If at Injection Skill Level 4 one could perfectly avoid important tissues like blood vessels and nerves, performing procedures like thoracocentesis and lumbar puncture precisely in one go, then now at Level 5, his skill level has improved by leaps and bounds, reaching a realm he never dared to imagine before.
Now, when he gives patients injections, he can precisely control the area of the body that absorbs the drug, and the direction the liquid flows within the muscles, all while minimizing bodily harm during injection.
During puncture procedures, he can pinpoint the target location with miraculous precision, without a hint of deviation.
Even performing some ultra-high-difficulty punctures, it's the same story.
Level 4 Injection Skill was sufficient for high-difficulty punctures, but seemed somewhat inadequate for ultra-high-difficulty ones.
At the same time, he also gained a new ability.
Before injection, he could vaguely predict the absorption effect of the drug on that part of the patient's body.
For example, if a patient needs to inject the same or multiple drugs every day for several days, or even a longer period, always injecting at one location could potentially cause serious damage to the muscle and local tissues.
Situations might arise where the drug effect cannot be absorbed.
Now, Zhou Can can tell at a glance whether a location has reached saturation with the drug by pressing the skin and observing the elasticity and color changes.
Or he can roughly assess the extent of damage to that part.
This way, he can switch the injection site in advance.
This ability has certain similarities to the principles of pharmacology in traditional Chinese medicine.
His Hemostasis Skill is only 37 Experience Points shy of advancing to Level 5.
When that happens, it will become his fourth skill at the Deputy Director level.
It's worth mentioning that during the crazy month and more of surgeries in General Surgery, he also made unexpected progress in two other medical skills.
Occasionally, he could use the two Orthopedics skills: bone setting and External Fracture Fixation Technique.
Many accidental injury patients in General Surgery often come with fractures.
This provided Zhou Can with an opportunity to put his skills to use.
For the very severe cases, General Surgery couldn't handle them alone, and had to ask for the joint operation with the Orthopedics surgeons. Their routine practice was usually to recommend patients for treatment in Orthopedics.
Zhou Can noticed an interesting phenomenon across different departments.
It's as if there was an unspoken agreement.
Whenever they encountered patients beyond their department's capabilities, they would promptly refer them elsewhere, rather than 'biting off more than they could chew'.
So much so that it's quite depressing for some patients to have registered across five or six departments without getting their illness cured.
Inside the large conference room of General Surgery, the doctors gathered together.
This included doctors from Digestive Surgery and Liver and Gallbladder Surgery as well.
"Hello, Director Jia! Sister Qiu Hong is here too!"
Seeing the familiar faces, Zhou Can quickly got up to greet them.
During his residency in Digestive Surgery, he received a lot of care from Director Jia and Qiu Hong.
Director Jia had been particularly generous with his knowledge.
Now, on seeing him, Zhou Can was understandably enthusiastic.
"Hehe, you look even more energetic than you did two months ago!" Director Jia said with a laugh.
"And even more handsome!"
Qiu Hong's bright eyes twinkled at him, her face full of smiles.
"Haha, thank you both for still talking me up after two months. You're making me feel shy!" Zhou Can laughed heartily.
"Director Jia really is a great teacher, a great leader. He used to mentor me! I can say, without him, I wouldn't have achieved even a little of what I have today."
Deputy Director Liu also came over.
He seemed to be about ten years younger than Director Jia.
Zhou Can had always thought Deputy Director Liu and Director Jia were good friends but was surprised to learn they had a mentor-student relationship.
Bigger hospitals are , many younger doctors have had mentor-student relationships with the hospital's veteran colleagues.
The medical profession is inherently one of hands-on teaching and generational mentorship.
Many veteran doctors teach a multitude of students throughout their lives.
Many of the older doctors, even if they are just rehired by the hospital and no longer hold administrative positions without any upward mobility, their revered status remains unaffected.
Who knows, several department heads or chief physicians might have been their students.
How could their status not be revered?
"Old Liu has always been thoughtful! Over the years you've remembered that teacher-student bond. I've noticed your recent two papers published in the domestic core journals, which are highly relevant to your specialization in thyroid and breast surgery. How is it going? You have a significant chance to make a last push for Full Professor before retirement, right?"
It seemed Director Jia had been keeping an eye on Old Liu's career development.
Old Liu's other conditions were basically not an issue; it was just the academic achievements that were lacking.
It appears that in the past year or so, he actually made some scholarly progress.
"Well, I have to thank you for your guidance on multiple occasions! If it weren't for your help, I wouldn't have been able to conduct that study on breast granulomas. Now I've won a provincial science and technology award, and the paper requirements have also been met; the rest is just up to fate."
Old Liu mentioned his pursuit of the Full Professor title, his face revealing an incredibly complex expression of hope.
He has struggled for most of his life, with half his body nearly in the grave, reaching for this one goal.
It has become his obsession.
For the evaluation of a medical Full Professor title, there is a strict requirement to receive a provincial or ministerial level of science and technology award of third place or above, or similar honors. This requirement is actually quite difficult.