Chapter 250: Chapter 251: Special Suturing

It must be said that the two-day weekend publicity campaign was very effective!

Several patients with tendon injuries were brought in on Sunday.

Director An didn’t even have the chance to rest over the weekend before diving straight into work. Fortunately, with Wang Qian’s help, he was still able to manage.

On Monday morning, Chen Cang arrived at the hospital just after seven o’clock as usual, adeptly taking on the daily tasks, but suddenly discovered that the difficulty of the tasks was somewhat higher than usual.

[Ding! Daily task: Complete 10 Tendon Suture Surgeries. Task reward: Special training in Bunnell Suture Technique.]

Chen Cang was slightly taken aback, as the Bunnell Suture Technique is a commonly used method in Tendon Suture Surgery, which he also knew how to perform. This was something Director An had taught him when he first arrived at the emergency department.

This really highlighted how Director An, who usually seemed serious and stern, never one to joke around, was actually warm-hearted. Chen Cang had learned many useful skills without “shearing the wool” off Director An.

After all, when you’re working in emergency care, what can’t you do a bit of?

The saying “jack of all trades, master of none” fits the emergency department best; otherwise, you’d never know what type of patients could come in while you’re on duty.

You can’t just say when a patient arrives,

for minor issues, call for a consultation,

for major ones, transfer them out.

Avoid responsibilities altogether.

Then what use are you?

Apart from wasting the patient’s critical rescue time and missing the golden window, there’s no point at all.

Seeing today’s daily task, Chen Cang seemed to smell something special in the air.

It could be a special task!

After all, completing 10 cases of Tendon Suture Surgery is not something simple, not to mention whether there would even be enough patients to fulfill the task.

But the task reward, special training in Bunnell Suture Technique… seemed somewhat trivial?

However, following the usual system pattern of luring with lesser rewards, there could be more advanced suturing techniques to come. With this in mind, Chen Cang couldn’t help but laugh.

During the morning handover, Li Baoshan emphasized, “Our emergency department will probably be busier and more tiring in the coming period, but this is the most crucial time. The new hand surgery section has just been established and needs everyone’s effort to build its reputation and strive to improve diagnostic and treatment efficiency, satisfying the general public.”

“Yesterday, I communicated with several other hospitals’ hand surgery departments in case there’s an influx of patients, so we can timely distribute patients and allow them to receive early and proper treatment.”

Tendon injuries are acute, penetrating wounds that require early medical attention and treatment, as missing the optimal treatment time is not conducive to recovery.

“Director An will be very busy these next few days, Chen Cang, you should strive to coordinate with Director An’s work and help build up the hand surgery department as quickly as possible.”

Li Baoshan himself hadn’t rested these past two days either, going back and forth communicating and connecting with the hand surgery departments of other hospitals. After all, the hand surgery sector is a new section recently set up in emergency care that needs to quickly increase its influence and treat more patients.

But a hospital is not a marketplace or supermarket where you can freely advertise.

And the best form of hospital advertisement is word-of-mouth!

Only through the recommendation of one patient to another can we truly improve treatment effectiveness.

Hand surgery and orthopedics are similar in some aspects but differ in many others. In the current environment of orthopedics, everything revolves around taking photos, surgeries, and if you have any issues, odds are you’re going under the knife.

But hand surgery is different; many small surgeries in hand surgery won’t get scheduled in the operating room!

Why? Because those conditions don’t bring profit to the operating room. The surgical department also has limited resources, with only so many operating rooms available. If you occupy one, how can others operate?

Plain and simple, minor surgeries like Tendon Suture Surgery earn their keep through manual labor, with departmental profits relying on a cut from the surgeon’s fees. However, the emergency department of Provincial Hospital No. 2 just established a new hand surgery sector that welcomes all patients, big or small.

For example, if you perform an orthopedic surgery that costs 30,000 yuan, the main expenses are 20,000 for equipment, 5,000 for medication, 2,000 for surgery, and miscellaneous costs add up to 3,000. However, what the hospital can take includes a portion of the surgery fees, a commission on medication, and a mark-up on equipment. Similarly for the surgeons, where’s the bulk of money? In the equipment.

