Chapter 575: Revival of the Third Hospital: A New Leader Takes Charge

“Boss, you got promoted! Don’t tell me you’re gonna be stingy and just treat us to a single meal?” Ma Xiaolan teased. She’d grown close to Zhou Can over time and wasn’t afraid to joke around with him during their downtime.

“Things have been hectic these past couple of days. There’s a tricky case in Pediatrics that’s still unresolved and Cardiothoracic Surgery has major operations lined up every day. Once I get through this busy patch, I’ll treat everyone to a big celebratory dinner after work one evening. My promotion wouldn’t have happened without your support and hard work.”

Zhou Can felt genuine gratitude toward his team of two doctors and three nurses.

Especially Qiao Yu. Over the years, she’d worked tirelessly without complaint, always by his side as his instrument nurse.

If they were to name a ‘founding hero’ of their team, she’d be the first on the list.

When Zhou Can first returned to the Emergency Department, he had nothing to his name. Together with Qiao Yu and an intern, Luo Shishen, they threw themselves into countless surgeries, slowly carving out their place.

It was like starting a business from scratch. Once the company grew, there wasn’t much to worry about anymore.

The sweetest memories often came from those early days of struggle, when resources were scarce and every step demanded extra effort.

On the third day, Dr. Fu Chachun returned to work.

He was scheduled for the night shift.

The Emergency Department Operating Room ran on a three-shift system. Day shifts were the best but busiest. Evening shifts were next, while night shifts were less hectic but threw off everyone’s sleep schedule. Most people dreaded them.

Dr. Fu Chachun was clever. After the recent fiasco that left him humiliated, taking a day off and returning for a night shift was a smart move. It gave him a chance to gauge the situation with fewer staff around.

By the time Zhou Can arrived at the department, he overheard Qiao Yu and the others talking about how Dr. Fu Chachun had treated all the nurses to milk tea.

This old man, Fu Chachun, had some tricks up his sleeve after all.

It seemed the harsh lesson from society had taught him a thing or two. He’d tucked away his sense of superiority and stopped acting like a veteran entitled to special treatment.

In any department, the old-timers were often the hardest to manage.

They thought their seniority gave them a free pass, frequently ignoring orders. It was especially tough for younger leaders trying to direct them.

As for Dr. Fu Chachun buying milk tea for the nurses to mend ties with them, Zhou Can didn’t pay it much mind.

His plate was too full. Every day brought an endless stream of tasks, knowledge to absorb, and surgical skills to hone.

One thing worth noting was that he no longer practiced surgical techniques like Steady Scalpel or Fast Scalpel at home. Instead, he sharpened his skills directly during patient surgeries.

Aside from a few techniques in Orthopedics, all his other surgical skills had reached level six. Practicing suturing on pigskin or vascular anastomosis on white mice was pointless now.

Not only was it inefficient, but it also offered little help in advancing his expertise.

What truly boosted his medical prowess were complex cases and high-difficulty surgeries.

Every major operation came with its own set of challenges.

Take tricuspid valve regurgitation repair surgeries, for instance. Each patient’s condition could vary drastically.

Everyone knew the main causes of tricuspid regurgitation were right ventricle enlargement or issues with the valve itself.

The tricuspid valve sat between the right atrium and right ventricle, functioning like a door that opened and closed automatically. Normally, blood flowed in one direction only. But if the right ventricle enlarged, the door wouldn’t close properly, leading to blood backflow.

That was the basic pathology.

Yet the reasons behind tricuspid regurgitation were numerous. For example, increased pressure in the right ventricle during contraction could persist, causing the ventricle’s muscle to thicken and expand.

Likewise, elevated pulmonary artery pressure could also lead to right ventricle enlargement.

So even with tricuspid regurgitation surgeries, no two cases were ever quite the same.

If a surgeon rigidly replaced the tricuspid valve with a one-size-fits-all approach, the initial results might look fine. But over time, regurgitation could recur.

With every major surgery, Zhou Can gained fresh insights and made progress.

This was the right way to rapidly improve his medical skills.

Time flew by in a blur. Before he knew it, half a year had passed.

A lot had happened in those six months.

