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

Chapter 228 A Mishap in the Bridal Chamber and an Interview!
Mu Nanshu rolled her eyes at Lu Cheng, her voice reproachful: "Does it have to be so childish?"

Lu Cheng blushed slightly and said, "Today and yesterday, I specifically studied the routine illnesses treated in the emergency department of the state hospital!"

"I found that it's not easy to fill in the gaps in my knowledge here. And there's basically no possibility of further referrals from here."

"In this situation, if we still want to get things done, we have to think of other ways."

Mu Nanshu asked, "Please be more specific."

“City hospitals are different from county hospitals. In state hospitals, routine surgeries and core surgeries can be handled by each specialty.”

"Under such circumstances, there is no chance of getting the surgery done by a specialist; it's just a matter of whether it's good or bad."

"There are too many doctors in each specialty, and the number of diseases treated in each specialty is not only too many, but actually not enough."

"So it seems that only some rare elective, non-urgent cases are worth considering."

Lu Cheng said, "This is based on certain facts. Patients from Jishi who need to be transferred to hospitals in the province are usually transferred to hospitals in Jishi, which is quite far from Shashi."

"Although there is a high-speed rail, it is not easy for patients to travel back and forth."

Mu Nanshu replied, "Then what does all this have to do with what you said before?"

"His liver is ruptured."

"Currently, the exclusive treatment for ruptured liver and gallbladder is cholecystectomy, while total liver resection is generally not considered for ruptured liver."

“The entry barrier for liver protection surgery is relatively high, so I want to give it a try,” Lu Cheng said.

In general surgery, besides vascular diseases, the most dangerous type of surgery is rupture of solid organs such as the liver and gallbladder.

"Professor Chen once told me that the core of liver protection surgery is not suturing, but blocking blood flow, which is the flexible application of hemostasis."

"Therefore, the two most essential basic skills in the emergency department are hemostasis and incision."

"The key to open surgery is to quickly expose the lesion, find it in time, and deal with it promptly."

"The key to hemostasis is to preserve the patient's circulating blood flow as soon as possible."

"However, there is still a problem now: no one in the state hospital can perform ECMO, which is the biggest shortcoming in the rescue of some patients with major trauma."

"I want to learn how to set up an ECMO! The emergency department at Xiangya No. 2 Hospital has a professional ECMO team."

Mu Nanshu knew that ECMO, or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, is mainly used to provide continuous extracorporeal respiration and circulation for patients with severe cardiopulmonary failure in order to maintain their lives.

It is a life-saving device in emergency resuscitation, which can extend the patient's rescue time.

"Hmm... so you still want to go out for further studies?" Mu Nanshu asked.

Lu Cheng smiled and said, "We don't need to study for such a long time. If we learn quickly, an advanced training course can solve a lot of our problems."

"But the tricky part is that ECMO is very expensive to set up, and even if we get it, not many people in our hospital can afford it."

Mu Nanshu took a deep breath, suppressing her dissatisfaction with Lu Cheng's arrogance: "Whether you can afford it and whether you have it at all are two different things, aren't they?"

Lu Cheng said, "Actually, I hope that the technology and equipment are affordable for everyone."

"Unless ECMO is domestically produced, medical companies will not be able to reduce costs in order to recover R&D costs, not even through centralized procurement."

Mu Nanshu said, "Didn't you say that the domestically produced ECMO has already been launched on the market? It was launched and put into use in January last year."

Lu Chengdao: "I have learned more about it. The core components of ECMO include the oxygenator and the blood pump. These components have extremely high requirements for materials and processes."

"The coating of the imported brand is an inactivated heparin coating, which is currently exclusive and can be used continuously for more than 14 days."

"Domestic brands only have a 5-day continuous usage period for certification."

"The oxygenator uses a square weaving technology, while domestic brands all use a round one. The square shape is more conducive to reducing resistance, causing less damage to the blood, and protecting the blood. Imported brands have a deeper accumulation in these key technology areas, while domestic ECMO has a certain gap in some high-end materials and precision manufacturing processes."

"Moreover, once the machine is turned on, domestically produced consumables are actually more expensive than imported consumables. In the long-term clinical diagnosis and treatment process, hospitals can reduce costs and alleviate the economic burden on patients by using imported consumables."

"Do you find it ridiculous?"

Mu Nanshu hadn't actually looked into the corresponding price.

All things considered, the burden of imports is actually higher than that of domestic products, which is a rather unsettling situation.

