(Thanks to my friends for their encouragement with monthly tickets.)
"How do you feel about today?" Liu Banxia gathered the interns together as they were about to end their shift.
"It was terrible, especially seeing the expressions on the patients’ relatives’ faces. I didn’t know how to inform them," Xu Yino confessed, lowering her head. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵
"What about the rest of you?" Liu Banxia asked again.
"Teacher Liu, how do you cope? How did you feel the first time you had to tell a patient’s family that their loved one had passed away? How did you adapt?" Huang Bo asked.
"Me? I didn’t feel much at first, because I thought it was just the norm. Birth, aging, sickness, death—no one can escape this cycle," Liu Banxia said, smiling.
"I suppose I was lucky. The first deceased patient I encountered was 76 years old. This was four months into my residency at the Second Hospital. He had fallen at home and was already deceased upon arrival at the emergency department."
"I’ve seen several deaths since then, for various reasons. But the case that left the deepest impression on me was a pregnant patient Doctor Liang and I treated. That instance almost made me give up practicing medicine."
"In my experience, one never really gets used to things like these. Once you see a patient, you naturally start to care. And when they pass away, it affects your mood."
"Being a doctor isn’t easy. The money we earn is hard-earned ’conscience money.’ When we lose a patient, all we can do is try to minimize the impact."
"Dr. Shi’s most unforgettable patient was one who died from appendicitis with complications of peritonitis and sepsis. This is why he moved from anorectal surgery to general surgery."
"Everyone’s experience is different; I won’t demand any exceptional performance from you. All I ask is that you quickly gather your emotions and be prepared to see the next patient."
"Once we move to the new building, our daily patient load will be very high, and fatalities will also account for a large proportion."
"We might discharge one patient only to immediately receive another who needs emergency resuscitation. Adjusting your mindset is crucial. Experience and training are essential, but that doesn’t mean you should become hardened and ignore your feelings."
"Alright, that’s about all I can say. Those who are off can rest, and those on duty, come and have dinner with me. We’re moving in a few days, so we need to hold down the fort for our last shifts in this emergency department."
"Teacher Liu, aren’t you supposed to comfort and encourage me?" Xu Yino complained, pulling a face.
"You’re all adults. Would my comforting and encouraging you make any difference? In the future, when you find a boyfriend, I can help you size him up. As for emotional growth, that’s something you have to handle on your own," Liu Banxia answered, laughing.
Listening to Liu Banxia, Xu Yino didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. That was Teacher Liu for you—always lightening serious moments, sometimes making them seem not serious at all. Yet, she had to admit that sometimes Teacher Liu’s seemingly flippant remarks actually touched upon very serious truths.
How could one possibly get used to dealing with life and death? Especially concerning patients who need emergency treatment. These experiences might fade over time, but they would certainly not be forgotten in the short term.
Just as they headed to the cafeteria, Liu Banxia’s phone rang.
"Director, what’s the matter?" Liu Banxia asked quickly after answering the call.
"Come over to the Chief Director’s office." With that, Zhou Shuwen hung up the phone.
"You guys go and eat. The higher-ups want to see me, probably about the move," Liu Banxia dropped this line before running to the main building.
The only thing he could think of was the forthcoming move. Normally, Zhou Shuwen should have informed him earlier, but Zhou Shuwen had been too busy with his surgeries, which were scheduled back-to-back.
He jogged all the way to the Chief Director’s office, only to find Chen Zhenxing, Li Mingwu, Zhou Zhiyong, Zhou Shuwen, and Assistant Sun Changhe were all present.
These were more or less Chen Zhenxing’s people. Forming cliques was frowned upon, but it was an unavoidable part of real life.
"Hello, leaders," Liu Banxia said, the only appropriate opening he could think of. After that, he stood respectfully to the side.
"Take a seat. Let’s hear your report on the recent work in the emergency department," Chen Zhenxing said, smiling and nodding.
"The emergency department is functioning well. With the addition of general surgeons and collaboration from other departments, our patient reception capacity has significantly increased. What we’re most looking forward to now is moving so we won’t have to run back and forth for X-rays anymore," Liu Banxia quickly reported.
"Shuwen, did you forget to inform him?" Chen Zhenxing asked Zhou Shuwen, surprised.
"I forgot," Zhou Shuwen replied calmly, but anyone could see that he definitely had not forgotten.
This was his own protégé (Zhou Shuwen), and Liu Banxia was Zhou Shuwen’s protégé. It seemed everyone had their own way of mentoring. Given Liu Banxia’s personality, it appeared only Zhou Shuwen could truly handle him.
"It seems the hospital gossip hasn’t affected you. Your mindset is quite good," Zhou Zhiyong joined the conversation.
"Actually, it’s not that I’m unaffected; I do feel a bit wronged. After all, the quality of those IV tubes was truly terrible," Liu Banxia admitted, somewhat sheepishly.