Zhou Can successfully became a teaching assistant at Tuyu Medical College. Achieving this with just a bachelor’s degree in today’s fiercely competitive environment made him a bit of an outlier.

Many young postgraduates were still waiting in line for such a position.

On top of that, he aced both the postgraduate entrance exam retest and interview.

Now, he was pursuing a master’s degree, specializing in Orthopedics.

At first, he thought focusing on Orthopedics strayed from his main career path. But after studying under his mentor for a while, he could sum up his feelings in two words: absolutely worth it.

Diving deep into orthopedic knowledge, especially in bone trauma and joint research, proved incredibly rewarding.

Before studying, he’d assumed Orthopedics was nothing special.

He even thought orthopedic treatment was mostly physical labor, with technical aspects that paled in comparison to other surgical fields.

It seemed like it was just about applying plaster, drilling holes in bones, or attaching steel plates.

Or maybe nailing a couple of rivets to fix a fractured bone in place.

But learning under his mentor opened his eyes to how profound orthopedic knowledge truly was.

For instance, the source of the body’s blood wasn’t the heart but the bone marrow.

Likewise, the body’s pluripotent cells also originated from bone marrow.

Bones didn’t just provide structural support; they held multiple vital roles. Through centuries of human evolution, every bone had developed a specific purpose.

This postgraduate journey also made him realize why major hospitals placed such heavy emphasis on academic credentials, often hiring based solely on degrees.

The knowledge gap between undergraduate and postgraduate levels was indeed significant.

With his new roles as a teaching assistant, deputy team leader of the Emergency Department Operating Room, and an in-service postgraduate degree, Zhou Can’s status had clearly risen compared to before.

His influence and standing were on a whole new level.

Deputy Director Bai and Deputy Director Ye had promised to help him join the Quality Control Office, and there was already progress on that front.

If all went well, he’d likely get his wish soon.

Unknowingly, he was starting to resemble those renowned doctors, accumulating titles and positions one after another.

Of course, he was just at the starting line. There was still plenty of room to grow.

He’d need to double his efforts to get there.

Compared to true renowned doctors, the gap was still vast.

At the moment, he wasn’t a genuine renowned doctor yet. Previously, he’d only been part of the reserve talent pool for such a title.

Now, he was stepping into the ranks of prospective renowned doctors.

Another matter worth mentioning concerned Director Zhang Qilian of the Third Hospital. After two surgeries, his life was saved, but severe aftereffects left him unable to work or live normally.

Domestic medical expertise was limited, and there was no effective way to address these aftereffects yet.

The only option was a heart transplant.

However, his systemic arterial vascular disease was so severe that even a single heart surgery had been incredibly challenging and fraught with danger. A transplant carried an extremely high risk of death on the operating table.

No hospital dared to take that chance.

Not long after being discharged, Director Zhang Qilian was forced to retire early due to illness.

The Third Hospital, under his leadership, had become a mess teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Retiring due to illness might have been a relief for him, but it left a disaster for his successor.

The person who took over as director was none other than Zhang Mingxing, who had been by Zhang Qilian’s side during his hospitalization, constantly visiting and tending to him.

Already a vice-director and one of Zhang Qilian’s most trusted aides, it made sense for Zhang Mingxing to inherit the director’s position.

Hospitals in the ‘Third’ series, due to historical reasons, had more rigid management and appointment systems compared to other major hospitals.

Under normal retirement circumstances, the outgoing director had the right to recommend a successor.

And higher authorities usually gave serious consideration to the previous director’s recommendation.

Retirement due to illness was still considered normal retirement.

However, if a director was investigated for corruption or bribery, that fell outside normal retirement, stripping them of recommendation rights.

In such cases, the successor would either be elected internally or parachuted in from outside.

After Zhang Mingxing took over the Third Hospital, he made a bold move by merging it with the First Hospital, willingly turning it into a branch campus of the latter.

When the news first broke, no one could believe it.

Only after the official announcement did everyone accept it as reality.

Zhou Can couldn’t help but admire Zhang Mingxing’s boldness and strategic vision.

The Third Hospital had already been on the verge of collapse. No matter how hard Zhang Mingxing worked to turn things around, revival would have been tough. And he wouldn’t have had much time to do it.