But Mu Nanshu was clever enough: "So, you mean that if ECMO can be used in the emergency department, you can bypass the liver's circulatory system, increase the rescue time for patients with liver rupture, and use this as a basis for liver-preserving surgery?"

“Yes!” Lu Cheng said helplessly, “The spleen-preserving procedure is relatively simple to apply because it is okay to remove the entire spleen. Mechanical hemostasis can be performed immediately without affecting the patient’s vital signs.”

"But the liver system is the largest metabolic system in the human body. Without extracorporeal circulation, if the liver stops functioning for a period of time, metabolic waste may take the patient away."

"We can refer to liver and kidney failure, which can easily lead to various end-stage conditions such as liver, kidney, and encephalopathy."

"Therefore, if we want to carry out liver-protective surgery, we must first develop ECMO technology. However, I haven't mentioned these ideas to Director Xiao yet."

"After all, it's only my first day at work. If I were to tell him all this right away, it would seem a bit too hasty."

"Being a doctor is a lifelong career, take your time, there's no rush."

Mu Nanshu suddenly felt Lu Cheng's hand tighten, so she immediately crawled out of Lu Cheng's arms and turned off the light: "Let's go to sleep."

Lu Cheng said, "Come a little closer, I'm a bit cold."

"I don't believe you... mmm... mmm..." Mu Nanshu's mouth was covered, and she began to speak incoherently.

Everything that followed happened naturally.

A man and a woman alone, living together in the same room.

Winter rain falls like spring rain...

……

The next day, Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu both slept in.

Mu Nanshu was woken up by a phone call. It turned out that Xie Yuan'an hadn't noticed Mu Nanshu was in the lab and had called to urge him to come back.

Mu Nanshu sat up immediately at 8:30, answered the phone, and then quickly got out of bed to wash up and wipe her face.

Lu Cheng didn't sit idle either; he quickly went downstairs to buy breakfast.

Jishi's noodles have always been quite delicious, but the noodles tend to clump together, so Lu Cheng packed two bowls of noodles to go.

Both dishes had two eggs and were placed on the table. Lu Cheng said, "You eat first, I'll go clean up."

Upon hearing this, Mu Nanshu's rosy cheeks became even more translucent. She rolled her eyes at Lu Cheng and continued patting her face arrogantly, trying to cover up her skin tone.

When Lu Cheng went out to the restaurant, Mu Nanshu said, "Why don't you prepare something? External contraception isn't good."

"It's not safe either."

"You need to wash the blankets later. I just ordered a bottle of something specifically for cleaning bloodstains from takeout."

"Okay! As you command!" Lu Cheng sat down opposite Mu Nanshu with a bit of guilt, carefully looking at Mu Nanshu's features.

Mu Nanshu's eyebrows are not particularly distinctive; they are natural eyebrows, with an oval face, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, but without the sharp, exaggerated curves often seen after plastic surgery.

Her almond-shaped eyes had a certain allure, and she had tied her hair into a ponytail for easy breakfast.

"Why don't you ask for leave and say we're going shopping?" Lu Cheng suggested.

Lu Cheng wasn't a girl; she'd only heard that the first time was very painful, and actually, Lu Cheng herself was experiencing some 'pain' right now...

The two will get engaged after the New Year; the date has already been chosen—the sixth day of the first lunar month.

"What are you buying for the engagement? Are you trying to cover it up? Let's just do everything as usual."

"It's not as exaggerated as the rumors suggest."

"Don't laugh!" Mu Nanshu suddenly raised her voice.

Lu Cheng quickly put on a stern face, but his eyes remained gentle.

……

After Mu Nanshu left, Lu Cheng stayed home to wash the quilts, first soaking them, then hand washing them, and finally putting them in the washing machine.

The washing machine is an all-in-one unit, washing and drying in one go.

Just as Lu Cheng was putting the blankets and duvet covers back into the master bedroom, the phone rang.

"Hello, is this Dr. Lu Cheng? This is Zhao Ling from the publicity department!" A rather gentle female voice came from the other end of the phone; she seemed to be quite young.

"Hello, Dr. Zhao, I'm Lu Cheng from the emergency department." Lu Cheng sat down on the sofa and picked up the teacup he had made for himself.

Lu Cheng is on the night shift today; he can take over at 5:30 PM.

"Dr. Lu, it's like this. Today, the publicity department from Feng County contacted us and specifically asked for your kind thanks."

