My Medical Skills Give Me Experience Points

Chapter 1446 - 577: Nerve Problems? Current Medical Status_2

Zhou Can’s expression became serious. "You can open your eyes now, thank you for your cooperation." The surgery is now complete, and with the naked eye, it’s impossible to see anything from the outside. The patient’s two toes appear reddish, indicating that the blood circulation is smooth. It seems likely that there is a problem with the nerves in the toes. "Have you touched these two toes with your hand before?" "I have!" "When touching the toe on the right, did you have any sensation?" "Yes! When clipping nails or scratching an itch, the sensation was always clear. Dr. Zhou, is this toe having issues?" At this moment, she understood even if she was a bit slow that the third toe’s sensation wasn’t due to effective anesthesia. It was likely problematic. "It’s hard to say for now; there’s definitely a sensory issue with the third toe. Since we’ve just completed surgery, we can observe for another one to two days. I’ll arrange further checks then." Zhou Can didn’t draw conclusions immediately. Post-surgery, due to local hematoma, wound pain, and similar conditions, it’s really difficult to jump to conclusions. In medicine, definitive conclusions are seldom made; answers given to patients tend to be vague and flexible. Even knowing that a patient’s tumor is cancerous, doctors, even upon seeing biopsy results supporting a malignant tumor, would rarely say to patients that they definitely have a particular type of cancer. Instead, they try to be more conservative about it. Certainly, when it comes to malignant diseases like cancer or uremia, considering the patient’s ability to cope, they often don’t directly inform the patient of test results, but rather inform the family. "I’m undergoing this surgery because I want to better perform ballet in the future. If this toe indeed has issues, could it affect my dancing?" The girl showed some anxiety at this point. This is also a common reaction among most patients. Once they know there’s a post-surgery problem with their body, they often feel anxious and nervous. "Don’t worry too much yet, rest well. If there’s indeed a problem, we’re sure to find ways to help you resolve it." Zhou Can wasn’t too familiar with ballet, only knowing that this type of dance requires standing on tiptoes, pirouetting the body like a spinning top. The toes must endure high pressure and possess great flexibility. Patients undergoing this surgery want both aesthetic appeal and improved dancing ability. Each toe has its unique function. Theoretically, toes primarily function to stabilize the body. Through human evolution, great apes needed to run, jump barefoot through forests, mountainous terrains, and even climb trees to avoid predators in times of danger. This necessitated a certain gripping ability in the foot. Toes are used for grounding, gripping tree trunks, stabilizing the body. Modern humans have evolved to a higher level of civilization, generally wearing shoes most of the time, further degrading toe function. Even with the loss of a toe, rapid adaptation is possible that typically doesn’t greatly impact walking. However, for jumping or dancing, it certainly influences... After rounds, Zhou Can found quite a few minor issues. Patients not daring to let young doctors perform surgery or treat them has a certain rationale. Among the surgical patients admitted in Emergency, the proportion of Level 1 and Level 2 surgery inpatients is very low, accounting for only about thirty percent of the Emergency Surgery Department’s total inpatient numbers. Most Level 1 and Level 2 surgical patients are treated and leave shortly after. At most, they visit the clinic once a day to change their medication or return within a week to have stitches removed and for follow-up. Level 3 surgeries and complex Level 2 surgeries are basically handled personally by Zhou Can and Dr. Xu, and while the quality might not be perfect, it reaches a high standard. However, surgeries performed by others can be quite lacking. Particularly in the last two years, the Emergency Department continually brought in new surgical doctors, all young and inexperienced, with poor surgical skills. Under such circumstances, the expected quality of surgeries is predictable. The hospital is generally inclusive of newcomers during training. They allow doctors to make small mistakes in learning and evolution, as long as it doesn’t lead to mishaps, the hospital may overlook them. Demanding every new surgical doctor to achieve the high standards of Zhou Can and Dr. Xu isn’t realistic. "Who performed the surgery on the first bed?" Zhou Can asked Dr. Jiang Shuangshuang, who was managing the bed. Being an Endocrinology Department doctor who was transferred to Emergency when they established inpatient care, she was then assigned as a bed managing doctor. Currently, Emergency has over a hundred beds, and her standing here has noticeably increased. If no surprises occur, she should have a chance for advanced study this year, then return as an inpatient chief resident to prepare for advancing to attending level. Each resident doctor basically grows this way. When the department has fewer doctors, each one must rotate as the chief resident for a year. If there are more doctors, it’s not easily guaranteed though. The chief resident must reside at the hospital for an entire year, somewhat like being on call perpetually twenty-four hours a day without respite. For married individuals or young doctors in relationships, it’s very unfriendly. Aspiring to return home to engage in normal spousal life with a loved one is a luxury. Many doctors have a love-hate relationship with the chief resident position. Because after completing the chief resident role, various abilities, including ward management, are greatly enhanced and trained. Next comes advancing to attending level; as long as one passes the exam, it’s basically assured. Actually, the attending physician exam isn’t particularly difficult. Eighty percent or more doctors can pass it. If not successful initially, one can take the exam again the next year. Hence, the advancement key for attending physician lies not in the exam but in the training during the chief resident year. Those Ph.D. graduates, without being chief resident, advance to attending physician after a year of work, but clinically there will certainly be shortcomings. Possibly their management skills and ability to address sudden ailments and disease deterioration are inferior to those who rise step-by-step into attending physicians. Hospital leaders aren’t foolish either; when appointing crucial clinical management positions, they typically don’t directly appoint these untested Ph.D. graduates. Besides, their developmental paths are vastly different. Ph.D. holders focus more on research, fervently writing high-quality papers to aggressively pursue associate and full professorial positions. This somewhat detached-from-practicality talent advancement system leads many who studied eight years in specialized master’s or doctoral programs to be useless upon hospital employment. Numerous well-known doctors might not even be proficient in treating ailments. This is another peculiar phenomenon in the current medical realm. Relevant administrative departments have recognized this issue and are formulating more scientific and rational talent cultivation mechanisms. In the United States, medical student exams use actual people. Abroad, obtaining a medical practitioner license is extremely challenging, often requiring a wealthy family to cultivate doctors or nurses. U.S. doctors belong to the high-salary tier. Domestically, we currently don’t lack medical students, but we lack those capable of direct patient care. Tuya Hospital’s last recruitment in Emergency Department offered only two positions, and these were relatively weak technical ones, yet over three hundred graduate and master’s degree holders applied. Even a few Ph.D. holders also applied. It’s evident how intense the job market for medical students has become. Another peculiar phenomenon occurs where everyone fights to enter large hospitals, while smaller hospitals struggle to recruit even slightly higher-level talent. Institutions like Tuya, being top-tier hospitals, are extremely popular. When Zhou Can attended the general training recruitment, initially the hospital offered only ten to twelve spots, with thousands attending the recruitment. Over a few years, Tuya’s comprehensive strength and ranking have significantly improved, suggesting tougher recruitment competition in the future. Jiang Shuangshuang has always held great respect for Zhou Can. During rounds, if she’s on duty, she generally awaits Zhou Can’s arrival early. Accompanying Zhou Can on rounds offers ample learning opportunities. Zhou Can frequently provides her guidance that she greatly benefits from. "The first patient’s toe web surgery was performed by Dr. Fu. Do you need to review the surgical records?" Jiang Shuangshuang asked. "You can help me adjust the surgical records; I need to consult Dr. Fu to understand the situation because the patient’s toe likely has an issue."