"Do you dislike those rules now? Like the requirements for taking postgraduate exams, pursuing a doctorate, and carrying academic papers?" Chen Song asked in a ethereal tone, earnestly observing Lu Cheng's expression.
Lu Cheng replied, "I can only say I don't like it."
Lu Cheng sighed lightly, "Teacher Chen, I just haven't enjoyed or immersed myself in the rules; it's not really about disliking them."
Is it that most people fundamentally dislike human relationships and social conventions? Not really, most people simply don't benefit from human interactions and rules, hence they dislike them; the beneficiaries regard them as sacred.
Chen Song comforted him, "It seems that over the years, your temperament indeed has been smoothed out quite well."
"Actually, a postgraduate degree emphasizes academic ability, which is the most hardcore avenue. After all, in medicine, the development of surgical techniques, improvement of surgeries, and the exploration of new treatment plans—all are baseless without research and technical skills."
"Our duty as doctors is to treat and save lives, not only treating curable diseases but also considering incurable ones."
"From ancient times to present, this reasoning has been recognized."
"Therefore, to become top-notch doctors, scientific research is indispensable."
"But the reality is, less than one in ten thousand doctors will ultimately become top doctors and require scientific research to feedback clinical techniques; the vast majority of doctors are essentially just reproducible researchers of others' academic papers. Do you understand what I mean?"
Lu Cheng, of course understood, nodded, "Teacher Chen, your point is that the books we've read, the study materials we've gone through, down to every single sentence, are actually the research outputs of previous mentors, and their research results became classics, which is why they were included in the teaching materials."
"We read it, learn it, and use it, essentially embodying the predecessors' understanding of medicine onto specific patients."
Chen Song said, "Exactly!~"
"That's us, I'm the same."
"Medicine is vast and profound…"
"Moreover, the essence of medicine and the operation of medical institutions is 'new.'"
"For instance, the world's first case, the first surgery domestically, the first surgery provincially, and the first surgery in the county."
"When it comes to individuals, it's the first surgery in one's life."
"This initiation is 'the hardest'!"
Chen Song did not ramble on with Lu Cheng.
Lu Cheng had worked at Long County People's Hospital for five years and certainly could understand Chen Song's meaning, "Teacher Chen, regarding tendon suturing, it's actually considered a 'newly researched' treatment at Long County level, isn't it?"
At county hospitals and township hospitals, don't even think about the first surgery in the city, province, or country—that's simply impossible.
Doctors in county hospitals being able to keep up with the technical pace of city-level hospitals is enough to 'stand tall' locally.
Scientific research isn't baseless; it is about innovation, and the premise of innovation is understanding 'the old,' improving 'the classics,' having sufficient understanding of 'the classics.'
Hua Country's current focus on technology sinking essentially means this.
The main task of doctors in city-level hospitals is to learn some of the techniques from provincial hospitals and bring them to city-level hospitals, and the lifelong task of county hospital doctors is to bring back technologies from city-level and some provincial hospitals, acting as porters.
Doing it well is not easy; at least based on the current medical framework, few county hospital specialties can fulfill the 'national policy'!
"Ultimately, medicine is ruled by technique, locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally, it's the same."
"However, if it's technology ruling nationally or internationally, there's 'conceptual collision,' which isn't something you need to understand. For now, you just need to do a good job transporting the technology."
"Don't think too far ahead, for now, steadily work on tendon suturing."
"If you do a good job with tendon suturing, you might then consider learning other diseases or continuing to refine them, which are all feasible. By then, you'll have a path forward." Chen Song's advice was still very detailed and specific.
Lu Cheng wasn't unaware of the techniques in hand surgery, just that the entry barrier for these techniques was too high.
"Teacher Chen, do you mean I should specialize in hand surgery?" Lu Cheng sincerely sought advice.
Chen Song shook his head, "Not necessarily, it depends on how you plan your life ahead, whether to become a specialist doctor or a dedicated emergency department doctor; if it's the latter, doing tendon suturing sufficiently for emergencies is enough."
"If it's a specialist doctor, then you need to learn things like replantation of severed fingers, or higher-level techniques in hand surgery, orthopedics, etc."
"Of course, on your county hospital level, perfecting replantation of severed fingers would take many years of accumulation."
"As for your Long County in Xiangzhou People's Hospital, hand surgery focuses on tendon and vascular transfer surgery, while Xiangya Second Hospital focuses on nerve transfer, functional reconstruction, and surgical technique improvement."
"Naturally, for bone specialty hospitals like Huashan Hospital, Jishuitan, they pursue the highest achievement in hand surgery with functional reconstruction and fracture correction, specializing in the development and improvement of such surgeries."
Chen Song specifically explained the framework of medicine to Lu Cheng.
Lu Cheng felt internally somewhat fired up, but upon careful listening, thought these things were too far away…
July was nearing midsummer, yet it wasn't truly hot, as he walked home after drinking three bottles of beer.
Familiar 'Chaoyang Road,' familiar 'Xinhua Bookstore,' familiar lanterns, familiar corners, familiar 'street lights.'
But Lu Cheng felt somewhat unfamiliar with himself.
After just having a conversation with Professor Chen Song, he had a new definition in his heart for the term 'good doctor.'
As a doctor, curing diseases, saving lives, rescuing from death and disaster is the primary task.
However, achieving these words seems insufficient at any level, or sufficient at any level…
As Lu Cheng pushed open the door, his mother and father were counting scattered change.
The ones, the fifty cents, the five, ten, twenty denominations… each bundled together and already cleaned up…
Tian Hui happily said, "After expenses, we have seven thousand three hundred sixty-three yuan and fifty cents. We can save seven thousand again."
Tian Hui and Lu Nanjia earned scattered money daily that pays for living expenses, and the family doesn't need much cash.
"Mom, do you need money? I still have over two hundred thousand here…" Lu Cheng said seriously.
Lu Cheng had been working for nearly five years, living at home with expenses covered by his parents. Previously he received seven thousand a month, and as an attending physician, eight thousand, accumulating quite a savings.
Lu Cheng doesn't smoke or chew betel nut, spending over twenty thousand annually, honestly not a frugal amount.
"You're saving your money to find a wife; we haven't taken any of your money, you just haven't brought a girlfriend home, right?" Tian Hui laughed, holding a wad of five yuan notes, slapping them against her palm.
Her mood improved as she had been thinking about having grandchildren.
"The department heads are arranging a blind date for me, this month."
"I'm going to shower…" Lu Cheng quickly escaped to his room.
Lu Nanjia and Tian Hui didn't press Lu Cheng on this, finding a wife can't be forced forcibly to success.
A silent night.
The next day, when Lu Cheng returned to his shift, he could sense other senior brothers and nurse sisters being evidently more polite to him…