In the following days, Zhou Can almost participated in surgeries every day at the Cardiothoracic Surgery department under the leadership of Director Xue and Deputy Director Lu, with very few opportunities to take the lead. He was not even allowed to touch some of the higher-risk practical operations.
Compared to other departments, the chief physicians at the Cardiothoracic Surgery department were the most cautious group of surgeons Zhou Can had ever encountered.
Director Hu Kan would occasionally take him to perform surgeries.
About two or three times a week.
Assisting these chief physicians in surgeries, the tasks he mostly undertook were suturing, stitching up the skin, and closing the chest cavity.
It felt as if he had gone back to his intern days.
Zhou Can was not in a hurry, instead he carefully observed every step and skill of each surgery, learning valuable experiences in handling various crises.
After surgeries, he would make comprehensive summaries and promptly consult with Director Xue or Deputy Director Lu if there were any uncertainties.
During these days, although he had not been able to exercise on difficult surgeries, his understanding and knowledge regarding various diseases in Cardiothoracic Surgery and different surgical procedures and steps had made rapid progress.
This was a form of accumulation, as well as a form of sedimentation.
Perhaps influenced by the 'steady' style of the Cardiothoracic surgeons, Zhou Can felt that when he performed surgeries, there seemed to be a hint of 'steadiness' as well.
One morning while doing ward rounds, he received a call from the hospital's personnel department, informing him that they had applied for the Medical Practitioner Certificate practical skills examination on his behalf. The exam was scheduled for the 14th of this month.
That was less than half a month away.
The 'aunties' in the personnel department really held him in high esteem.
Such an important exam should have been notified one or two months in advance!
Fortunately, Zhou Can's surgical skills were not below Level 3, so as long as he was not extremely unlucky, he was confident in passing the exam.
After Director Xue found out that he was about to take the Medical Practitioner Certificate practical skills examination, this beautiful-hearted team leader sister gave him some special guidance.
She focused on helping him improve diagnostics like cardiopulmonary auscultation, imaging X-rays, CT, ultrasound examinations, and electrocardiogram diagnosis, among others.
She told Zhou Can that the content related to Cardiothoracic was a major part of the Medical Practitioner Certificate practical skills examination.
Apart from cardiopulmonary auscultation and imaging diagnostics, it also included history taking, case analysis. As for medical ethics, physical examination, and basic surgical operations, for Zhou Can, was simply a giveaway.
Every day during ward rounds, he would perform a physical examination on some key patients, which also allowed Zhou Can to accumulate a wealth of experience in physical examinations.
Basic surgical operations were even less worth mentioning.
He estimated that he could outperform all the candidates in the entire examination area.
Even a chief physician with over a decade of experience might not be able to compete with him.
Zhou Can realized that the hospital had arranged his standardized training department just right.
Just over a month into his Cardiothoracic Surgery training, he was about to take the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam.
The practical skills examination content heavily featured Cardiothoracic.
He couldn't have believed they didn't calculate the dates perfectly if he were killed for it.
The 14th arrived quickly.
In the past ten days or so, Zhou Can had been intensively enhancing his practical skills in cardiopulmonary auscultation, imaging diagnostics, and electrocardiogram diagnostics, with the help of Director Xue.
Heading for the exam, he appeared very calm.
With solid knowledge under his belt and capabilities in his hands, he could handle any kind of exam question, naturally, there was no panic.
Once the Medical Practitioner Certificate practical skills examination was over, Zhou Can walked out of the exam room with a confident smile on his face.
The practical exam was divided into multiple stations.
The first station assessed clinical reasoning abilities.
It mainly included cardiopulmonary auscultation, imaging diagnostics, electrocardiogram diagnostics, medical ethics, history taking, and case analysis. Indeed, it was almost exactly as Director Xue had described.
Having done intensive study and practice in these areas before the exam, and possessing a solid foundation to begin with, Zhou Can easily passed the first station.
The second station tested physical examination, which were very simple exam tasks, and he breezed through that as well.
The last station tested basic operations.
This was Zhou Can's strong suit. He performed stunningly, quickly and excellently, nearly dropping the jaws of the examiners.
Perhaps they couldn't believe that a young man, who had just taken the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam, could have such an impressive level of surgical operation skill.
If any of the examiners' jaws really did drop, Zhou Can could even show off his Bone Setting Skill, helping them directly relocate their jaws with his technique.
After the exam, upon returning to the Cardiothoracic Surgery department at Tuya Hospital, his colleagues asked him how the exam went.
Zhou Can said with a smile, "Not bad."
With the targeted training from Director Xue, coupled with Zhou Can's own strength, it would be unreasonable if he didn't pass.
Two weeks later, the results came out.
Zhou Can was changing the dressing for a patient who had just undergone surgery in the ward when the personnel department called him.
"Dr. Zhou, congratulations, you have passed the practical skills examination for the Medical Practitioner Certificate! Please prepare for the comprehensive Medical Qualification Examination; the first trial should be in about a month and a half, around the 20th. The examination period will last for two days, so please arrange your work handover in advance."
Tuya had promised to assist him in obtaining his certification after Zhou Can ranked first in the standardized training recruitment exam, and the hospital was indeed keeping its word.
He didn't need to worry about any of the application procedures.
Everything had been arranged properly for him.
Regarding the comprehensive medical exam, some say it's difficult, others say it's easy.
Zhou Can was clear about his own theoretical knowledge; at most, it was above average.
During this period, he would probably have to set aside his medical practice to catch up on his basic knowledge.