physician.

The superintendent kept emphasizing the importance of properly training the border province doctors, and all the department directors constantly held meetings stressing the same thing. BCU Hospital’s doctors were quite curious about Zhang Fan and the other border province doctors. Although the border province doctors were from the remote far west, the BCU Hospital doctors were quite friendly to Zhang Fan and the other border province doctors. This was because people in Bluebird City were generally quite friendly, and also because the border province doctors had no clash of benefits with the BCU Hospital doctors. That was why the BCU Hospital doctors were more than happy to cooperate fully in training the border province doctors.

The first simple surgery was regarding removing a metal plate from a patient’s collarbone.

“Doctor Huo, I’ll go wash my hands now. I need to disinfect.”

“Let’s go together.”

The most important basic of surgery was to have a sterile environment. Although Huo Qinghua was supposed to be Zhang Fan’s surgical assistant for this surgery, his real main task was to observe Zhang Fan’s movements to see if they were up to standard or not. If Zhang Fan wasn’t good enough at maintaining a sterile environment for the patient, Huo Qinghua would have to step in and do the surgery.

Huo Qinghua confirmed that Zhang Fan’s handwashing, disinfecting, and medical draping were all standard with no mistakes. Just as they were about to begin the surgery, Huo Qinghua’s cell phone rang. It was forbidden for surgeons here to take any phone calls in the middle of a surgery as that would obviously be impractical, but sometimes the attending physician would have to know if there was a problem with any patient.

A nurse held Huo Qinghua’s cell phone up to his ear. He waved at Zhang Fan, indicating to the latter that he should wait and not begin the surgery yet. However, Zhang Fan misinterpreted the hand gesture, thinking it meant that he should begin without Huo Qinghua!

Removing a metal plate from the collarbone was something incredibly simple and basic to Zhang Fan. However, this wouldn’t be considered simple or basic at all to any newcomer doctor who had barely performed any surgeries. The lungs and arteries were right around the area, and if the doctor used too much force, he would actually break the collarbone again without even removing the metal plate.

Huo Qinghua checked back in on Zhang Fan after he finished his phone call. “Whoa! Doctor Zhang is really fast. You’ve already removed the metal plate.” The phone call was about a patient whose joints really hurt after surgery. The patient’s family had been rather unhappy, and Huo Qinghua had spent more than ten minutes explaining things to the patient’s family.

“Doctor Huo, if you’re busy, feel free to attend to your matters. I can do everything else in this surgery by myself.”

Huo Qinghua had a task to observe Zhang Fan’s skills, so of course he couldn’t leave. Although he missed the part where Zhang Fan removed the metal plate, he had to watch the rest of the surgery.

“See, it’s all taken care of now.” Cleaning up the extravasated blood, dealing with the osteotylus, and using surgical sutures to sew up the muscles and skin were all actions that Zhang Fan was incredibly familiar with. Huo Qinghua was mystified after watching this, commenting, “It seems that you’ve performed plenty of surgeries before.” Zhang Fan had finished the entire surgery in under thirty minutes, even including the time for anesthesia on the patient.

Huo Qinghua hadn’t watched all of it the first time, but he definitely paid close attention to the next surgery scheduled for Zhang Fan. The second simple surgery was for removing a radial bone (upper forearm) metal plate. After Zhang Fan finished this surgery, Huo Qinghua asked, “Doctor Zhang, what year did you acquire your attending physician license in? You must have plenty of orthopedic surgery patients at your hospital.”

“I just graduated from undergraduate medical school last year.” Zhang Fan chuckled.

‘The hell! Could it be that he does nothing but remove metal plates every day at his hospital? Even if he does nothing but remove metal plates, how could he be so well-practiced in his movements?’ Huo Qinghua was now looking at Zhang Fan strangely.

Later, in orthopedic surgery department Director Lin Cong’s office.

“How is he? Are Doctor Zhang’s movements standard?” Lin Cong inquired.

“There’s no problem with his handwashing or disinfecting, and if I only judged by his metal plate removal surgeries today, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do them as skillfully or quickly as he did,” Huo Qinghua answered truthfully.

“No way!” Lin Cong almost spat out the water that he was drinking. He knew quite well that Huo Qinghua was a skilled veteran doctor who had a master’s degree from the Bluebird City University. Huo Qinghua was considered one of the best talents among the younger doctors of orthopedic surgery at BCU Hospital.

