Chapter 395: A Fresh Start in the Emergency Department

After Dr. Xu’s encouragement, Zhou Can felt a little more at ease.

Even his teacher, whose surgical skills were top-notch, had once lost a patient. Compared to that, Zhou Can’s missed diagnosis didn’t seem so devastating.

“Teacher, I know what I need to do from now on.”

After a moment of thought, a spark of determination returned to Zhou Can’s eyes. The confidence to face challenges head-on was back.

That renewed energy was soon evident in his work.

After making his rounds, he headed to the emergency operating room. He barely showed any signs of being affected.

He focused completely, giving his all to every operation.

Qiao Yu was an outstanding and truly capable surgical nurse. Taking on multiple responsibilities, she managed the roles of scrub nurse, Attending Nurse, and instrument nurse all by herself.

Not only did she have to quickly and accurately provide surgical instruments and supplies, she kept a close watch on the patient’s condition and made sure infusions and transfusions were steady. Sometimes, she even had to anticipate accidents and prep emergency measures, working alongside Zhou Can to save patients.

After surgeries, she meticulously counted gauze, pads, and suture needles, recording everything carefully.

Next, she’d familiarize herself with the upcoming patient’s condition and surgery plan, then prep the required instruments, medicines, and consumables.

Luo Shishen, the young guy on the team, had a laundry list of shortcomings and was a complete rookie. There wasn’t much work he could handle.

Sometimes he even messed things up and made the occasional mistake.

Amazingly, Zhou Can found that every time he wanted to criticize him, he managed to swallow his anger. He hadn’t yelled at him even once.

Under Zhou Can’s guidance, Luo Shishen was making real progress.

Little by little, he improved at tasks like retracting, disinfecting, and running the suction during surgery.

But reaching a truly competent level would still take plenty of training and experience.

That’s just how things were in the emergency department.

Honestly, just having an intern to lend a hand was already a blessing.

There simply wasn’t room to be picky.

One good thing about Luo Shishen: he always did whatever task he was assigned without cutting corners. He also had a decent sense of pride. For example, his old habit of blurting out questions had gotten much better since Zhou Can gave him a talk.

At least he’d stopped treating Zhou Can like a walking encyclopedia.

As for other matters—like thinking Qiao Yu defended him because she liked him, trying to get her number and cozy up to her, and then clamming up for a couple days after being rejected—that had blown over too.

He seemed to have come to terms with it, and now worked with Qiao Yu just fine without any trace of a bad mood.

In private, he never bothered her again either.

All in all, he showed a bit of backbone, enough to earn a little respect.

If he’d stuck to his bad habits and refused to change, Zhou Can would’ve already asked Dr. Xu to swap him out.

…

After work, Zhou Can took the initiative to call Director Tang Fei from Pediatrics.

“Director Tang, what ended up happening with that child?”

“After a patient explanation with the family and showing evidence, they decided not to pursue the issue. We had a bone specialist from Orthopedics put a cast on the child’s shoulder. We’ll check it again with an x-ray after a while, but it looks like there won’t be any major problems. Children heal fast— as long as he rests for about a month, the fracture line should close up completely.”

The crack in the boy’s right shoulder socket was definitely from falling off the car.

The area was so well hidden, plus with the dislocation on the first scan, no one expected there’d be a fracture there at all.

Zhou Can bore some responsibility, but it hardly counted as a serious mistake.

That the family was willing to forgive him meant they were relatively reasonable. If it had been a stubborn or greedy family, they might have forced the hospital to pay up.

Medical disputes weren’t exactly news these days.

All things considered, that outcome was about as good as he could hope for.

“Sorry for the trouble to you and the hospital this time. I promise I’ll be more cautious to avoid accidents in the future.” Zhou Can felt relieved as he made this promise to Director Tang Fei.

When you make a mistake, you need to show the right attitude.

Mistakes are mistakes. No excuses needed.

“Don’t dwell on it. Just learn and move on. Goodbye.” Director Tang Fei comforted him briefly, then hung up.

Zhou Can could feel the department and the hospital protecting and forgiving him. He was moved.

He remembered what he’d heard from Old Qin yesterday and decided to call the hospital leadership with this new information.

Since this involved competition from another hospital, there wasn’t much Director Xueyan, the new head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, could do.

She could only focus on running her department well and improving the quality of care.

This was something for the hospital leadership to handle.