"They even contacted us and said that if it's convenient, they could arrange a brief interview for you."

"After hearing the whole story, our department leaders also felt that this was a positive example that should be publicized," Zhao Ling said in an exceptionally polite tone.

Although Lu Cheng had not yet started working at that time, his personnel file had indeed been sent to the State People's Hospital.

One of our hospital's doctors encountered a car accident while on vacation and rushed to the scene without hesitation. This incident has already been discovered within a small circle of people.

The hospital's publicity department is no pushover either; this is a great example of effective publicity.

Not every video of a doctor saving a life can go viral on a major platform. Doctors don't knock on doors; Lu Cheng simply stepped forward without avoiding the issue, and it wasn't something worth publicizing, so it didn't help him get on the trending list.

But publishing a short article on a public WeChat account internally would be just right.

"Now, Teacher Zhao?"

"Actually, it's nothing. I didn't do much on site. I just did what a medical worker should do," Lu Cheng said somewhat embarrassedly.

Zhao Ling chuckled and said, "In an emergency, we encountered the most professional people who did the most professional things. There's nothing special about it."

"But it did save the patient's life."

"Dr. Lu, if it's convenient for you, could you come over now or this afternoon? The publicity department from Feng County will be here soon. We'd like to conduct a brief interview with you first."

"However, the nature of this matter is rather special, and whether it can be published in the end depends on the leader's decision."

"But let's make preparations first," Zhao Ling said, her tone still polite.

To clarify beforehand, even if an interview is conducted, it might be pointless.

“Okay, Teacher Zhao, I’ll be right there.” Lu Cheng didn’t act aloof.

Whether you send it out or not, it won't harm you.

Although the nature of the incident was quite serious and sensitive, Lu Cheng was not the one who started it. He simply happened to be there and happened to save a few people.

……

When Lu Cheng arrived at the publicity department, he saw some leaders from the state people's hospital. However, only the publicity department leaders were present; no one at the vice president level was there.

During the interview, the questions asked were relatively simple, mainly about Lu Cheng's purpose in coming to Feng County and his reaction after encountering certain events.

The interview didn't last long; it only included a written interview and a photo, and no video of the interview was even filmed.

The interviewer from Feng County said, "Director Liu, the leader in charge of publicity in our county said that we will send a letter of thanks to Dr. Lu to express our gratitude for Dr. Lu's help in the emergency."

"After the rescue was completed, a joint assessment by many doctors at our county hospital concluded that it was fortunate that Dr. Lu intervened in time; otherwise, several patients would have been in mortal danger."

"It was thanks to Dr. Lu's skillful treatment that they had a window of opportunity for rescue and were able to be transferred to another hospital."

The head of the publicity department is surnamed Liu, and his given name is Yi. Liu Yi said, "Actually, Dr. Lu has just arrived at our hospital, but Dr. Lu is very enthusiastic."

"To be honest, given the current circumstances, we never expected that Dr. Lu would be so quick to think about participating in the emergency rescue."

"But I believe that if other colleagues in our hospital encountered a similar situation, they would also do their best to help as soon as possible."

The task of the publicity department is to promote positive energy in the hospital, including but not limited to a department performing the city's first surgery, or treating a special disease or a particularly elderly patient.

"The state hospital is the best hospital in our state and a model for many hospitals and institutions in our state. In fact, if it weren't for the special nature of this incident, which makes it inconvenient to publicize it."

"Our county's publicity committee is even planning to make a video interview with Lu Cheng."

"However, as you know, Director Liu, the current environment is rife with controversies caused by issues related to bride price or marriage, so we can only do a small-scale promotion."

"Dr. Lu, thank you for your hard work."

Lu Cheng quickly said, "It's no trouble at all, it's me who should thank you."

After their conversation, the representatives from the propaganda department and Feng County exchanged pleasantries, and Liu Yi even invited them to stay for dinner.

But the person who came had a mission and needed to rush back to report, so they didn't stay.

After the interview, Liu Yi offered a few words of encouragement to Lu Cheng, nothing more than saying that Lu Cheng had a high level of awareness, a clear sense of which side he was on, and that he was a warm-hearted doctor.

When Lu Cheng came out of the propaganda department, it was only two o'clock in the afternoon.

It's time to go back for my lunch break.

Lu Cheng quickly sent a message to Mu Nanshu to ask her questions. After receiving the message, Lu Cheng picked Mu Nanshu up from the laboratory.

