Chapter 224: The original meaning of the senior brothers was this Chapter 224: The original meaning of the senior brothers was this “`
“The treatment of similar diseases in two departments creates a strong competitive relationship. Just like in Ward Five where I work and Senior Yoo’s Ward Six of the Department of Internal Medicine, both focusing on gastroenterology. I interned in Ward Six, and after that, I was assigned to Ward Five, turning Senior Yoo and me into Romeo and Juliet. We can’t be too intimate in conversation when we meet, or our colleagues would suspect us of leaking department secrets. In the hospital, every time there’s competition for funding, bonuses, or awards for excellence, our two departments go head-to-head,” Kang Huizhu said.
Similarly, the competition between General Surgery Department One and Department Two is fierce.
“People in General Surgery Department Two are generally young and aggressive in their techniques, ready to embrace new challenges. They disdain some of the slow, traditional methods of General Surgery Department One, which makes them impatient with many things,” said Kang Huizhu, “Their group thinks, ‘What’s the point of having incompetent students around, wasting time?'”
It was clear now; they aimed to contrast sharply with the older professors of General Surgery Department One, who were protective of every student, competing over which mentoring style was better.
“Who will mentor the junior sister in General Surgery Department Two?” asked He Xiangyu, worried for the junior sister.
“The chief of General Surgery Department Two is our senior from the eight-year class, Shen Jinghui, who is in his forties this year and one of the youngest department chiefs in the hospital. He’s a pretty good person, but the chief director prefers to delegate, and he’s too busy to handle everything. In our hospital, most departments assign these tasks to young and promising middle-aged backbone doctors, believing they have a sharper eye for young people, and being closer in age to the medical students, they can understand them better,” Kang explained.
“So the senior can’t help the junior sister, can he?” asked He Xiangyu.
“Definitely not. As a chief, he needs to be fair and can’t give others the chance to complain,” Kang Huizhu replied.
“Senior Kang, doesn’t General Surgery Department Two also have a senior brother? He seems to be in his thirties. Does he handle mentoring?”
“I’ve inquired about it, and Senior Gao Zhaocheng is in charge of the consultation tasks for General Surgery Department Two this year; he probably won’t be managing mentoring,” Kang Huizhu shook her head.
Is this the end for junior sister then?
“At this point, take your time, don’t rush, and remember the first principle of being cautious in clinical work,” Kang Huizhu advised the junior sister on her internship guidelines, “I know you might have a good relationship with Doctor Jiang from General Surgery Department One. But you’re going to intern at General Surgery Department Two, not One. I’m telling you my story to remind you never to flirt with Doctor Jiang. No teacher likes to see their students being chummy with other teachers, especially not from a department that is a competitive rival. Otherwise, why would they bother mentoring you? Senior Cao and Senior Brother Huang already hinted at this during the emergency room episode.”
So that’s what the seniors meant. Looking back, Xie Wanying realized that Senior Cao and Senior Brother Huang were truly kind.
She firmly committed Senior Kang’s words to memory that night.
Two days late, on Wednesday, Xie Wanying officially started her clinical internship.
The morning was clear and bright; the wintry haze had lifted, and the air was much warmer, welcoming the breath of spring.
Xie Wanying chatted and walked with Senior Lau Jingyun towards the inpatient building until they parted ways at the staircase on the third floor.
General Surgery Second Division was on the sixth floor, quite a large area. Surprisingly, right across was the seemingly unrelated Orthopedics Third Department.
She arrived at the ward at seven o’clock, pushing open the door by herself, feeling anew the initial experience she had on her first day of orientation.
The hospital had moved past the holiday period. Nurses scurried along the corridors, ready to transport some patients to the operating theater for the first surgery of the day. There was no major ward round on Wednesday, and some surgeries started quite early.