Great Doctor Ling Ran

Once he had sent the exhausted Chief Physician Wang back to his office, Ling Ran found himself not in a hurry to return to the operating theater.

There were two patients who required finger replantation surgeries today. Although they had been chosen by Chief Physician Wang Haiyang, they were still patients from the Emergency Department. They also slept in the Emergency Department’s ward, which meant that they occupied two beds.

And beds were resources that the Emergency Department lacked the most right now.

Fortunately, the Emergency Department had their own building, which meant that they had a chance to expand their department. Once renovations were completed for the new observation room, they can add almost thirty new beds, which meant they could have about seven to eight wards. Furthermore, they could also clear up a part of the storeroom and renovate it into a rehabilitation room.

If they wanted to add beds, the space could accommodate around ninety beds. This would be considered a huge space equipped with great facilities if this was found in any other tertiary grade A hospital outside Zhengzhou.

When he took into consideration that he did not have a complete set of equipment, and that there was a shortage of beds, Ling Ran was no longer in a hurry to perform the surgeries. Instead, he first headed to the observation room.

Even though it had been a few days since he performed any major surgery, most of the patients in the observation room were Ling Ran’s.

The hospital bed turnover rate[1] in the Hand Surgery Department had always been a huge problem. Some of the grade B hospitals liked to launch surgeries related to hand surgery and orthopedics because they saw the benefits of patients having to stay in the hospital for long periods of time. However, to tertiary grade A hospitals, a low turnover rate was a chronic disease. Their surgeries constantly increased, but they lacked beds, and because of it, a huge conflict was formed.

Yun Hua’s Hand Surgery Department had developed to a point where they were also greatly troubled by the lack of beds; or else, if they had an infinite number of beds at their disposal, then no one would have gone to grade B hospitals, since the level of skill between grade A hospital doctors and grade B hospital doctors were like heaven and earth.

As for the current condition of the healthcare system in China, once a medical student graduated, if he or she did not join a larger medium-sized hospital, then there was a very low chance that he or she could make a name for himself or herself in the medical world.

The volume of surgery for an entire Hand Surgery Department in a grade B hospital might not even match up to the volume of surgery for a chief physician in a tertiary grade A hospital.

The difference in the level of difficulty for the surgery would also be very great. This was similar to different studying styles. If, for example, one student only did the exercises in the easiest reference book available in the market in a year, and another student completed a highly difficult reference book every week, then ten years later, when both took part in an exam at the same time, what else could the student who only did one reference book per year rely on to achieve success? The answer was obvious: luck.

Even the patients with slightly more severe conditions knew to go to large hospitals.

A large contribution behind why Ling Ran could obtain so many cases was because of Yun Hua Hospital serving as his platform.

As he wandered around, Ling Ran met Boss Shao. Boss Shao had just received a laparotomy. At that moment, he was leaning against a wall, reading [A Dream of the Red Chamber] with gusto.

“Doesn’t your stomach hurt?” Ling Ran sat on the edge of Boss Shao’s bed.

“Doctor Ling! Ah, I haven’t thanked you yet. Son, go pour a cup of tea for Doctor Ling. It’s all thanks to Doctor Ling that your father didn’t die even though he suffered from massive bleeding.” Once Boss Shao said these words, he continued by saying, “The pain in my stomach has reduced. The doctors didn’t give me any pain medication. They know I can handle it.”

When he heard these words, Ling Ran felt his mouth twitch. It was only natural that he could endure the pain, but it was still pain, nonetheless.

“Doctor Ling, please drink tea.” The teenager swiftly used the cup he brought from his home to pour a cup of tea before he brought it before Ling Ran. He then said softly, “Thank you, Doctor Ling.”

“You’re welcome.” Ling Ran took a sip and found that the tea was brewed pretty well.

Boss Shao’s son went off to do his homework. He was around fourteen to fifteen years old, and his homework was placed on a camping bed. Beneath him was a cot blanket, and he looked like a soldier who was ready to be on duty at a moment’s notice.

“My wife needs to look after the restaurant, so we asked our son to come over here to help me for a few days. When I can move around on my own, he will leave. He might seem young, but he knows the workings of the hospital well,” Boss Shao said with a chuckle.

Ling Ran remained smiling as he said, “Shall I perform a physical examination for you?”

His Physical Examination Skill was at Specialist Level. It might not be very powerful, but it was up to the task.

Boss Shao was naturally not against it. He performed physical checkups once every three months. He would never be careless with his own body.

Ling Ran checked Boss Shao from head to toe and said, “There’s basically no problem with you. There is a slight murmur[2] in your heart, and it might be because your bicuspid valve is not very healthy, and your liver and kidneys are not too healthy either. It might be similar to the results from your previous examination. You have gastritis, right? It might have been affected by your laparotomy, right? It’s the same for your gallbladder. It’s not too healthy, either. But we don’t have to tend to it for the time being. It’s the same for your lungs, you have to take care of it…”

Boss Shao smiled. “It’s good that I’m alright, then. Ah… once I get better this time, I will buy a cotton vest and wear it when I go out. I won’t be afraid of falling then.”

“The type worn by children?”

Boss Shao’s face turned slightly red. “They look pretty good when they wear it, though, and they won’t need to be afraid of getting injured when they fall.”

