Healing Doctor

Chapter 386 Passing the buck

"You're back." Director Liu saw Lu Gang and Ji Xiang return, and without even asking about the consultation, he seemed to already know the answer. "Let's go get some skewers! Let's celebrate."

"Director Liu, is it really approved?" Lu Gang still didn't believe it and asked with a lot of doubt.

"Of course it'll pass! Our manuscript has the best content, why shouldn't we get it, right?" Director Liu laughed heartily, quite pleased with himself.

"Director Liu, is it really approved? Didn't they say the review criteria changed?" Lu Gang continued to press.

"Evaluation criteria? That's no problem," Director Liu said with a smile.

However, he only said half of what he meant, leaving Lu Gang in suspense.

Although Ji Xiang had just explained, Lu Gang still didn't believe it. That's *The Lancet*, a top-tier international journal! Published just like that? And by such a coincidence?

"Hurry up and tell me, or I'll find 20 Class B medical records in your department next year!" Lu Gang threatened.

"Xiao Ji has a paper published in The Lancet, which came out during the review process, just in time."

"!!!" Lu Gang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in surprise.

It turned out to be true!

Director Liu is probably not joking.

With the provincial science review criteria plus the requirement of publishing in a national journal, he already believed that Ji Xiang would definitely not make it this year.

How could a resident trainee possibly publish papers in national-level journals without supervision?

Following Zhao Tianjiao's example and piggybacking on Deng Chaohong's fame, that's the right path.

In this matter, both Director Bai and Director Liu were somewhat careless, letting Ji Xiang work on his own while they focused their energy on the provincial natural sciences.

However, it cannot be said that the two have a problem. After all, for many years, the requirements for provincial natural sciences have been based on academic papers, which is different from national natural sciences and is relatively more lenient.

But Director Liu actually said that Ji Xiang bypassed national-level journals and published directly in The Lancet.

"The Lancet, really?!" Lu Gang asked again, still in a daze.

"Of course." Director Liu stood up. "Let's go eat."

Lu Gang kept asking Director Liu questions all the way, but finally fell silent.

He certainly knew the significance of The Lancet.

Lu Gang himself has published in world-class SCI journals, but they are all small magazines with an impact factor of less than 10.

He wouldn't even dare to dream of publishing a world-class journal like The Lancet.

Lu Gang wasn't envious that Ji Xiang could do things he himself wouldn't dare to dream of, but rather he felt a little uneasy.

Connecting this to the fact that Director Tang hadn't "seen" the sudden appearance of the Baixin shell after Ji Xiang suctioned his phlegm, Lu Gang wasn't stupid and vaguely guessed what was going on.

"Xiao Ji, you have too much clinical work. Try not to go to consultations with other departments in the future. You need to focus more on your work," Director Liu said to Ji Xiang while sitting in the barbecue restaurant.

"Yes, I also feel that there are too many things to do lately and time is limited." Ji Xiang nodded, he had also realized what Director Liu was talking about recently.

"And the patients nowadays..." Director Liu shook his head.

"Director, what's wrong?" Zhao Zhe asked.

"A few days ago, I was seeing patients in my outpatient clinic when a patient in his sixties came in. He had nothing to do with urology. I think he just sneaked in without registering, intending to ask a random question and leave," said Director Liu.

"She wanted to see the spots on her face, and I told her to go to a dermatologist. She gave me a long explanation and then told me to just take a quick look."

"I told her it was seborrheic keratosis, but she told me to speak plainly. I had no choice but to tell her it was age spots."

Director Liu shrugged.

"Age spots are called seborrheic keratosis? I didn't even know that." Zhao Zhe smacked his lips.

"Later, the patient left the outpatient clinic and burst into tears," Director Liu said helplessly. "It's only because I'm old and she's old that we had to send a younger girl. I don't know what word would spread in the hospital in a couple of days."

"Haha, he's over sixty years old, isn't it normal to have age spots?"

"The patient won't accept it, there's nothing we can do."

"Director, I encountered many similar patients when I was in Yuanliao. One day, a patient came to get medication, and I asked him what he was going to prescribe. He said he just wanted medication, but he didn't know what it was."

As Zhao Zhe spoke, his smile widened.

"The clinic is a great window into the world; you can see a lot of strange and unusual people there. Later, after asking a lot of questions, I finally understood what the patients wanted to do."

Just as Zhao Zhe was about to continue rambling on, Director Liu interrupted him.

"Xiao Ji, I have a question for you."

Ji Xiang focused his attention. "Director, please speak."

"Let me ask you this: Our ward has four VIP rooms. Suppose you're the head of the department, and a patient's family member comes to you saying their patient's condition is serious, they're having trouble sleeping, and they need a VIP room. What would you do?"

This is indeed an extremely difficult question.

Ji Xiang honed his skills in clinical practice for about half a year and learned that almost all patients with slightly better conditions and their families wanted high-class rooms after being admitted to the hospital.

The high-class rooms offer private living, eliminating the need to endure others' snoring and providing excellent privacy. They also provide a place for patients' families to stay, making them a paradise compared to regular rooms.

There are a limited number of high rooms available, and as the director, I absolutely cannot just give one to anyone who asks for it.

Recalling what he had seen and heard while working in the urology department, Ji Xiang cautiously replied, "Director, it seems that arranging wards is the head nurse's job."

"Yes." Director Liu clapped his hands and laughed heartily. "Do you know why?"

Ji Xiang shook his head.

"In the department, except for a very few, the head of the department has the final say. But arranging wards is left to the head nurse, mainly to ensure accountability. Like the example I just gave, you can tell the patient that arranging wards is the head nurse's responsibility, and that you will definitely apply to the head nurse yourself."

"..." Ji Xiang was speechless. He immediately thought that if the patient's family went to the head nurse, the head nurse would definitely say that it was up to the director.

It's just passing the buck.

But then I thought, there's nothing wrong with passing the buck; after a few rounds of back and forth, the patient should have had surgery and been discharged anyway.

The Second Affiliated Hospital has a very fast patient turnover rate, and it will never let an ordinary patient stay indefinitely.

"Have you figured it out?"

"Director, it seems like Brother Zhao was also passed around like a hot potato when he was processing the transfer procedures."

"This is the most common thing, and what is common is reasonable," Director Liu said with a smile. "In daily clinical practice, you need to observe more. Although it has nothing to do with technical skills, these things... being good at interpersonal relationships is an art. In clinical practice, high technical skills are not enough to solve everything."

Ji Xiang understood the deeper meaning behind Director Liu's words. He knew that Director Liu was worried that he would become arrogant after obtaining the provincial science and technology award, so he informed him in advance.

But Director Liu's "reprimand" was so light that he couldn't understand its meaning if he had even slightly shrugged off.

"Director, I understand, thank you."

"However, we should look at everything dialectically," Director Liu said. "Last year, the endoscopy department performed a colonoscopy on a patient with colon polyps, and he never came down."

Everyone fell silent.

(End of this chapter)