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

Chapter 1 Middle-aged patients
July, Long County, night.

The old man's air conditioner blew cold air against the air deflector, making a slight clanging sound.

"You want to be transferred from orthopedics to the emergency room?"

In the Gaojiapo residential area, not far from the County People's Hospital on Linyuelu Avenue, Uncle Lu Nanyong slammed his fist on the table, glaring angrily: "Who do you think you are? What do you even mean?"

"Did the fact that Huashan Hospital in Shanghai didn't accept you as an undergraduate to pursue graduate studies affect its standing?"

"Has the fact that Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital is ignoring your residency training because you don't want to pursue a master's degree at the university affected its normal operations?"

"The orthopedics department of the state's People's Hospital looked down on your educational background. Has it gone out of business yet?"

"You've only been behaving yourself for a few years? And now you're causing trouble again?"

"Haven't you had enough of the harsh realities of society? Still acting recklessly..."

"You are the one in charge. The future is long, and you will always have your chance."

Lu Nanyong pushed up his glasses with his left hand, pointed at Lu Cheng's nose with his right finger, spitting as he said, "Don't think that just because your parents are uneducated and let you do whatever you want, you can do whatever you want!!"

"Just stay put in the orthopedics department. After a while, I'll find an opportunity to have a drink with your department head... and then we'll figure out a solution for you..."

Lu Cheng sat opposite him, his expression and tone calm: "Uncle, it's no use."

"Staying in the orthopedics department is a dead end; I won't have the chance to perform surgery."

"Not to mention that in our department, besides Director Peng, there are five other associate chief physicians vying to perform surgeries. In June of this year, Director Peng's son returned home after graduating with a master's degree from Xiangya No. 2 Hospital."

"You know perfectly well what the other associate chief physicians are like."

"I don't even have a chance to get my skin stitched up! Let alone a proper surgery."

"Uncle, I'm a surgeon. I need to accumulate surgical experience to hone my skills."

“You can’t improve your skills just by reading books and writing medical records.” Lu Cheng didn’t shout or yell, but calmly analyzed the situation.

Lu Nanyong is also a doctor, but he is a traditional Chinese medicine doctor at the county hospital. He is the most "status" relative in the family and the elder who can guide Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng is an orthopedic surgeon at Longxian People's Hospital, and he is a tenured staff member.

"What surgical experience can you accumulate in the emergency department? What skills can you learn?"

"What kind of surgeries can your hospital's emergency department perform?" Lu Nanyong didn't refute Lu Cheng's question, but instead asked sharply!

Lu Cheng replied, "Uncle, it might not have been possible before, but it is now."

“Our hospital is a medical consortium partner of Xiangya No. 2 Hospital. Associate Professor Chen Song from the Department of Emergency Surgery of Xiangya No. 2 Hospital recently came to the countryside to provide support and settled in the emergency department.”

"According to the hospital, in principle, Professor Chen Song can perform any surgery that cannot be performed by any other specialty!"

It is very difficult for doctors to get promoted. Not only do they need academic qualifications and publications, but they also need to pursue further studies and go to rural areas to provide support.

"So Professor Chen left? Don't you understand the nature of that rural assignment?"

"How many doctors who go to the countryside will actually stay in the hospital and perform surgeries properly? They just rush around, and it's considered good if they can perform surgery one day a week."

"Even if you did a background check beforehand, and Professor Chen is different from the others, he will eventually leave."

"After he left, the emergency room was still the same as before, wasn't it?"

"What can you learn in six months, or even just three months at most?"

Lu Cheng narrowed his eyes and looked at the panel that only he could see:

[Big Medical System: Overall Level (Resident Physician)]

[By correcting postoperative medication orders, the likelihood of patients developing stomach ulcers is reduced, earning 0.1 skill points.]

[By preventing postoperative infection through dressing changes, 0.2 skill points are gained.]

【pass……】

[Completed one wound cleaning procedure, gaining 0.6 skill points.]

[Remaining skill points: 13 points.]

Lu Cheng realized that he had been awakening this system for half a month.

However, the number of patients in the county hospital was not large to begin with, and the number of orthopedic surgeries was extremely small. The only time Lu Cheng's skill points increased by a single digit was when he handled a minor emergency debridement procedure by himself during his night shift.

In the orthopedics department, several associate chief physicians were vying to perform surgeries, partly for performance bonuses and partly for the chance to become the ward director. They were all eager to be the first to perform, and each of them had extensive connections.