Mu Nanshu hadn't eaten yet, but she wanted to eat hot pot, so Lu Cheng quickly drove to Qianzhou.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Mu Nanshu suddenly asked, "Am I acting strangely? Why could they tell at a glance and then make fun of me?"

Lu Cheng looked at Mu Nanshu carefully and shook his head: "I don't know. Did Xie Yuan'an laugh at you too?"

"Yes. Sister Xie laughed at me too," Mu Nanshu said.

Lu Cheng shook his head even faster, sniffing, "You're asking me this question? Are you trying to trick me?"

“That’s true, you can’t even find the place.” Mu Nanshu’s words were surprising.

Lu Cheng was so anxious that he slammed on the brakes.

Before I could even speak, a curse came from the car window behind me: "Can't you drive? If you can't drive, why are you on the road?"

Lu Cheng didn't dare to retort, and simply stepped on the gas and continued forward.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go eat first, then go back and take a nap. Don't go out this afternoon."

"I have to go on duty tonight," Lu Cheng said.

Mu Nanshu opened and closed her mouth for a moment, then turned her head and looked at him, on the verge of tears: "Sigh, I finally know what it means to try to cover something up but only make it more obvious."

Lu Cheng then comforted them, saying, "It's really nothing. We're all adults, not underage kids."

"If you're not embarrassed, it's others who are."

Mu Nanshu said, "That's what I thought too, so I haven't said anything. I was afraid that the more I explained, the more confused things would become."

Lu Cheng then turned right into the parking lot in front of a shopping mall...

When Lu Cheng arrived at the department to take his shift, everyone in the emergency department knew that Lu Cheng had saved someone when he was in Feng County.

However, the official announcement from the publicity department made Lu Cheng a minor celebrity in the department once again.

There was no large crowd watching, only a wave of applause. Director Xiao Zhaoxi even came to the department in person to applaud Lu Cheng's "stepping forward".

After the publicity department staff left, Zhu Yuanzhou from the second shift said, "Xiao Lu, congratulations! Just this one thing is enough for you to be recognized as an outstanding employee in our hospital."

"These honors are all bonus points when evaluating professional titles."

"By the way, Xiao Lu, you're about to be promoted to associate professor, right?"

Lu Cheng nodded: "Logically, the evaluation should be conducted by the middle of next year."

Lu Cheng graduated from standardized residency training in 2018 and obtained intermediate professional title in 2020.

There is a five-year cooling-off period, and Lu Cheng can apply for associate professorship in two to five years.

However, if your paper is published in time, you can try to apply for special consideration this year.

"Then come on."

"The night shift in the ward is a little busier than the shift in the emergency room. When patients are admitted to the observation ward, you need to create templates for medical orders and records, and write them into the admission record and the main medical record. The rest of the medical records can be completed by the day shift," Zhu Yuanzhou explained.

"Okay, thank you for your guidance, Director Zhu." Lu Cheng nodded in thanks.

"Don't be so polite. Once we're in the department, we're all brothers. We're all in the same boat, sharing the same hardships."

"I'm going back now. If there's any emergency, just call me. I don't live far away, I'll be there in a few minutes." Zhu Yuanzhou swaggered out of the emergency department.

Lu Cheng then entered the doctor's rest room with peace of mind.

As soon as I started, a notification popped up.

[By curing the patient's psychological distress over infertility through non-medical means, resolving the patient's long-standing anxieties, skill points gained: 1.2 points.]

1.2 skill points are practically nothing.

But Lu Cheng was also very happy...

Lu Cheng took out his phone and sent a message to Mu Nanshu: "I'm on duty. Are you awake yet?"

Mu Nanshu: "Hmm... I just woke up, and my parents are here."

Lu Cheng's throat tightened, and he replied, "It's okay, we've grown up. But I still suggest you turn off the surveillance."

"There are no security cameras in this house, otherwise why would they let you and Uncle Lu stay here? They came here to ask me to go back to my hometown."

"However, they just happened to come today and did discover it."

“But…” Mu Nanshu hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.

"But what?" Lu Cheng asked.

Mu Nanshu: "But they told us to have children early, and that summer is the best time for postpartum confinement..."

Lu Cheng: "Where would it be that fast? Do you think we're just for breeding?"

Mu Nanshu: "It sounds a bit awful."

Lu Cheng said, "Anyway, I'm not in a hurry."

Mu Nanshu said, "I'm not in a hurry either."

(End of this chapter)