Chapter 27: Gaining Recognition

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Jin Mingxi's tiny heart thumped wildly with fear, his complexion turning somewhat pale.

He guessed that following the precedent set by Zhou Can, he would definitely be more careful with his words in the future. Otherwise, if he touched a sensitive nerve of Dr. Xu, he could be in deep trouble within minutes.

Dr. Xu called to verify with the venerable Director Liu.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lu continued to clean the patient's wound, preparing for suturing.

"Hello, Director Liu!"

"Ah, it's Old Xu! I guessed you're calling because you need something."

The two did sound very familiar with each other.

"Nothing special, just wanted to ask if you know an intern named Zhou Can."

"Of course, I know him, a very promising young man. I had planned to take him under my wing after he qualified for the hospital residency training program, but then you folks from the Emergency Department snatched him up. What happened?"

Director Liu spoke of Zhou Can with overflowing admiration.

"You seem to have a high opinion of him!" Dr. Xu's previously stern face softened considerably. "No other issue, just wanted to ask if you let him suture skin during surgeries."

From Director Liu's high praise, Dr. Xu was almost certain that Zhou Can had not lied.

But he still wanted to ascertain the facts.

The operating room was already quiet, and Dr. Xu's voice on the phone was loud enough that Dr. Lu, Jin Mingxi, and others could hear everything quite clearly.

It wasn't too shocking for Jin Mingxi, who knew of Zhou Can's strong capabilities and was somewhat prepared.

He was only slightly surprised.

Dr. Lu and the nurse, however, were far from calm.

They both looked at Zhou Can with a newfound amazement.

It seemed the Emergency Department had recruited someone incredibly talented this time.

"Old Xu, getting hung up on details again?" Director Liu seemed to understand Dr. Xu very well and knew what was going on right away.

"You still haven't moved past that incident, have you? Zhou Can was with me for nearly a year as an intern, and I only later discovered his outstanding potential. It was during a cervical lymph node tuberculosis excision surgery, a very dangerous situation, and that kid was truly impressive. He later asked for a chance to suture skin, and I was hesitant at that time."

"Cervical vessels are abundant, and there are many nerves, so even I was not fully confident with the Resident Doctors doing the suturing. And him, an intern, would he be able to do it properly? But facing his eager eyes, I could not bear to refuse him. Truth be told, I was very nervous when he did the first stitch. Fortunately, the lad did well, improving as he went on, and his level was not worse than that of my Resident Doctors."

Director Liu's words were enough to confirm that Zhou Can had not lied.

"Ah, it's a shame that you guys from the Emergency Department snatched him up. If he had been in General Surgery, I would have definitely taken him for focused training. He's the intern with the most potential I've seen in my life."

Director Liu's high praise made Zhou Can blush slightly.

At that time, halfway through the suturing, his Suturing Skill and Ligation Skill had consecutively advanced to Level 3.

So, it was no wonder that Director Liu was especially astonished.

To say that his potential was outstanding was no exaggeration.

With the Experience Points system, as long as one can quickly earn Experience Points, reaching Chief Level surgical skills within a year was within the realm of possibility.

With such potential, not just in Tuya Hospital, but in the whole country, it would be hard to find a second one.

"Turns out he really wasn't lying. But you dared to let him suture a neck wound on his first try, that required some nerve. Alright, nothing else, I'm in the middle of a surgery over here. We'll talk another time."

Dr. Xu was indeed someone who would hang up as soon as he said he would.

That was a call with a highly senior Associate Chief Physician, no less! The casual tone and the impoliteness of hanging up so abruptly surprised everyone.

As a Chief Level doctor in the Emergency Department, his standing was far from that of Director Liu from General Surgery.

What made him act so high and mighty?

And Director Liu spoke to him as if they were equals.

What could be Dr. Xu's backstory?

During their conversation, Director Liu remarked that Dr. Xu hadn't yet moved on from "that incident."

This left much space for imagination.

What could that incident be?

Dr. Xu was definitely a man with a story.

When there was a chance in the future, one could slowly uncover the story behind Dr. Xu.

Upon realizing that Dr. Xu's insistence on the details was almost neurotic, Zhou Can felt a sense of relief.

"Zhou Can, you take over the suturing of the patient! As a medical practitioner, ethics come first, I was too persistent just now, don't take it to heart," said Dr. Xu with a significantly changed attitude towards Zhou Can after hanging up the phone.

His trust in Zhou Can had obviously risen considerably.

"Understood."

Zhou Can nodded.

Misunderstandings clarified, everyone was happy.

Dr. Xu turned to look at the patient.

"Don't worry, I specifically called Director Liu to verify, he praised Dr. Zhou's suturing skills highly. Having him do the stitches won't be any worse than Dr. Lu."

With his rich experience in dealing with patients, Dr. Xu used just two sentences to gain the patient's trust for Zhou Can.

"Then please, Dr. Zhou, take good care of it."

The patient squeezed out a smile of appeasement towards Zhou Can.

Once in the operating room, patients are actually quite vulnerable.

They're basically at the mercy of the doctors.

Dr. Lu stepped down from the operating table, making space.

With the nurse's help, Zhou Can put on sterile rubber gloves, ready to start suturing.

"Dr. Zhou, is it okay to use No. 1 thread?"

"You're very professional."

Zhou Can smiled and nodded.