Huo Qinghua laughed as he added, “What’s even more astonishing is that this youngster just finished undergraduate medical school last year!”

“Oh! That’s even more interesting. Okay, let him perform tomorrow’s traumatic injury surgery. Be his surgical assistant tomorrow and continue observing him.” Since surgery for removing metal plates was far too simple, Lin Cong didn’t take today’s results too seriously.

Zhang Fan was able to level up his traumatic injury surgery experience on the very next day. Back at Kuake City Hospital, it was common that there would be a traumatic bone injury requiring surgery only once a week or even less often, and sometimes a patient would only come in order to request a doctor’s note for a referral to a different hospital. Those patients absolutely refused to have their surgeries done at the smaller Kuake City Hospital.

However, things were different at BCU Hospital. It was common that the emergency treatment patients from night couldn’t all be seen to in a single night. Thigh bone, tibiofibular, ulna and radius, and other such fractures were all far too common. Zhang Fan had previously reached 70% experience completion rate in traumatic injury surgery back at Kuake City Hospital, so he was fairly well practiced in this.

Zhang Fan’s System had also been constantly strengthening his body. This wasn’t only to help him increase stamina in exchange for a much bigger appetite. Zhang Fan’s dexterity had also greatly improved.

‘Zhang Fan is steady, swift, and gentle in his movements. He’s already at such a level, yet he came here to study? Could it be that he’s here just to show off?’ Huo Qinghua was more and more astonished as he watched Zhang Fan.

There were some patients who had severely shattered bones. Even a veteran doctor like Huo Qinghua would have to ponder for a while before starting the surgery. However, it seemed that Zhang Fan didn’t even need to think. He unhesitatingly started every surgery right away, and did a great job every time.

“Doctor Zhang is quite skilled. His movements and positioning are always perfectly standard.” Since Zhang Fan could receive praise from a master’s degree doctor at the best hospital in Bluebird City, this meant that his System was indeed truly incredible.

“How was he today?” Once again in Director Lin Cong’s office, the director asked Huo Qinghua how Zhang Fan’s skills were.

“Amazing, really amazing. With Zhang Fan’s skill level, I think that you’re the only one in our department who can teach him anything. None of us have anything to teach him. We’d be slapping our own faces if we tried!”

“Aren’t you exaggerating too much? Could it be that he sucks so much that you don’t want to train him anymore? Stop slacking off on me.” Lin Cong didn’t believe this anymore. He felt like Huo Qinghua was exaggerating so much that Zhang Fan was seeming like the main character of some novel.

“I’m not exaggerating at all! How about you personally witness his skills tomorrow?”

“How many elective surgeries do we have scheduled for tomorrow?”

“I have two different patients, both with femur fractures, scheduled for tomorrow. One of them shattered the femur severely. Our department was going to hold a meeting to discuss whether to treat that patient with internal or external fixation.”

“Bring me the CT scan. I’ll take a look.”

Huo Qinghua soon returned with the CT scan.

“Let’s do internal fixation. This patient is of a somewhat advanced age, so he probably won’t be able to handle external fixation. It’s fine as long as we can return everything back to the proper position through internal fixation,” Lin Cong decided. “Tomorrow, I will be handling this surgery together with Zhang Fan. I’ll beat you up if you dared to exaggerate his skills to me.” Lin Cong was a local Bluebird City man, a northerner. Although he was exaggerating slightly, he did have a bit of a temper.

“Just don’t be too astonished tomorrow. Prepare your blood pressure medication. Don’t be so shocked that your blood pressure rises.” Lin Cong had slightly high blood pressure.

Director Lin Cong picked up his cup and pretended to chuck it at Huo Qinghua, who instantly scampered off. Actually, Director Lin Cong had personally taught Huo Qinghua. The two of them were close as teacher and disciple.

After the traumatic injury department’s morning meeting, Director Lin Cong brought Zhang Fan and two postgraduate students that recently graduated to the operating room.

The two medical students Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang had both just recently finished medical grad school. Ding Lei specialized in joints, while Wang Guiyang specialized in the spine. Right now, both of them had been accepted to BCU Hospital to further their studies in other medical specialties. Today, Lin Cong’s main job was to observe Zhang Fan’s and the two recent graduates’ abilities.