"It might seem like we saved money, but the actual loss due to wear and tear during use is too high, so overall, it has actually increased costs. Also, it’s not just the IV tubes; the gloves seem to have gotten thinner too."
Chen Zhenxing nodded. "The operating room has reported similar issues. This is something I’ll definitely need to discuss with Vice Director Wang at a meeting. But do you really have no other feelings about it?"
"None, really none. Right now, I’m just focused on managing the Emergency Department’s work well. I haven’t even given Qi Wentai a hard time. So many people are watching the Emergency Department now; I dare not make a mistake."
"We’ll be moving to the new Emergency Center on the 9th," Zhou Shuwen revealed.
"There are four days left. After the relocation, your responsibilities will be clarified once more. Your role as chief resident won’t just be for General Surgery; it will be for the entire Emergency Center."
"I also heard from Shi Lei about your ideas. The medical popularization work is indeed worth doing well. Assistant Sun will coordinate with the various hospitals, so just follow his arrangements then."
Liu Banxia didn’t pay much attention to the other words; the 9th was a date that consumed all his thoughts.
The new building has so much convenient medical equipment, many bedside instruments; it will make the entire emergency treatment process much smoother. My only slight concern is communication with other departments. It’d be a lie to say there’s no pressure.
"Alright, there’s nothing more for you here. Go eat," Zhou Shuwen said with a smile.
Liu Banxia joyfully nodded, then ran out. He really did run, practically skipping and bouncing as he went.
"Sigh... he’s just a rascal. Managing him is really tough," Zhou Shuwen sighed.
"Otherwise, you could let me manage him now," Li Mingwu suggested. "You’ve let him grow freely for so long; surely he’s passed your test by now?"
"He’s doing okay. Although some surgeries were his first time performing them, his operational skills are up to par. And when it comes to directing emergency rescues, he remains quite composed," Zhou Shuwen replied.
"In balancing inter-departmental relationships, he can also consider the bigger picture. However, Old Wang’s ridiculous meddling—that can’t just be forgotten. He keeps raising issues about funding. It seems to me that he’s the one with the problems."
"Does he really think I don’t know? It’s because Banxia didn’t give him face last time, so he’s held a grudge. It was such a minor issue; was there really a need for such petty maneuvers?"
"You complain about him endlessly, but you’ve been protecting him all along," Li Mingwu said with a laugh.
"It seems our ’star-making’ plan is on track. We can invest more in Liu Banxia in the future. Although his current social connections are a bit complicated, it shouldn’t have a major impact."
"Exactly," Zhou Shuwen added. "It’s not like it involves any conflicts of interest between doctors and patients. Those people who wrote the complaint letter just have too much time on their hands and are looking for trouble."
"Stop complaining. Didn’t Old Du directly forward it to you? And he didn’t make a big deal out of it," Chen Zhenxing said.
"Our external recruitment hasn’t been very successful recently. With the Emergency Center opening ahead of schedule, we can’t relax our recruitment efforts. And then there are this year’s interns; we need to try to keep as many of them as possible."
"Chief Director, could we have Liu Banxia participate in teaching and training in the future?" Zhou Zhiyong asked. "Of course, not right now, but after the Emergency Center operations stabilize."
"Recent evaluations show that the interns in the Emergency Department are progressing very quickly. While it’s undeniable that Liu Banxia has taken them through many surgeries, his teaching methods are also worth discussing."
"He’s just a bit too audacious. I think he still needs to tone it down a bit," Zhou Shuwen stated.
Zhou Zhiyong felt quite helpless; Zhou Shuwen was his nephew, but at work, Zhou Shuwen never gave him any special consideration, always strictly adhering to official procedures.
"I’ve also asked Linlin," Chen Zhenxing said with a smile. "Although Liu Banxia’s teaching methods are very bold, they are worth trying out on a small scale."
"If Shuwen dares to let him perform a liver resection directly, then Liu Banxia dares to let interns participate more in surgeries. But his operations are indeed performed beautifully. Otherwise, Shuwen wouldn’t be so confident in leaving the Emergency Department for him to manage."
"Anyway, the operations of the Emergency Center are Shuwen’s responsibility; we’ll just look at the results. We should also respect Shuwen’s opinion on how to utilize Liu Banxia. At worst, we can just send more highly-rated interns over there later."
Zhou Shuwen felt quite frustrated. Although he also had high hopes for Liu Banxia, for now, he preferred Liu Banxia to focus on mastering his primary duties.
His current primary duties were managing the Emergency Department and improving his medical skills. Only by improving his management abilities could Liu Banxia’s impulsive nature be tempered.
Overall, Chen Zhenxing and his group had very high expectations for Liu Banxia. Or, one could say, Liu Banxia was their standard-bearer.
While Liu Banxia could gain many advantages from this association, those who disagreed with Chen Zhenxing’s faction would naturally attack him more.
What infuriated Zhou Shuwen the most was that after the discussion about the IV tube incident, an inexplicable anonymous complaint still surfaced. He really didn’t know what these people were thinking.