On July 7th, at 7:42, hot wind hit his face, and Lu Cheng's forehead was slightly sweaty.
After pushing open the curtain of the emergency department, the cold wind from the central air conditioning immediately embraced Lu Cheng in a 'comfortable' hug.
"Sister Qin, good morning... were you on night duty yesterday?" As soon as he entered the door, he ran into an 'acquaintance', Du Yaqin from the emergency internal medicine department.
Du Yaqin, in her forties, with a 'broad' figure and a kindly smiling face: "Xiao Lu, you came quite early. I've been hearing around these days that a handsome guy has come to the surgical department, and indeed, you're a talented young man!~"
Lu Cheng holds a bachelor's degree from Han City University, considered one of the best educational qualifications in the hospital.
At that moment, Du Yaqin saw Director Lin Qianlong of the surgical team coming out and casually asked: "Director Lin, are you sure Xiao Lu doesn't have a girlfriend and still needs me to arrange one?"
"Make sure not to spoil things."
"So tall and handsome, hopefully not more than one girlfriend around."
Lin Qianlong is the director of the surgical team and the only associate chief physician.
Lin Qianlong has a typical Mediterranean high forehead, slightly plump figure, and crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, speaking in a serious tone: "Yaqin, I've confirmed several times that Xiao Lu doesn't have a girlfriend."
"Marrying and establishing a career, marry first then build a career, if such a handsome young man like Xiao Lu is still single in our emergency department, that means we haven't done our job well enough."
"Yaqin, you have a lot of resources on hand, make sure to find a good and obedient girl (pretty) for Dr. Lu."
Single men in government organizations who are also handsome are in high demand.
"No problem, leave it to me... with Xiao Lu's figure... surely in high demand." Du Yaqin readily agreed, "I still have a patient in my clinic... Director Lin, I'll give you a reply by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."
"Thank you, Sister Qin, thank you for your efforts, Director Lin." Lu Cheng didn't mind the matchmaking process, considering he's not that young anymore and has been set up on more than ten blind dates by his parents in the past.
Whoever arranges it doesn't matter, after all.
Lin Qianlong bent his waist, then adjusted his somewhat thick neck, and said in a low voice: "Xiao Lu, remember to be alert when working with Professor Chen."
"There are so many people in our emergency department, and Professor Chen took an immediate liking to you, try to learn as much technique as you can from him and also broaden our emergency department's range of services."
Chen Song is an associate professor at Xiangya Second Hospital, supporting rural areas isn't just a part-time job for him.
He only does day shifts with alternate days off.
Professor Chen came to the department on the 1st, even the deputy hospital director personally accompanied him, and he freely chose his team members.
However, Chen Song did not choose someone from the emergency department with some surgical skills to partner with him, nor did he listen to Lin Qianlong's recommendations, instead opting for Lu Cheng, who has extremely "excellent" basic operational skills.
However, basic skills are just basic skills, while they form a very important part of clinical work, they are not the key skills for treating patients.
"Understood, Director Lin, if Professor Chen has any special requirements, I will call you anytime." Lu Cheng's tone was respectful.
When Professor Chen first came, Director Lin Qianlong recommended Zeng Huanqi and Zhang Tiesheng to Professor Chen, and it was obvious these two held an extraordinary 'status' in the emergency department.
But Professor Chen is a faculty member at Xiangya Second Hospital, one of the top hospitals in Xiang Province, and he doesn't need to be concerned with the local interpersonal intricacies, staying detached from it all.
Lin Qianlong saw how considerate Lu Cheng was right away, so he advised: "Hmm, Xiao Lu, you are also a long-term employee of this hospital, and you know our hospital's position and current situation."
"When partnering with Professor Chen, it's best to refer him those cases that specialists can't handle, otherwise it's best to avoid unnecessary disputes."
"You understand what I mean, right?"
Doctors and nurses' income is tied to patient volume, if the emergency department intercepts cases specialists could handle, it's like 'cutting off others' livelihood'.
Though Chen Song may ignore such matters, people like Lin Qianlong can't let Chen Song bear the 'scorn'!
Long County People's Hospital is not Xiangya Second Hospital, or Han City University Zhongnan Hospital, where every ward is packed, and there's a waiting list of patients, eager for the emergency department to offload some of the workload.
"Understood, Director Lin, I got it."
"I have reviewed the 'case list' you sent me. I will also considerately make recommendations to Professor Chen."
"If there's anything I don't understand, I'll also ask Brother Du and others."
"Professor Chen means we could choose some tendon sutures to do."
