Chapter 449: When Departments Collide

“Director Lou is here!”

Director Fang spotted Director Lou as soon as she walked in and quickly greeted her.

She’d held the position of head of the Administration Office for years without a single shake—her capability spoke for itself.

The office director was pretty much the hospital director’s right hand, a cabinet minister in all but name.

From major orders to the tiniest details, anything the director wanted or decided almost always ended up on the office director’s plate. Coordination between every department? Most of the time, the office took the lead.

Which means it’s time to talk about the hospital assistant.

For starters, hospital assistants rank high—they’re also considered senior leadership. But if you think of them as just the director’s secretary, you’d be dead wrong.

Many times, the assistant can stand in for the director, wielding all their authority.

Anyone who knows the score never calls them ‘assistant director so-and-so.’ It’s just ‘Director so-and-so.’

They just leave off the ‘assistant’ part naturally.

It’s like how rookie doctors and nurses like to call everyone ‘mentor.’

In reality, if you call a Chief Physician ‘mentor,’ he might not like it much. ‘Director so-and-so’ is the safest bet.

“What can I say—our department made a mess of things and ended up troubling you and Section Chief Yin so late into the night.” Director Lou’s move to open with an admission of fault was deliberate, and honestly, pretty smart.

Grown-ups never really argue over who wins or loses in a battle of words. What always matters is the actual benefits in hand.

“Oh, Director Tang! You’re here too?”

Director Fang jumped up as soon as she spotted Dr. Tang Fei. Her warmth for Director Lou seemed polite enough, but it was nothing compared to how she greeted Dr. Tang Fei.

No matter what, strength is the bedrock that lets adults speak with confidence.

Right now, Director Lou was here as the department head of Emergency, so the strength of the Emergency Department directly set her status.

A department’s strength is measured by its earning power. These days, that’s judged by several factors—like the main doctors’ CMI scores. The higher the score, the more capable the doctors are at diagnosing tough cases. Naturally, well-known doctors attract more patients, so the outpatient numbers are never low.

As long as you get enough patients, revenue will follow.

On top of that, CMI numbers also affect how much insurance prepayment hospitals receive from their superiors.

That’s another key revenue metric.

Without insurance support, major hospitals wouldn’t last three months before collapsing.

Over 70% of patients use insurance when they’re hospitalized—it’s the main engine driving hospital revenue.

Strength goes beyond that: departments are also measured by the number of doctors with SCI papers, their impact factor, and overall research achievements. In medical schools like Tuyu, they also count teaching accomplishments.

In short, every metric used to measure department strength is hard as hell to hit.

Pediatrics beats Emergency in almost every area: revenue, renowned doctors, young talent, research successes, and publications.

That’s why Director Fang was all smiles when Dr. Tang Fei walked in.

If it were Director Xie from Surgery or Director Tan from Internal Medicine, Fang’s attitude would probably dial up even more.

Directors Xie, Tan, and Zhang all hold positions that are just a notch below the vice director.

“I happened to have something I wanted to discuss with the hospital, so I tagged along.”

Dr. Tang Fei didn’t say what, exactly.

“No worries—take your time and talk. I’ll just settle some paperwork for the department.” She pulled over a chair and sat down on her own.

Director Fang personally brewed her some tea, and while she was at it also poured cups for Director Lou, Deputy Director Han, and Zhou Can.

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“Sit tight for a minute, I’ll go get the hospital assistant and Section Chief Xin.”

When you got down to it, the Emergency Department followed every step in the treatment process. Even with all the family’s fuss, in the end, they listened to police mediation and sent the body off for cremation.

And yet, somehow it had spun into an internal problem.

Departments with clashing interests. How to sort it out wasn’t up to Director Fang alone.

Take the Security Department: the person really in charge was the hospital assistant.

Among the assistant’s many jobs is assisting the director with campus security, teaching, lab safety, cleaning, and general administration. Which puts Security firmly under their command.

At the same time, Security is a subdivision of General Services.

So General Services also calls the shots in Security.

All those tangled interests are like roots of an old tree, twisted every which way.