However, hand surgery’s Tendon Suture Surgery is different. The average cost for one Tendon Suture Surgery in hand surgery is five or six thousand yuan, with diagnostic tests, bed fees totaling over three thousand, a few hundred for surgical materials, medications ranging from a few hundred to a thousand, and around one thousand for the surgery fee. So where can surgeons earn money?

That comes merely from a portion of the surgery fees distributed as labor income. They might get a bit, but those few hundred yuan for medications and surgical materials — why would the operating room care for such small change!

If you had to name the highest-earning department in the entire hospital, the operating room would definitely be one!

The weekly consumables and such expenses are merely a few million at most; your hundred or so yuan in material costs for a surgery are really nothing to them.

So… brothers, if you encounter nurses from the operating room, just give in!

They earn more than the doctors!

That’s why many orthopedic surgeons look down on tendon suture surgery; the operating room dislikes these kinds of small, undefined surgeries even more, favoring large orthopedic surgeries such as finger amputation suture surgery, finger replantation, fractures, and serious injuries that require “technical skills.”

Tendon suture surgery is disdained, orthopedic surgeons find it tiring and don’t want to do it, and the operating room finds it unprofitable and doesn’t want to schedule it, so many simply start doing it in the treatment room.

So, when Li Baoshan asked other hospitals’ orthopedic departments to transfer patients, they were happy to do so. After all, you can’t refuse a tendon rupture that comes in. If you accept it, it’s hard to arrange for the operating room, with high risks, low earnings, and doctors not particularly enthusiastic about it.

Tendon suture surgery is just such an awkwardly positioned procedure!

Big hospitals aren’t keen to do it, the operating room doesn’t care for it, small hospitals can’t handle it well, and private hospitals charge too high fees.

But, without a doubt, it matches the current needs of the Provincial Second Hospital!

…

…

Before the emergency department handover was over, the duty nurse ran in, “Director, several patients with hand injuries have come.”

Li Baoshan nodded decisively and said, “Meeting adjourned! Everyone, get busy.”

An Yanjun had already taken the lead towards the outside, with Chen Cang and Wang Qian quickly following behind him.

The arrival of the patients also announced the beginning of a busy and tense day!

After coming out, they learned that the patients had been referred by the emergency department and orthopedic surgery of Dongda First Hospital, which was strong in those areas and had many patients, so the referral was understandable.

By then, the patient’s family members had completed the necessary procedures. After An Yanjun arranged for the related tests and examinations, he glanced at Chen Cang, then at Wang Qian, thought for a moment, and said, “Little Chen, you stitch up two of them, I’ll do two, and… Little Wang, you help me out as an assistant.”

Wang Qian was taken aback when he heard this, sensing an unprecedented strong distrust from An Yanjun!

This was clearly a case of unequal treatment, and he looked at An Yanjun with resentment.

Chen Cang smiled faintly, “Qian Brother, if you want to follow me, that’s fine too.”

Wang Qian snorted, wishing he could shove Chen Cang in the face, “Humph! Do not underestimate the poor youth!”

An Yanjun paused, pondered, and then spoke to Wang Qian in the treatment room, “Little Wang.”

Wang Qian looked up, “What’s up, Teacher An?”

An Yanjun asked curiously, “Aren’t you older than Little Chen?”

Wang Qian nodded, “Yeah, I’m 29, he’s 27.”

An Yanjun uttered, “Oh… the phrase ‘Do not underestimate the poor youth’ doesn’t seem to fit here.”

Wang Qian was instantly confused: %￥#@￥

An Yanjun continued, “But it’s good to have goals. As long as you work hard toward them, that’s fine.”

“However… don’t be overly ambitious; be down-to-earth. Moreover… when choosing goals, make sure they align with your reality, don’t be blind.”

An Yanjun gave a heartfelt, sincere piece of advice to Wang Qian.

Of course… it was also a reminder to himself, because some people are simply not ordinary, why compare with them?

Thinking of this, An Yanjun also consoled himself, why compare to Chen Cang!

…

…

ps: There will be only one update at noon; I’m not holding back, I just really didn’t write it out… Actually, I didn’t want to release this chapter either, but seeing that the last chapter was chapter 250, that number feels odd… 251 is at least a bit better than 250, emmm… today will tentatively have five updates.