“What if it’s hot?”

“I usually stay in an air-conditioned room, so it’s alright.”

“But you run a barbecue restaurant. How can you barbecue things if you wear a cotton vest?”

“I’ll just have to be more careful when I barbecue food. I can’t fall,” Boss Shao said seriously before he suddenly changed topics, “By the way, I asked someone to send some beef tripes over. Doctor Ling, you can try it.”

He did not even need to give any orders. His son, Shao Quji, had been listening attentively from the side. He got up and brought a plate of beef tripes over.

The plate full of beef tripes caused Ling Ran to begin salivating madly, since he had not eaten his dinner.

“Doctor Ling, help yourself. My son doesn’t like eating beef tripes anymore now. We’ve also eaten quite a lot of the beef tripes we just received.” The “we” Boss Shao mentioned were the other three patients in his room. They all had external abdominal injuries and could not eat solids just yet, which meant that Boss Shao had made a white lie just now.

Ling Ran thought about it before he brought out his phone and said, “Then let me make a call to Lu Wenbin and have him send some pork trotters over.”

Reciprocating gifts was one of the few social skills Ling Ran mastered. When Boss Shao’s son, Shao Quji heard this, his eyes lit up.

…..

Chief Physician Wang Haiyang’s body was limp when he returned to his house, but he eagerly switched on his mobile phone and sent the record of the surgery he performed on this day to the Hand Surgery Department’s WeChat group.

Most of the operating theaters in Yun Hua Hospital had recording functions. The recording for microsurgeries was even simpler. It could basically record the surgical field of the chief surgeon as it was.

These kinds of surgical records naturally possessed teaching value. Chief Physician Wang Haiyang’s main goal may be to boast about his achievements, but he still uploaded the video in the name of teaching the others in the Hand Surgery Department.

The young doctors in the WeChat group immediately asked obediently, [Is it the surgery Chief Physician Wang performed today?]

[Yes.] Chief Physician Wang used his thick fingers to swipe across the keyboard on the screen. He did not know how to really type on the Qwerty keyboard and only knew how to use the swipe feature.

[I heard that the finger replantation surgery was performed really quickly today. Was it this one?]

[Yes.]

[So cool!] Behind the young doctors’ praises were a bunch of GIFs and emojis.

Chief Physician Wang Haiyang smiled in a very smug manner and recorded his message. “You can watch it. Each finger was replanted in less than an hour and a half. We did indeed manage to perform the surgery very smoothly today. The effect should be good.”

[Old Wang, you’ve finally bloomed, despite the fact that you’re an old tree!] Department Director Jin Xi sent a laughing emoji.

Chief Physician Wang Haiyang quickly sent a hysterically laughing emoji before he texted. [I had good form today, so I managed to replant five fingers in one go.]

Finger replantation surgeries were incredibly taxing. They required meticulous attention to detail and great skill.

In Europe and America, a three-fingered replantation surgery would cost around three hundred thousand USD, and the surgical fee made up formade up a large part in the bill. Without an insurance policy that could cover them, the patients’ families would usually choose amputation.

There were plenty of hospitals that could perform finger replantation surgeries in China, but many of these hospitals were ranked quite low. This was because of the benefits wrought by only performing one type of surgery, and the other was because the market for finger replantation surgeries in the country was rather low.

The demand for finger replantation surgeries in Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department was relatively higher, and they had also maintained a high standard when it came to performing difficult surgeries. At the same time, since he had performed quite a lot of these surgeries, Chief Physician Wang Haiyang naturally wanted to be prouder of himself.

[The anastomosis of the blood vessel was performed really quickly.]

[These are epineurium sutures, right? They’re so neatly done.]

[Chief Physician Wang is really quick.]

The doctors watched the video and sent their thoughts. It made Wang Haiyang feel really great, and he typed vigorously.

[Old Wang, who did you ask to be your assistant? He has good skills.] Department Director Jin Xi waited for everyone to praise Wang Haiyang once before he asked.

He was the director of the Hand Surgery Department. It was only natural that he should know of the talents working under him like the back of his hand.

The doctor who acted as first assistant surgeon for Wang Haiyang might have only showed his hand, but the techniques he used made it clear that he was not any of the attending physicians Department Director Jin Xi was familiar with, much less the department associate director and chief physicians, of whom he was very familiar with. It was only natural that he would be curious.

The other doctors were also curious about this.

Someone texted. [His movements are really smooth. He should have performed finger replantation before. Is it Chief Physician Hu? @Hu Wanshan.]

[He must have done it plenty of times before.]

[I think I’ve seen his suturing technique before.]

[His skills are really good. Look, that tendon suture done at 12:00 was super fast.]

[Chief Physician Wang, are you going to become a freelance surgeon? @Wang Haiyang?] Department Associate Director Pan Hua asked boldly through his text.

Wang Haiyang no longer had the time to type, so he just sent a voice message. “The first assistant surgeon is Ling Ran.”

[It’s indeed not like our hospital’s style. The control is very meticulous. Look at the suturing of the blood vessels…]

Department Associate Director Pan Hua sent another text in the Hand Surgery Department’s chat group, and no one sent a new message after him even when a long time had passed.

Pan Hua deleted a message.