Lin Cong showed the CT scan of the patient with a severely shattered femur to the other three. “Doctor Zhang, take a look at this CT scan. Do you have any guarantee of being able to perform this surgery?”

“It will be a little difficult, but it probably won’t be a problem,” Zhang Fan stated after checking the CT scan.

Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang exchanged glances. What they both thought was obvious. ‘Man, he’s really bragging. This is a really difficult surgery, yet he’s saying there won’t be any problems?’

Lin Cong was also rather surprised by this. The difficulty of this level for the traumatic surgery department was such that it could only be handled by the doctors with the second-highest level certification. A young doctor from the border province who was here to study actually claimed that such a surgery would only be a little difficult? Lin Cong decided to let Zhang Fan be in charge then.

“Alright, I’ll be the primary surgical assistant. Ding Lei, hold the patient’s leg. Wang Guiyang, disinfect. Doctor Zhang, look over the CT scan more carefully as you’ll be the primary surgeon for this operation today.”

“Okay, Director.”

Wang Guiyang could barely wash his hands properly as he was confused with what was going on today.

The surgery began with connecting the bone and cleaning up the extravasated blood. The bone was severely shattered, so it would be impossible to deal with all the tiny bone fragments with just a single metal plate. Zhang Fan first used Kirschner wires to hold the fragments together as he corrected the shape of the metal plate so that it adhered better to the broken bone.

The metal plate was made with professional standards. Although it was quite standard, every individual’s bones would still be different. Zhang Fan had deeply imprinted muscle memory thanks to his System, so he was able to correct the shape of the metal plate as if the latter had been customized for this patient.

“Truly excellent. His skills are quite something.” Lin Cong watched Zhang Fan perform surgery in admiration.

“Damn it, could you somehow be even better? Did I go to a fake medical grad school!?” Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang were both astounded. They both knew that it would take them more than five years of actual working experience before they could handle being the primary surgeon for such a difficult surgery.

The graduate students still had sharp eyes. Ding Lei discovered a problem, and instantly asked, “Doctor Zhang, why are there so few screws on this side?”

“What Doctor Zhang? Call him Teacher Zhang in the future. He’s worked hard on our country’s border. He probably knows more than enough to be your teacher,” Lin Cong told the graduate students.

“Teacher Zhang,” Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang addressed Zhang Fan in unison.

At a Grade 3 hospital like BCU Hospital, being addressed as teacher meant that a doctor had significant accomplishments. Most doctors here were simply addressed as doctor, especially since this was a hospital with an advanced medical level. Everyone here had constantly worked hard at accumulating experience in the operating room.

It was quite common that one doctor wouldn’t respect another unless there was complete suppression through the difference between skills. Being better by only a small margin wouldn’t be good enough. That was why “teacher” wasn’t a mere title in the major hospitals. It would truly be a sign of respect.

“I’m just slightly more well practiced. I’d feel awkward about being called teacher since I just recently finished my undergraduate studies.” Zhang Fan felt rather awkward. However, his awkward refusal to be called “teacher” gave the two grad students a critical hit.

“The medical field depends on the foundational basics combined with clinical experience. Just the basics will never be enough. However, it’s relatively more difficult to improve one’s clinical experience, which is why you don’t need to feel awkward,” Director Lin Cong exclaimed.

After the surgery was finished, Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang were in charge of plastering the cast. Since the bone had been shattered severely, a cast was required to stabilize and strengthen the bone. Zhang Fan wanted to personally do this as all he wanted was to grind more experience, but Lin Cong wouldn’t let him.

Later in the traumatic injuries department’s meeting, Lin Cong announced, “From now on, Doctor Zhang Fan will be working together with my team. Zhang Fan will also be able to approve or deny our team’s decisions on difficult surgeries.”

Lin Cong was the boss of BCU Hospital’s orthopedic surgery department, and all members of his personal team had master’s degrees. All the doctors in the department were astonished to hear this. Zhang Fan was basically obtaining the position of vice team leader here. All vice team leaders in other departments would have at least the second-highest level national certifications in their fields, but Zhang Fan…

“He came here with intent!”