It was a matter of overall strategic importance.

Zhou Can opened his phone book, found Deputy Director Ye’s number—the one in charge of medical affairs—and called him right away.

It was the first time he’d ever called the Deputy Director, so he felt a little nervous.

After a few rings, the phone was answered.

“Zhou, isn’t this the first time you’ve called me in three years? What’s up?”

Ye had actually saved his number, which made Zhou Can feel rather flattered.

“Hello, Director Ye. I wanted to let you know: I have solid information that the Third Hospital has recruited a well-known cardiac surgeon from Japan. They’ll probably announce it publicly very soon.”

He came right out with the tip.

To be honest, this news didn’t help him directly, but it was definitely important for Tuyu Hospital.

Competition among top hospitals was like a war without gunpowder.

Having early intel on their rivals’ moves was crucial.

“Thank you for providing such important information. How’s it been, coming back to Emergency and getting started again?”

Instead of prying further, Deputy Director Ye shifted the topic to Zhou Can and his work.

He seemed genuinely concerned about how Zhou Can was settling in.

“Thank you for asking. Everything’s going well, but I know I still have a lot to learn. Experience and skills both need to be built up through practice.”

After leading his team through surgery, Zhou Can truly felt how tough it was to build a career.

He was already capable with routine tertiary procedures.

But when it came to patients with complicated conditions or tough surgical sites, he could really feel his own limitations.

“There’s always more to learn! As long as you stay humble and keep working at it, you’re on the right path. Whatever job you do, don’t expect overnight success. Go one step at a time—that’s how you move steadily and go farther.”

Deputy Director Ye’s advice was right on point.

Zhou Can readily agreed with everything he said. After a quick chat, they ended the call.

In the days that followed, Zhou Can threw himself into his work and studies, constantly practicing both the Rapid and Steady Scalpel Techniques.

The loss of Dr. Hu Kan was slowly becoming less painful.

Time was the best remedy, easing everything bit by bit.

Every day in Emergency, Zhou Can could steadily handle twenty or thirty surgeries, except Wednesdays, when the number dipped a little.

Doing two major surgeries daily had become routine for him.

This was a special arrangement to care for the Emergency Department’s needs.

Everyone in the department helped vet suitable patients for his surgeries and made arrangements. It didn’t look like a big deal, but it took real teamwork among the attending doctors and nurses.

…

Before he knew it, more than a month had flown by.

Zhou Can’s surgical skills kept improving, and his clinical experience grew by the day.

But the news that the Third Hospital had recruited a Japanese cardiac expert still hadn’t been announced. Zhou Can started to get anxious—was this info reliable?

Could Old Qin have given him some bad intel?

He’d already reported it to Deputy Director Ye. If nothing happened, what would the Deputy Director think?

He’d probably wonder if Zhou Can was too green to be trusted.

Or think, “Where did he even hear such a rumor? I can’t believe I actually bought into it.”

That would definitely hurt Zhou Can’s reputation.

Meanwhile, the Provincial People’s Hospital had been making major strides in Cardiothoracic Surgery, churning out academic papers and promoting successful cases nonstop.

Unexpectedly, Xinxiang Maternity and Child Hospital burst onto the scene like a dark horse.

Their Surgical and Oncology departments and critical care units exploded in volume. The number of operations and critically ill patients treated had doubled compared to last month.

Stories of cancer patients having tumors removed, getting chemo and radiotherapy, and walking out cured hit the papers almost daily.

They’d even been featured on the news twice.

The hospital was also hyping up its precision-targeted drugs and immunotherapies. Several big-name expert teams were poached to join them.

In a word: truly impressive.

On a typical morning, Emergency held its weekly staff meeting as usual.

At this point, Zhou Can had become the top surgeon of the Emergency Department, even overshadowing Dr. Xu.

Last month alone, his team completed 821 surgeries—including 58 major ones. That kind of achievement was remarkable.

And so far, his record for zero failed surgeries was still going strong.

He was starting to look like Dr. Hu Kan in his prime.

Recently, he’d also received official certification for his residency—a strong exam result, though that had been a foregone conclusion. It was mostly just a waiting game.

The hospital’s Human Resources Department had him sign an official employment contract.

After more than three years of hard work, Zhou Can had finally secured a permanent position as an attending physician at Tuyu Hospital. He was now fully certified and formally employed.

