Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran only took around two hours to make a ward round.
Because of the MRSA outbreak, the hospital had discharged as many patients as possible, as soon as they showed that they were healthy enough to be discharged. Since the hospital also reduced the number of scheduled surgeries, there were not many patients left in the wards. At least, there were no longer additional beds in the corridor.
Ever since the advent of the MRSA outbreak, Ling Treatment Group reduced its patient intake, and they only took in three to five patients now. Even though it did not seem that obvious right now because not much time had passed, it was predicted that after the week was over, the Ling Treatment Group will have some empty beds. Those empty beds would not even be additional beds, but normal hospital beds.
Ling Ran saw two empty beds after entering three rooms. This would not have happened to Ling Treatment Group in the past.
When it came to rooms assigned to his treatment group, triple rooms often became quadruple rooms. During the most critical periods, there might even be five or six people in a triple room. Of course, these were only done under emergency situations. However, this showed how lacking in hospital beds Ling Treatment Group was.
This was especially true when they carried out surgeries like finger replantation surgery and Achilles tendon repair surgery, as patients from those surgeries often needed to be hospitalized for long periods of time. Because of this, Ling Treatment Group was often severely lacking in beds.
If a person were to look at this issue from another angle, it was not like the patients had many choices either.
Most government hospitals nowadays were not willing to perform this kind of surgery. This was because they did not require many medical consumables, and doctors were not able to cash in much even though they had to put in a lot of effort.
Besides, the turnover rate of hospital beds was more and more frequently used as a hard indicator of how well a hospital was doing. There were even hospitals that limited patients’ stay to fifteen days unless they were in critical condition.
Because of this, Yun Hua Emergency Medical Center, which allowed patients to stay for a long time, was the first choice of patients.
But today, out of the nine hospital beds in three rooms, only seven were occupied. Ling Ran was truly not used to this.
And what surprised Ling Ran more was that after he exited the third room, he got another Sincere Gratitude Basic Treasure Chest.
Ling Ran had also obtained two Basic Treasure Chests after meeting five patients in the previous two rooms. Now that he got the third Basic Treasure Chest from the seventh patient, it basically meant that he got a Basic Treasure Chest every time he entered a room.
Ling Ran could not help but think about it as he stood in the corridor. Judging from the situation right now, crowded wards resulted in there being fewer Sincere Gratitude Basic Treasure Chests.
Of course, this did not mean that the spacious rooms were important. It only meant that if surgery had gone well, and the patient involved had received adequate post-surgical care and was recovering well afterward, spacious rooms meant a lot to them.
As medical technology became more and more advanced, the bar had been raised when it came to excellent medical care.
Ling Ran started thinking earnestly about this.
Zuo Cidian’s footsteps were steady as he walked behind Ling Ran. As he gazed at the empty hospital beds in the rooms that were assigned to their treatment group, he could not help but feel emotional too. When he saw that Ling Ran, who was standing beside him, had gone into a daze, he consoled Ling Ran. “Doctor Ling, it’s a good thing that our patients are getting discharged. The wards would be full again after we operate on more patients in the future…”
Lu Wenbin caught up with them too and said, “Yeah, our treatment group is very efficient. We can fill up the hospital beds whenever we want to. There’re only empty hospital beds right now because of the MRSA outbreak. After the MRSA outbreak is over, we can immediately take in more patients.”
“Lately, many patients have been seeking Achilles tendon repair surgery through recommendations, but we scheduled all of them to be operated on a later date. After the MRSA outbreak is over, our wards will probably be brimming with patients again.” As Ma Yanlin specialized in Achilles tendon repair surgery, he paid a lot of attention to this.
Ling Ran glanced at them, “Weren’t you guys complaining before this that we were operating on too many patients?”
“We only want you to be happy. Besides, we’ll get to practice more if we take in more patients. Our income would also be higher. We can operate on more patients after the MRSA outbreak ends. This way, all our hospital beds will soon be occupied.” Zuo Cidian warmly offered Ling Ran a piece of practical advice, and he found himself very skillful in doing so.
Ling Ran could not help but take another moment to contemplate things. He said solemnly, “I was thinking about keeping things this way for the time being. But if you guys want to carry out more surgeries…”
“Doctor Ling, age is catching up with Old Zuo. It’s not a bad thing to take a rest sometimes.” Lu Wenbin’s face turned pale from shock. Among the doctors in Ling Treatment Group, things were the toughest for Lu Wenbin.
This was because other doctors only needed to wake up at three in the morning to make ward rounds and prepare for surgeries, but Lu Wenbin had to wake up at one in the morning to purchase pork trotters before going to work.
And even though other doctors only needed to make ward rounds, write medical records and carry out operations, Lu Wenbin had to manage his pork trotters group as well as frequently participate in matchmaking sessions that never yielded any result.
If it were not for the fact that he used to go to the gym frequently, Lu Wenbin would no longer be able to keep up with things.
