Chapter 56: Opportunities and Aspirations

“Could you try greeting the attending doctors during your shift and ask them to admit a few more level-1 surgical cases? I’m just a rookie in desperate need of hands-on practice.”

Zhou Can’s current mastery of four basic medical techniques and two advanced surgical procedures has already reached the resident level.

He’s fully capable of handling level-1 surgeries.

This approach is at least ten times more effective than practicing on white mice, tofu, and cotton at home.

Owing to limited surgical capacity and understaffing in the Emergency Department, they usually only handle emergency surgeries while less urgent cases are diverted to specialized departments.

Just a quick word with the attending doctor can land you a treasure trove of level-1 surgery cases.

“Dr. Xu, I need some too!”

Jin Mingxi, noticing Zhou Can speak up, quickly added his support.

He never dared to approach Dr. Xu directly.

But Zhou Can was different; even a novice could see that Dr. Xu held him in especially high regard.

It was practically like being groomed as a protégé.

That’s why Zhou Can felt comfortable making a few small requests.

“Wow! You two are already hooked on surgery after a full day? Alright, I’ll make sure to chat with the attending doctors so that I can schedule more level-1 cases during my shift. And if eight hours still isn’t enough, Director Lou on duty can help negotiate more cases for you.”

Their enthusiasm pleased Dr. Xu immensely.

After a brief hesitation, he agreed.

Staffing in the Emergency Department is extremely tight; patients are always redirected to specialists whenever possible.

The entire Emergency Department only has two attending surgeons.

They are Dr. Xu and a doctor surnamed Fu.

Dr. Fu primarily handles consultations.

In the Operating Room, Dr. Xu and three surgical residents form the main team. With a three-shift rotation, Dr. Xu almost unfailingly takes the busy morning slot.

For the evening shift, Director Lou takes the helm.

Night shifts see few surgeries—mostly emergency procedures or surgical evaluations. When there’s an urgent surgery above level-2, the resident on duty calls in either Dr. Fu or Dr. Xu for help.

It’s important to note that the Emergency Department only manages level-1 and level-2 surgeries; procedures that meet level-3 standards must be handled by specialists.

This scheduling system among the surgical doctors ensures the smooth operation of the Emergency Department’s operating room.

Zhou Can was surprised at how readily Dr. Xu agreed.

He felt genuinely elated.

He would never again worry about missing out on training opportunities.

“Thank you, mentor!”

“Thank you, Dr. Xu!”

Jin Mingxi quickly joined in with his thanks.

“Alright, off you go! When you get home, make sure you review today’s surgical experiences—especially the invisible suturing technique I taught you. Let me let you in on a little secret: mastering invisible suturing can be a game-changer in many high-level, cutting-edge procedures. Though it isn’t the pinnacle of surgical skills, in the most advanced operations, it’s as fundamental as suturing, incision, ligature, and hemostasis.”

Before leaving, Dr. Xu painted an enticing picture of what lay ahead.

What exactly qualifies as a truly cutting-edge surgery?

Any procedure that a standard attending physician can perform doesn’t earn that title.

Only operations conducted by expert-level or world-leading surgeons deserve the label ‘cutting edge.’

These surgeries vary greatly in scale.

The larger ones require the concerted efforts of several elite surgical teams.

Think of world-famous procedures like head transplants or heart transplants.

Zhou Can felt like a toddler taking his first steps in medicine; his journey had just begun, and how far he’d go depended on his own effort and luck.

“It’s time to seriously plan my daily practice regimen.”

In fact, he had been thinking this as early as yesterday.

After Dr. Xu outlined a future vision for them, his determination to quickly elevate his overall skill level grew even stronger.

At the Operating Room, he could gain experience in suturing, ligature, hemostasis, injections, tissue bonding, and debridement.

The trickier procedures were device implantation, incision, and tissue separation.

He wasn’t too worried about pathology diagnosis—once he got the hang of it, he could stick around for unpaid overtime following the attending doctors. With the Emergency Department’s nonstop flow of patients, earning 30 to 40 pathology diagnosis points a day wasn’t unusual.

He was confident he’d steadily level up in no time.

Dr. Luo, the attending in the Emergency Department, was quite friendly toward him; a simple greeting or an invitation to dinner often meant he’d get pulled along during consultations.

As for the other doctors, he’d need to build a rapport with them before making any requests.

After some thought, he decided that once his shift was over, he’d focus on honing the skills of device implantation, incision, and tissue separation.

For instance, practicing device implantation on a white mouse only nets 0.2 experience points each time.

Inserting a urinary catheter on a patient earns you 1 experience point.

If you’re thick-skinned and well connected, snagging catheter insertion cases in the Intensive Care Unit might be the fastest way to accumulate device implantation experience.

On one hand, he wasn’t well acquainted with the ICU staff.

On the other, colleagues might think he was a weirdo, so that plan had to be shelved.

At least for now, he simply didn’t have the chance.

Luckily, the Emergency Department often had patients in need of catheterization, so there was still a way to rack up some experience.

After his shift, Zhou Can first headed to the Logistics Department to pick up his room card.

Then he bought a bionic model for practicing device implantation, along with a pound of soybeans and ten white mice.

He planned to go home and practice to his heart’s content.

Now that he was a standardized training doctor working under Dr. Xu, things were looking up.

He only had an eight-hour shift each day.

Compared to the grueling schedule of an intern, it was practically paradise.

Since he was assigned to the Emergency Department’s operating room, aside from surgical overtime, he rarely had to deal with miscellaneous tasks. Back when he was an intern in the inpatient department, he was overworked—handling bedside care, writing records, managing complete sets of orders, documenting patient histories, and assisting in surgeries. He felt like a spinning top.

Sometimes a single day’s workload felt as exhausting as an entire month’s.

Now, with so much extra free time, things were finally in his favor.

He could practice various surgical techniques at home that he rarely got the chance to hone in the OR, or even stay on for overtime with the attending doctors.

This flexibility allowed him to choose what to work on based on his own growth needs.

……

Returning to his year-long shared dormitory, he found it completely empty; all his roommates had left.

On a desk lay a heartwarming note.

“Zhou Can, keep it up! We believe you will become a renowned doctor!”

Signed by all seven roommates.

A warm feeling spread through him, though his eyes stung a bit. Carefully tucking the cherished note away—a symbol of their camaraderie—he quickly packed his personal belongings.

Then he moved to an upper-floor double apartment.

He located Room 315, used his room card on the smart lock, and upon opening the door, his face lit up in surprise.

“Dr. Jin!”

“Haha, what a coincidence! I never expected my other roommate to be Dr. Zhou.”

Jin Mingxi burst into hearty laughter.

In the middle of writing his surgical summary, he quickly closed his laptop and joined Zhou Can to help with the move.

The new apartment’s decor far surpassed that of the old shared dorm.

It was luxuriously fitted; instead of bunk beds, there were two separate Simmons beds.

It resembled a hotel double room.

It even featured air conditioning and a private bathroom.

From now on, showering and using the toilet would no longer mean sharing facilities.

A standardized training doctor’s perks were far superior to those of an intern. Hard work really does pay off—your future can only get brighter.

With Jin Mingxi’s help, he quickly moved all his belongings into his new home and settled in.

“Wow, Dr. Zhou, your practice tools are impressively complete! A microscope, an electrocautery knife, a wax model… you could open your own clinic.”

“Heh heh, competition is fierce—what can you do?”

Zhou Can never spared any expense when it came to his medical training.

Breaking through among thousands of applicants and securing the top spot was thanks not only to the experience system but also to his own relentless hard work and financial investment.