Lu Cheng's uncle was just a doctor in a traditional Chinese medicine hospital, so he had some connections, but it was useless. A doctor who couldn't even accumulate enough surgical experience was immediately exposed under the panel's strength assessment, and the words "resident physician" kept pricking Lu Cheng's cerebral cortex.

"That's still better than staying in the orthopedics department! At least I can get minor surgeries like debridement and appendectomy, which is better than waiting in line to serve those big shots in the orthopedics department."

Lu Cheng's lips twitched as he said this: "Uncle, surgery requires skill, not just flattery and sycophancy to improve your technique."

“I’ve been trying to cultivate relationships in this department for four years now, not one or two years, but four or five years, and it’s all useless! I know it’s useless!”

"Leaving aside the fact that people are scrambling for surgeries to get the chief surgeon position, just considering the performance-based pay system for lead surgeons, what do these surgeries have to do with me..."

“You can’t learn surgical techniques just by staying at home and reading books, Uncle.” Lu Cheng’s breathing was rapid and disordered.

Back at the county hospital, life was certainly comfortable. If you wanted to lie down and live a life of ease, content with a little money and living a comfortable but unfulfilling existence, then it couldn't be more comfortable.

You don't want to be the leader of everyone if you don't want to lead others.

But such a doctor is less fulfilled than a junior doctor who administers IVs and injections; he's just a senior worker who 'writes medical records' in the department, which is utterly useless.

"But once you're out of orthopedics, you might never have the chance to go back, Lu Cheng. Do you understand what your uncle means?"

Lu Nanyong also forced a bitter expression and said.

Being a doctor certainly depends on your skills, and this is true all over the country. If you are good enough, you can succeed anywhere!

Even if your skills are good enough that you can perform surgeries that even professors can't, top professors will treat you with great respect.

But how can such a ridiculous, 'wishful thinking' contrast be realized?

Where does medical technology come from if you don't learn it? Does it just appear out of thin air?
How can you become proficient in medical technology without practicing? Is simply reading books enough?

Lu Cheng certainly has some talent, but that talent is really not enough, and his luck is also not good enough to support him to stand alone. He can only be crushed by human relationships and worldly affairs, unable to breathe.

It's not that having connections is scary; what's scary is not being significantly better off than someone with connections! Then all that's left for you is despair!

Lu Cheng nodded, his handsome face returning to calm, his voice low: "Uncle, if I say I don't want to become like you for the rest of my life, can you please not be angry?"

"Large hospitals currently prioritize academic qualifications and scientific research, while smaller places prioritize results."

“I know you mean well, but learning technology requires a lot of 'tinkering'.”

"I've learned this lesson the hard way over the years."

"If you don't improve your educational qualifications, you don't have a 'mentor-apprentice' relationship with your teacher. Why should anyone teach you technical skills?"

"How can I practice my skills if I don't have enough patients and procedures?"

"Ordinary people like us can only go to the hardest and most tiring places, work hard to hone our skills, and work hard to master the theory, so that we can have the opportunity to become better doctors."

Hearing this, Lu Nanyong glanced at Lu Cheng and asked, "You know all these principles?"

Why did you fail the postgraduate entrance exam interview back then?

Why did you decide you didn't want to take the exam again later?

Lu Cheng retorted decisively, "Uncle, these things are in the past. There's no point in discussing them anymore. We need to focus on the present."

"What I need to do now is go to the emergency department and see if I can learn some techniques from Professor Chen Song, and learn some surgical skills first."

"No matter how professional a hospital is, it is still a hospital. As long as I can perform surgeries that others cannot, I have my own stage."

"Surrounded by others during well-established surgeries at the hospital, sitting on the sidelines like a bench will give me frostbite on my butt!"

"Uncle, don't tell my parents about these things. They can't help, and it will only make them feel bad," Lu Cheng added.

Don't dwell on the past; it's the most useless thing to do. You either live in the present or live in the shadows.

Lu Nanyong shrugged his high forehead and said with an air of obsession, "I know...you back then?"

Lu Cheng laughed, his voice finally sounding a little weak: "Uncle, it's been 23 years now, not 14 or 15. I'm thirty now, no longer that 23 or 24-year-old young man. Besides, talking about the past is meaningless..."

"Right now, going to the emergency department to learn some new skills to break through the current situation is the best option I can choose at the age of thirty."

"And we should take advantage of the time when Professor Chen Song is coming to the countryside to provide support!"

"Besides this, there is no other right path!"

“This time it’s not because I’m being willful; I’ve thought it through carefully.”

(End of this chapter)