The tension in the leg area was very minimal, and No. 1 thread was just right.

Her technique was standard and skilled, quickly threading the suture material and handing the hook and needle holder to Zhou Can.

Before suturing, Zhou Can routinely checked the patient's wound.

The calf had a gash about the size of half a palm, with clear bite marks from canine teeth.

Deep marks indicating a vicious bite and bloodied cavity.

The dog that bit must have been quite ferocious.

As he peeled back the skin and flesh, he couldn't help but frown.

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Watching Dr. Lu clean the wound for so long, yet the wound treatment was quite rough.

One could only say it was barely passable.

Zhou Can hesitated for a moment, bringing it up now would most likely displeasure Dr. Lu. But just stitching up the wound as it was would be extremely detrimental to the wound's recovery.

Not only would it heal slowly, but there was also a high risk of infection and suppuration.

Eventually, Zhou Can still decided to prioritize the patient.

"Dr. Xu, according to my personal suturing habits, may I do some additional repair to the wound?"

At this point, in front of the patient, he could neither criticize Dr. Lu's wound treatment nor admit his own suturing level was poor.

Zhou Can simply said it was a matter of personal suturing preference, which was a way to save Dr. Lu's face.

"Of course you can."

Dr. Xu had also noticed the patient's wound.

With his expertise, he could immediately tell that Dr. Lu's work was sloppy.

There was no helping it.

The Emergency Department was already short-staffed, and many resident doctors were kicked over from other departments.

To put it unpleasantly, they were often the washouts from key departments.

These people had over three years of work experience, either slacking off in previous departments just to get by or showing poor growth potential and lacking skills.

They were all problematic individuals.

Whenever the Emergency Department reported to hospital leaders about being understaffed, key departments would seize the opportunity for survival of the fittest, sending these problem doctors to the Emergency Department.

Not only did it help the hospital leaders solve issues, but the departments would also conveniently get rid of dragging doctors.

It was killing two birds with one stone.

Perfect.

After freeing up a position, they could bring in excellent personnel.

This way, key departments' medical teams naturally became stronger and stronger.

But the Emergency Department was suffering.

And they couldn't even speak up about their hardships.

Watching Zhou Can re-clean the patient's wound, Dr. Lu curled his lip, looking completely indifferent.

This person was likely one of those slackers who just drift through the days.

Zhou Can, with a sense of responsibility for the patient, did an extremely meticulous job cleaning.

In fact, cleaning such a laceration wound was quite troublesome.

Those damaged tissues, if not thoroughly cleaned, were highly likely to become necrotic then infected and suppurate.

Moreover, dog bites carried the additional risk of rabies infection.

Cleaning needed to be even more thorough.

"Doctor, can you actually do it or not? That Dr. Lu had already treated me, and now you're fussing over it again; you're not using me as practice, are you?"

The patient didn't know the truth and instead blamed Zhou Can.

Doctors often encountered situations like this.

Although well-intentioned, the patients would scold the doctors without understanding.

"It's alright, almost done."

Zhou Can didn't elaborate.

Patients don't understand medical science; explaining would be like playing the lute to a cow.

Besides, this wasn't something that could be explained.

Unless he wanted to make an enemy of Dr. Lu on his very first day in the Emergency Department.

"Just lie down and relax! Dr. Zhou is being responsible for you. The cleaner he cleans your wound, the faster it will heal," Dr. Xu's words carried more weight and authority.

With that said, the patient calmed down.

After Zhou Can's meticulous cleaning, the wound looked much better.

Next, the actual test of suturing began.

Dr. Xu and Dr. Lu were both watching him, curious to see if this youngster was really up to the task.

Zhou Can, calm and composed, took the hook needle and needle holder from the nurse, steadied them, then with his left hand holding the forceps to assist.

He selected the first stitch location, penetrated, passed through, tightened, and tied a knot.

All movements were smooth and connected.

The second stitch, the third stitch…

Such an exemplary performance left everyone dumbfounded.

"The new Dr. Zhou seems to stitch even better than Dr. Lu," the nurse silently rated in her heart.

Jin Mingxi was secretly impressed with Zhou Can's suturing skill.

Although his own suturing was not worse than Zhou Can's, Zhou Can had reached this level after only one year of internship. In contrast, it had taken him a full fourteen years to achieve this level of proficiency.

The learning time was 1 to 14.

What was more horrifying, based on his experience as an insider, the opportunities for interns to practice real suturing were few and far between.

One could only say that Zhou Can was too exceptional.

No wonder Director Liu wanted to take him as a personal apprentice.

Such talent, yet discarded by chiefs of surgery, internal medicine, and pediatrics due to low academic qualifications.

They would surely regret it in the future.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Zhou Can finally completed the suturing of the wound.

"Dr. Xu, the wound has been sutured; please inspect it," Zhou Can laid down the tools, his heart brimming with joy.

His Experience Points for Suturing Skill and Ligation Skill each increased by 21 points.

Practicing on real people was exhilarating.

The received Experience Points were ten times those earned from practicing on pigskin.

At this rate, he estimated that within two months, both his suturing and ligation skills could reach Level 4.

That was the level of a Chief.

The thought was thrilling.

What would the experience be like for a training physician to have two Chief-Level medical skills?

By then, he would be able to suture more than just skin; he would be competent to anastomose blood vessels, nerves, and intestines.