But every hospital operates a bit differently.

At Tuyu, for example, all the big or small matters in Security pretty much go through the assistant.

There’s even word around that the vice director in charge of logistics is actually the assistant’s uncle, only three years his senior.

So neither owes their rank to the other—they both climbed up on their own merits.

At most, the logistics vice director gave a helpful push when the assistant first joined the hospital. Who really helped whom, though, only they’d know.

Either way, even something as minor as the Security Department is tangled up with both a vice director and the hospital assistant behind it. That’s a serious power base.

So even if the security staff underperforms, no one’s daring to suggest any reforms.

Unless something major goes wrong, even Director Zhu probably wouldn’t want to touch that department.

Not long after, Section Chief Xin Wanshan from Medical Affairs arrived first.

After a round of small talk, of course.

He exchanged greetings with Directors Fang, Lou, and Tang, then turned his gaze to Zhou Can.

“Dr. Zhou, I have to give you some advice. Next time, don’t talk back to Section Chief Yin in front of everyone. Even if we drop the ball sometimes and clinical staff feel wronged, you can always come to us at Medical Affairs after the fact and talk it over. See, now you’ve put Section Chief Yin in a tough spot.”

It was pretty clear that Xin Wanshan still treated Zhou Can warmly.

On the surface he was admonishing Zhou Can, but he was really saving face for Vice Section Chief Yin.

So most likely, Zhou Can’s public confrontation with her would just be brushed aside.

If Xin Wanshan came in and ignored it or looked sullen, that’s when things would’ve really blown up.

“You’re right, I was too young and impulsive. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Zhou Can knew how to handle the situation. He kept his head down, admitted fault, and took responsibility.

Even if he had reason on his side, challenging a superior is taboo in any organization.

If everyone saw him as arrogant, it would ruin his career and hold him back from promotions.

“Section Chief Yin, in front of Section Chief Xin and Director Fang, I want to apologize. I was too angry at the time and lost my cool. I shouldn’t have contradicted you. I’m sorry—please forgive me.”

Zhou Can faced Vice Section Chief Yin and apologized.

But Vice Section Chief Yin clearly wasn’t ready to let it slide. She turned away in silence.

“Section Chief Yin, let’s just call it a day! Zhou Can’s young and hot-blooded—a little impulsive now and then. I looked into the incident and even saw some video, and honestly, we at Medical Affairs didn’t handle it perfectly.”

Xin Wanshan stepped in as the peacemaker.

He was also subtly nudging Vice Section Chief Yin to ease up.

The truth was, not all department heads and deputies are on the same side. Sometimes, the number one kept a wary eye on the number two, while the number two aimed to take their place. That’s a plain old power struggle.

When dealing with internal matters, usually what the boss says goes, and the deputy follows orders whether they want to or not.

“From what I’ve heard, those family members caused chaos in Emergency for over an hour. They seriously disrupted the department’s work—that’s just way over the line.”

Director Fang’s words were gentle and polite.

She didn’t outright blame Vice Section Chief Yin, just pointed out how outrageous the family’s behavior was and how long they’d dragged it out.

“Zhou Can’s been under my wing since he started out, and he’s always been pretty well-mannered. I doubt he meant any harm by calling out Section Chief Yin—he just reacted to the situation. How about letting it go? After all, frontline clinical staff have it rough, and we in administration should try to understand their struggles.”

Director Fang could see Vice Section Chief Yin was still sulking, so she laid it on even thicker.

If Vice Section Chief Yin really wouldn’t let it go and insisted on pursuing Zhou Can all the way—

Maybe even gunning to have him fired—

Things might end up requiring intervention from the vice director or even Director Zhu himself.

If it came to that, she’d get nothing out of it.

After all, Director Fang of Admin represented Director Zhu’s position—she’d never take a side lightly.

Once she weighed in, everyone understood it as Director Zhu’s stance.

“I just couldn’t stand how cocky he was at the time—like his boss didn’t even matter. If everyone acted like him, how could we ever manage clinical staff in Medical Affairs? But since Section Chief Xin and Director Fang spoke up for him, I’ll let it go this time.”