For him, the MRSA outbreak totally happened at the right time.
Ling Ran glanced at Zuo Cidian and then at Lu Wenbin with a bewildered expression. He had no idea what was going on with these two doctors.
Zuo Cidian saw Ling Ran’s expression. ‘Oh shit. Don’t tell me that Doctor Ling is really going to operate on more patients.’
“Oh my, age is catching up with me indeed.” Zuo Cidian quickly laughed and swallowed all his frustrations. He might as well just admit that he was old. After all, he was considered very old compared to the other doctors of Ling Treatment Group.
“We wouldn’t be putting out any additional beds for the time being, then.” Ling Ran thought things through and said. Since he received more Sincere Gratitude Basic Treasure Chests when there were no additional beds, it showed that patients did not like it when the rooms were too crowded.
Since Ling Ran had been practicing cholecystectomy lately, he was not in a hurry to take in more patients. He found it more appropriate to let some of the hospital beds stay empty at the moment.
All the doctors of the Ling Treatment group had big smiles on their faces. The three medical interns were the only ones who looked upset. Their internship period was ending soon, and it did not seem like the MRSA outbreak would end before that.
When they start working in new hospitals, even if those hospitals carried out major surgeries such as finger replantation surgery or even hepatectomy, it would be a long time before they had the chance to participate in those.
Ling Ran entered a few more rooms and checked on all his patients who had received hepatectomy before heading to the ICU.
Compared to patients in normal rooms, the medical histories of patients in the ICU were usually more complicated, and their conditions were usually more serious. It was normal for internists to take all afternoon penning the medical records of patients who were sent to the ICU.
Things were easier for surgeons when it came to this, especially those who had junior doctors under them. They could make the junior doctors write the medical records, and all they had to do was to talk about things and come up with a plan.
Of course, patients who were sent to the ICU belonged to the ICU and were under the care of doctors working there. Ordinary surgeons only got to look around the ICU, and most of them would not even bother visiting. For them, there was no point in going there, as doctors working in the ICU did things their way and would not listen to the surgeons.
But whenever Ling Ran was there, no matter how unwilling the doctors of the ICU were, they would still obediently give him the time of their day.
Skills really mattered a lot when it came to this. Before this, the surgeries Ling Ran performed such as finger replantation surgery and Achilles tendon repair surgery were orthopedics surgeries that were not ranked so highly in the scale of clinical medicine. However, after he started performing hepatectomy, he was somewhat regarded as a master in surgery.
The doctors working in the ICU might dare to discuss matters pertaining to the post-surgical recovery of patients with associate chief physicians of the General Surgery Department or Hand Surgery Department. However, when it came to Ling Ran who outperformed even a freelance surgeon from Beijing, the doctors of the ICU had no choice but to watch their words.
Even though doctors of the ICU had the right to disagree with other doctors’ treatment methods, they definitely did not want to suffer verbally pummelled by a master in surgery.
And in Yun Hua Hospital, which was a top tertiary Grade A hospital in the region, masters in surgery who liked to verbally pummel other doctors when they had nothing to do did exist. Huo Congjun was the perfect example.
Jin Xuezhen’s father was waiting anxiously outside the ICU. Even though he only had to make a call to gain entrance into the ICU, it would not mean anything as he would not be able to understand what the doctors were saying. Most importantly, he was worried that he would disturb the doctors.
“Doctor Ling, how is my son doing?” The moment Ling Ran appeared, Mister Jin looked like he just saw the Messiah.
“He’s in a stable condition. There’s nothing else that I can say,” Ling Ran answered in a straightforward manner.
“Does this mean that he’s doing better?”
“If there are no unforeseen circumstances, he would get transferred to a normal room after spending a few more days in the ICU,” Ling Ran answered according to the script that he had rehearsed countless times.
Mister Jin immediately conveyed his gratitude.
He only felt a little more at ease after asking Ling Ran a bunch of questions.
Even though he had run out of questions, he was reluctant to let Ling Ran go just like that. He glanced at his watch and said, “Doctor Ling, it’s time for you to get off work, right? Why don’t we have dinner…”
“I’m going home.” Ling Ran rejected the offer in a straightforward manner. This, too, came with practice.
Mister Jin looked into Ling Ran’s eyes. He had no choice but to say, “Then, why don’t you let me send you home?”
After coaxing Ling Ran into his Audi Q7, Mister Jin spoke respectfully to Ling Ran all the way. When they arrived at the entrance of Lower Groove, he pretended to ask as an afterthought, “By the way, Doctor Ling, do you know how to drive?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, I’ll just leave the car here for you to use. This car is big, and it’s convenient for you as you can transport a lot of things with it…” Those working in construction companies often employed this tactic, as they did not have to spend any money by lending someone their car. They could easily take it back, too.
It was an extremely effective tactic, as even though it would seem like the person was giving someone a car, he did not actually have to do so.
Ling Ran was not interested at all. “No, thank you. It takes up a lot of space.”