Zhang Fan and the other border province doctors were given rooms in a BCU Hospital dormitory specially set aside for them. However, Zhang Fan hadn’t returned to this dormitory even once after the first day. He simply put two changes of clothes and some toiletries in his locker and started living in the hospital itself.

Zhang Fan could order food to be delivered directly to him from the hospital cafeteria. The traumatic injury department also had places for him to shower and sleep. Also, Zhang Fan didn’t have to write any of the medical reports. There were five master’s degree holders in Lin Cong’s medical team, but none of them dared to ask Zhang Fan to write the medical reports after Lin Cong’s announcement. Zhang Fan was more than happy to concentrate solely on performing surgeries.

Zhang Fan no longer cared whether it was day or night. If he was tired, he would stop and find a place to take a nap. Whenever he was awake, he would go request a surgery to perform. He was willing to undertake all surgeries, no matter if they were big or small. Not only that, he also participated in the emergency department’s as well as other departments’ surgeries.

With what was seen as his hard work ethic, just the fact that he was willing to work so hard made all the traumatic injury department doctors truly impressed with him, not to mention his skill level. It seemed as if the phrase “the hospital is a doctor’s home” had truly manifested itself upon Zhang Fan.

“From now on, even if our department’s resident doctors don’t have Doctor Zhang’s skill level, you must at least have Doctor Zhang’s work ethic. There will only be two days off per month from now on. If you can’t take it, then transfer to a different department. Aren’t you all embarrassed that he’s both more talented and working harder than you all?” Lin Cong had truly gotten angry at this departmental internal meeting. He had personally observed Zhang Fan’s work over the past two weeks. It seemed to him that Zhang Fan was as hard working as an ascetic monk.

“I truly believe that Doctor Zhang will become a renowned doctor after another ten years. Not only is he talented, he’s even so hard working. The heavens will be so unjust if he doesn’t make a name for himself,” Lin Cong exclaimed in private to Huo Qinghua.

Four days later, Zhang Fan finally successfully leveled up his orthopedic surgery experience in his System. This allowed him to access new, higher-level courses. The higher-level courses in traumatic injuries were joints, spine, microscopic orthopedics, and so on. These were now all available to him. Also, Zhang Fan was allowed to choose an entirely new subject area to study. After mulling it over for a while, Zhang Fan chose to activate the general surgery courses.

General surgery meant that surgery would be used to heal problems related to the liver, gall bladder, pancreas, stomach, intestines, blood vessels, thyroid, and breast tumors, along with traumatic injuries and other illnesses. This surgical field was the largest category under surgery, as well as the foundation for all other surgery types.

Zhang Fan had originally wanted to start studying internal medicine as his basic knowledge of internal medicine was only average. However, he didn’t want to waste his opportunity to study here at BCU Hospital. Zhang Fan was astounded after he activated the general surgery course. There were more than 10 level two courses under general surgery, and leveling these courses would require him to perform a minimum of more than 5000 general surgeries.

Of course, there were even higher-level courses after those. What could he do? Grind! Since the heavens had given him this opportunity, Zhang Fan would never waste it. He had never given up before just because he was previously poor. No matter if it was in a mud pit or on the streets, he would always try his best to move forward, and never give up on any opportunity that he was given.

There was once a phrase that he had heard: “A child without an umbrella must learn to run forward with all his might.” Zhang Fan was just like someone who was drowning that clutched onto a life-saving stalk of grass. He needed to make his best effort to survive.

Thanks to Zhang Fan’s hard work motivating everyone else, all the newer doctors and graduate students in the traumatic injury department worked their hardest to improve themselves. Since these doctors had been able to obtain jobs at the best hospital in the entire city, almost all of them had previously been top students. The advantage top students had was that they were willing to work hard.

“Doctor Zhang, there’s an emergency patient.” Zhang Fan was still drowsy when a nurse woke him up from his nap.

Zhang Fan’s many years as a food seller had taught him some life experience—that he could get other people to like him by giving out small benefits.

In order to make things easier for himself at the operating table, Zhang Fan often purchased meals or drinks for the regular nurses and head nurses. This wouldn’t cost him much money, nor were the nurses short of money, but what was important was the attitude. It took only a few days for all the nurses to also be approving and take good care of Zhang Fan.