Under these circumstances, choosing to be ‘absorbed’ by the First Hospital was a brilliant decision.

With financial backing from the First Hospital, the construction of the new surgical complex could continue. The long-overdue employee salaries at the Third Hospital could finally be paid.

Shortly after Zhang Mingxing took office, the hospital staff received their back pay. Naturally, they were thrilled, and support for him soared.

Everyone praised his wisdom.

After reviving the Third Hospital in this unique way, Zhang Mingxing pushed forward with an ‘import’ development strategy.

His first act wasn’t to send the Japanese Heart Surgeon packing with a plane ticket. Instead, he gave the man a raise.

Don’t think Zhang Mingxing was unaware that this Japanese Heart Surgeon was only half-competent.

He knew full well, clear as day.

Yet he made this choice to reinforce the ‘import’ strategy. To attract truly high-caliber foreign talent, he needed to use this Japanese Heart Surgeon as a billboard.

Other Japanese medical experts would see this and think, ‘Wow, even a half-baked expert like him gets such a high salary and great treatment. If someone with real skills like us went there, wouldn’t the benefits be even better?’

This was Zhang Mingxing’s brilliance.

In terms of tactics and vision, he was leagues ahead of his predecessor, Zhang Qilian.

It was an interesting phenomenon. Often, people who seemed to only know how to flatter and curry favor—especially those who climbed to high positions through such means—weren’t lacking in real ability. They were simply smart enough to hide it.

Only by doing so could they make their leaders appear greater.

Take the infamous corrupt official He Kun from history, for example. In the public’s mind, he was just a sycophant with no real talent.

In reality, his abilities far surpassed many so-called honest officials.

He accomplished a great deal for the Qing Dynasty.

As the Third Hospital continued down the path of bringing in foreign experts and importing advanced medical equipment, its potential couldn’t be underestimated. How far it would go remained to be seen.

Give it a year or two, and the results would start to show.

Much like Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital in its early days, it had risen from the ashes. Now, it was gaining momentum, closing in on top provincial hospitals like Tuyu and Provincial People’s Hospital.

Turning back to Zhou Can’s Emergency Department, its expansion was still progressing rapidly.

Zhou Can himself had officially gone from a regular grunt to half a leader in the department. Important departmental leadership meetings now included him.

So far, the Emergency Department Operating Room had only two leaders: Dr. Xu and Zhou Can.

The mentor and disciple duo essentially managed all affairs, big and small, in the operating room.

With his position as deputy team leader, Zhou Can now had authority over others in the operating room, including attending physicians like Dr. Fu Chachun, Dr. Cui, and Tang Wangnian, as well as the nurses.

Yet he adopted Dr. Xu’s management style.

Most of the time, he didn’t interfere. Only when other doctors faced high-difficulty cases, safety risks, or instances of negligence did he step in.

His main focus was leading the department’s surgeons and nurses to continuously improve their skills, ensuring better service for patients.

Recently, while making rounds, Zhou Can overheard patients and their families grumbling. They said if they’d known Tuyu’s treatment standards weren’t as good as rumored, they would’ve just had surgery at their local hospital.

The speaker might not have meant much by it, but the listener took it to heart.

This offhand complaint instantly put Zhou Can on high alert.

Perhaps it was time to tighten up the quality control in the Emergency Department Operating Room.

Due to Zhou Can’s personal development needs, he’d stopped performing routine level one and two surgeries, delegating them to others. This had created a problem.

The surgical team in the Emergency Department was a mixed bag. Skill levels varied widely, as did work attitudes. The quality of surgeries performed by different team members ranged from excellent to subpar.

At first, the differences weren’t noticeable.

But after eight or nine months, the issues started to surface.

The surgical volume in the Emergency Department hadn’t dropped. After all, it handled the largest patient flow in Tuyu Hospital.

Compared to any other department’s outpatient numbers, the Emergency Department always had the most patients.

Moreover, patients coming to the Emergency Department often had acute conditions.

Such patients were more likely to require surgery.

The doctors on duty in the Emergency Department would naturally try to keep some of these patients for their own department to handle.

This tied directly to the department’s revenue and, by extension, the income of every doctor and nurse. No one needed to be told what to do; they already knew.