If he wanted to go even further and get a regular staff slot in the department, it would still take more effort and patience.

But at this rate, it was only a matter of time before he succeeded.

At the staff meeting, Director Lou naturally took the center seat among the department heads. His face beamed with joy.

With the department thriving, Director Lou could hardly contain his happiness.

“Good morning, everyone! First, some great news: thanks to everyone’s hard work, our Emergency Department’s performance last month shot up by 270%. The results blew me away. Let’s keep up this spirit and stay united. Since our business is growing so fast, we’re now seriously understaffed.”

Tripling performance in a month was nothing short of astonishing.

Naturally, everyone’s pay had risen along with it.

It was exhausting, sure, but with much bigger paychecks, the staff had plenty of motivation to keep pushing.

“Many doctors and nurses have been putting in extra shifts without complaint, working quietly to help the department improve. It means a lot to me. Last week, I already asked the hospital to increase our staff, and they really came through. We’re getting two more resident doctors, three more full nurses, and four extra interns and training staff.”

Director Lou shared yet another round of good news.

Altogether, nine new healthcare staff were joining, giving the Emergency Department a powerful boost.

That would go a long way toward easing the staff shortage.

“Please welcome our new colleagues! And would all nine of you introduce yourselves to everyone?”

As soon as Director Lou finished, everyone burst into applause.

The nine newcomers sitting in the back row all stood and introduced themselves in turn.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Zheng Xuecheng, a resident doctor from Pancreatic Surgery in General Surgery. My specialty is various basic and intermediate procedures involving the pancreas. I hope you’ll take care of me going forward.”

He bowed to the group after speaking.

“Hello, I’m Jiang Shuangshuang, a female resident doctor from the Endocrinology Department. Please look after me, seniors and colleagues!”

Female resident doctors were a rare find.

The young men in the ER couldn’t help but stare.

She wasn’t particularly striking—an average face, decent figure, about five-foot-three by the look of it.

Definitely young, around twenty-five or twenty-six.

Zhou Can’s eyes flickered but his face stayed neutral.

As expected, both new residents assigned to the ER were ‘castoffs’ from other departments.

That was just the way things went in the ER, which always seemed to get what nobody else wanted.

Getting nine new staff this time was already a huge win.

For the department, it was an enormous step up.

Once the two new residents introduced themselves, it was the turn of three new official nurses. One of them happened to be Zhou Can’s acquaintance— Ye Tingting’s cousin.

That night, Zhou Can had been invited out to dinner with her.

After getting to know her, Zhou Can thought Ye Tingting’s cousin was clever and knowledgeable, so he promised to look for a chance to get her transferred to the ER.

Truth was, he hadn’t done much. Most of the credit went to Ye Tingting working behind the scenes.

He didn’t know if she’d gone to Director Lou or Head Nurse Niu Lan for help, though.

Getting a nurse transferred to the ER was easy, as long as the hospital had a slot available. Actually, many nurses didn’t even want to be assigned to Emergency.

Anyone who worked at Tuyu for long knew exactly what the ER was like.

Everyone wanted a good job—with better pay and a future. With Emergency so ‘poor’ and ‘small’, anyone with skills tried to steer clear.

Ye Tingting didn’t want her cousin in Emergency forever— she just wanted her to get the chance to assist with Zhou Can’s surgeries.

She believed in Zhou Can’s potential.

You had to admit—Ye Tingting had a sharp eye.

Zhou Can’s new surgical team had pretty low recruiting standards at first. Once their strength grew, getting in would be much tougher.

“Zheng Xuecheng, for now you’ll be in the Emergency operating room. Sometimes you may need to cover shifts at the clinic as well.”

After all the newcomers introduced themselves, Director Lou started assigning jobs.

“Jiang Shuangshuang, you’ll join the inpatient ward and work with Dr. Lin Ping on patient management. For anything that comes up, just follow Dr. Lin Ping’s lead.”

That statement officially put Dr. Lin Ping in charge.

Running the ward had always depended on Lin Ping and one intern sticking it out together.

Now that Zhou Can was steadily admitting thirty-odd patients through surgery each day, most could be treated and discharged right away, but a few needed hospitalization.

Even three inpatients a day was a staggering number.

Many patients took three days or more just to be ready for discharge.

Adding a second resident to manage the ward would really lighten Dr. Lin Ping’s load.