Vice Section Chief Yin could see the whole room was against her, so she realized there was nothing to gain from dragging it out.

It wasn’t just her pride on the line—her job as vice section chief could also be at risk.

And plenty of people had their eyes on that position.

“Great! Section Chief Yin really shows true leadership—very gracious.”

Director Fang praised her at just the right moment.

Truth is, this was all about Vice Section Chief Yin losing face when Zhou Can openly embarrassed her.

If Zhou Can had just been a low-level resident, she would’ve crushed him long ago.

But his connections were way above her pay grade—she couldn’t touch him.

Complaining to Xin Wanshan accomplished nothing.

Talking to Director Fang only earned more comforting words. In the end, their stance was the same: forgive Zhou Can and move on.

After all this, Vice Section Chief Yin surely saw Zhou Can’s real strength and position much more clearly.

Good thing she knew when to cut her losses.

If she’d really pushed for disciplinary action, every clinical bigwig would have kicked up a storm. Even when Zhou Can was just a new trainee, he’d forced the vice director to back down.

Now? Who knows how influential he’s become.

Moments like this bring out people’s true nature.

Stepping out in support of Zhou Can meant risking conflict with top hospital brass.

“Ahem!”

A tall figure walked into the office.

He looked like he was in his forties, but the real Hospital Assistant Pang had to be at least fifty.

Some leaders live comfortable lives, without a worry or much work stress,

or maybe they’re just good under pressure.

So they don’t show their age.

“Director Pang, sorry to call you in so late. Directors Lou and Han from Emergency, and Dr. Zhou Can, are all here.”

With the introductions done, Director Fang waited for Assistant Pang to start the real discussion.

“I hear Emergency’s got complaints about the hospital’s security staff.” Assistant Pang’s presence was undeniable. His sharp gaze swept across the three Emergency Department doctors, leaving them feeling totally intimidated.

“Assistant Pang, Director Fang, take a look at these statistics. Here’s our Emergency Department’s record of medical disputes for the past six months. We didn’t even count the small stuff—just cursing doesn’t make the list. But the numbers are shocking. When I saw them, I was genuinely horrified.”

Director Lou might seem passive or unassuming on most days,

but when it mattered, Zhou Can never saw him back down.

Same with Deputy Director Han. He looked like he was just along for the ride, barely mentioned by anyone, but his presence alone showed immense support for the Emergency Department.

With both the head and deputy head present, the department’s stance was as united as it gets.

Most departments had at least two deputies.

Emergency was a bit different.

Dr. Xu was actually a deputy director, but because he had a criminal record, the hospital didn’t dare give him the official title, just the real power.

Whether it was major departmental discussions, operating room business—even the day-to-day—the opinions of Dr. Xu carried enormous weight.

Those kinds of powers were far beyond what a regular attending physician would ever get.

“The medical climate these days really is tough.”

Once he’d skimmed the numbers, Assistant Pang offered a mild reaction.

“Sitting here in my office, I never realized how wild things can get in clinical departments.”

Director Fang echoed the sentiment, though her words were a bit warmer.

She had a little more empathy than Assistant Pang.

A lot of the time, if it didn’t affect them directly, leadership tended to keep their distance.

No matter how sharp the conflict between patients or families and medical staff got, those on the administrative side acted calm as could be. After all, nobody beat up Director Fang or Assistant Pang.

Now, if an angry family ever stormed in and attacked the people in Medical Affairs or the Administrative Office—

if someone ever broke Assistant Pang’s arm, say—

you can bet his attitude would change fast.

They’d be calling an all-hands meeting, boosting security, anything to stop attacks.

“We’ve got medical disputes in Pediatrics too—no better than Emergency. In fact, we have a nurse hospitalized with a concussion right now after being assaulted by a patient.”

Dr. Tang Fei seized the moment to speak out.

The looks Director Fang and Assistant Pang sent Dr. Tang Fei were surprised—even Pediatrics was siding with Emergency?