While in orthopedics, opportunities were scarce because the higher-ups were biased, and the associate chief physicians competed for surgeries; but fundamentally, it was mainly because the patient volume in the county hospital was too low.
It's not that there are no patients.
It's that the county hospital can only manage a limited range of case types, cases they can't handle are redirected elsewhere.
Brother Du, called Du Daihua, is also a doctor in surgical emergency, today he's on shift in the surgical clinic during day shift.
There are three shifts in the surgical emergency department: the surgical clinic, the surgical observation ward, and the surgical team. Lu Cheng is supposed to be on duty in the surgical observation ward today, but since Professor Chen picked him, Lu Cheng will cover both observation ward and surgical team, and will step in for surgeries with Professor Chen when needed.
"Then I'll be heading back first, there was a surgery at 1 a.m. and we've been operating until now." Lin Qianlong sighed lightly, tilted his neck, and walked out.
Lu Cheng then headed straight to the rest room, donned his white coat that bears the Long County People's Hospital insignia, put on his ID badge, and rushed to the observation area to 'take over' his shift.
The surgical observation area only had one post-wound cleaning patient, and the surgical patient Director Lin mentioned was still in the recovery room, not yet back to the ward.
After handing over the wound cleaning patient, who was due for discharge by noon, with Brother Tian Zhuang who was on duty yesterday, Lu Cheng went to the surgical examination area and found Brother Du Daihua...
The surgical group of the emergency department consisted of seven people.
Director Lin Qianlong, the 'extraordinary' Zhang Tiesheng, and Zeng Huanqi; Du Daihua, Tian Zhuang, Han Xiaoping, and finally Lu Cheng.
The time was just two minutes past eight.
"Brother Du, have you had breakfast yet?" Lu Cheng asked after pushing open the door.
The emergency examination area hands over shifts promptly at eight o'clock; there is a batch of white-shift and night-shift doctors each. Du Daihua works from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon.
"I ate before coming to take over, you haven't eaten yet?"
"Then hurry up and get some breakfast? " Du Daihua, whose body is 'concentrated essence', as he is only 1.55 meters tall but has a robust and vigorous physique, urged enthusiastically.
"Brother Du... I've had breakfast. But Professor Chen probably hasn't eaten yet, I mean if Brother Du you haven't eaten, I'd get something for both of you."
"Brother Du, I'm here to discuss with you, if today we encounter patients with tendon injuries, remember to call me." Lu Cheng threw an ambiguous glance at Du Daihua.
Like Lu Cheng, Du Daihua comes from an ordinary rural background, but unlike Lu Cheng, he doesn't have such a good first-degree qualification nor won the favor of Associate Professor Chen Song.
Du Daihua's eyes widened, the size of his pupils as big as the tip of his nose, his eyes swaying, and his mouth slightly open, his tone surprised: "You really can handle tendon sutures, huh?"
"Director Lin called me in the morning saying, yesterday Professor Chen mentioned you should do tendon sutures."
"Lu Cheng, there are quite a few pitfalls, you know? You were in orthopedics before, you should know the ropes."
Du Daihua said this not out of envy, but as a reminder to Lu Cheng, the lawsuits in orthopedics hadn't been resolved yet?
Patients and their families keep posting short videos and keep making complaints...
Lu Cheng explained: "Yes, there are many pitfalls, but isn't there Professor Chen, a prominent figure to back me up? Slowly taking the first step forward is necessary, otherwise, once Professor Chen leaves, our emergency department will be exposed again."
Currently, the number of surgeries the emergency department can perform is very few, only after Director Lin Qianlong played a series of games with a bunch of surgical department directors, they had an agreement, for now, the emergency department can only do basic cases like appendicitis, splenic rupture, cholecystectomy for cholecystitis.
Other emergency cases should still be treated by specialized doctors.
Lin Qianlong wants to make a living with his skills, and specialties also need to make a living, for any cases that are out of the other specialties' reach, the emergency department is free to do as they see fit.
Essentially, it's because Lin Qianlong's surgical skills don't compare to the specialists'.
"It'll be hard on you then, Xiao Lu."
"But you still need to stay cautious and know your limits."
"Brother Zhang and Brother Zeng are very keen on learning surgeries with Professor Chen too." Du Daihua himself doesn't dare to 'venture,' so he has awe but not envy!
Lu Cheng's current approach is like licking the knife's edge to make a living.
But seemingly, Zhang Tiesheng and Zeng Huanqi are more adept at pleasing the hospital's leadership, while Lu Cheng is more skillful at 'pleasing' Professor Chen.