Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The doctors working in the Emergency Medical Center started filtering into the building at eight in the morning.
Chief Physician Tao moved into the elevator right after Huo Congjun. He stretched and said, “I had been sleeping pretty well lately. You know, I’m not young anymore, and I can’t handle working overtime well. I get super freaked out every time someone calls me early in the morning, so much so that my heart almost stops beating.”
“Now that your phone’s not ringing in the middle of the night anymore, did your wife allow you back into the bedroom?” Huo Congjun spoke very casually to his old colleague, and his words immediately struck him where it hurt.
Chief Physician Tao snorted a few times and defended himself, “I was just worried that it would disturb my wife. It’s not like I’m scared of her. I sleep in the bedroom whenever I want to.”
“So, you’re not allowed back into the bedroom yet?”
“Look, my phone has been ringing in the middle of the night for the past thirty years. Thirty days of silence means nothing.” Chief Physician Tao sighed and continued, “Ling Ran’s habit is a pretty good one. You should ask him to keep it up.”
Huo Congjun nodded and said, “I plan to allocate some money to give the members of Ling Treatment Group an extra bonus this month. Ling Ran shouldn’t be that short of money anymore, but we need to give the doctors under him some bonus as well. It doesn’t have to be too much, just 2,000 RMB each. To be fair, both the housemen and resident doctors will be getting the same sum.”
“It’s a pretty good idea. I have no problem with it.”
“Since you’re okay with it, I will raise this point during our departmental meeting.” Huo Congjun started chuckling. Even though department directors held a lot of power, they had to consult the leaders of the treatment groups under them on many matters, or else, they might become the sole people in their treatment group.
A department only had this much money to serve as bonus. Since they were going to give the doctors of the Ling Treatment Group extra bonus, correspondingly, the doctors of other treatment groups would get less bonus. Even though it was not much of a difference, he needed to tell them about it beforehand.
Now that Chief Physician Tao mentioned Ling Ran, Huo Congjun immediately raised the point to him.
However, Chief Physician Tao had always been the kind of person who stood aloof from worldly success. Otherwise, he would not have been able to partner up with the domineering Huo Congjun for such a long time.
After they exited the elevator, Chief Physician Tao chuckled and said, “Since the members of Ling Treatment Group start working at three or four in the morning every day, it’s as if they’re doing the second half of the night shift. If we speak about it properly to other doctors, they’ll probably be able to understand where you’re coming from.”
Huo Congjun could not help but laugh. “That’s your opinion. Other doctors might not agree with you.”
“Oh?”
“Ling Ran only works in the resuscitation room. He either carries out hepatectomy, cholecystectomy, splenectomy, finger replantations, or M-Tang surgery. The first-string doctors who are on shift still need to debride wounds and treat kids suffering from diarrhea.”
“But those who no longer have to perform the tasks Ling Ran does can help out right?” But it was only after Chief Physician Tao finished speaking that he realized that he was being an idiot. No senior doctors would help junior doctors out. The junior doctors would be lucky if the senior doctors did not give them even more work.
Truth be told, in many departments, the first-string doctors had to think long and hard before waking second-string doctors who were on night shift. If the second-string doctors felt that their presence was not necessary, they would throw a tantrum as soon as they woke up. They would scold the junior doctors so badly that the junior doctors started doubting their entire existence. A person just had to imagine a scene where a student was scolded by a teacher in front of everyone in class for twenty minutes, then substitute the student with a young doctor who had just entered the society. By doing this, the person would be able to understand part of what the young doctors felt whenever this happened.
“No matter what, we get to sleep well now.” Huo Congjun chuckled and changed the topic. “Ever since Ling Ran started working in the hospital, the lives of second-string doctors and third-string doctors became a lot easier. We receive one less call a week, and this will probably extend our lifespan by a month.”
Chief Physician Tao could understand what he was implying. “People only realized how important sleep is when they get older.”
Chief physicians and associate chief physicians were often needed to save the day in the Emergency Department, mostly in cases of massive bleeding. The next would be acute abdominalgia. By now, Ling Ran was one of the top doctors in Yun Hua Hospital when it came to the treatment of massive bleeding. Since he camped in the hospital most of the time, there was no need for other doctors to come over. As for acute abdominalgia, Ling Ran knew how to carry out hepatectomy, cholecystectomy, splenectomy, and appendectomy. As for the ones Ling Ran was not capable of treating, even if the senior doctors of the Emergency Department were to come over, they would still need to transfer those doctors to other departments.
Other than these, the most dangerous symptoms exhibited by patients in the Emergency Department such as chest pain and brain herniation were not things that a phone call could solve to begin with. Moreover, Ling Ran was extremely good at CPR, so much so that Ling Treatment Group could pass of as the CPR group of the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital.
“Oh, by the way, we need to give the nurses some extra bonus too.” When Huo Congjun saw that Chief Physician Tao received his idea well, he immediately added to it.
Chief Physician Tao hummed in agreement as usual and said, “I have no problem with this.”
“That’s a deal, then.” Relaxed, Huo Congjun started laughing. “Ever since we established ourselves as an Emergency Medical Center, the number of patients kept increasing, but we’re unable to hire as many staff members to keep up with it. Moreover, Ling Ran frequently fills up all the hospital beds. Hahaha.”
Chief Physician Tao merely smiled and said nothing.
For chief physicians like him, the prosperity of their departments meant that they would get plenty of bonus and commission. However, it was quite an abstruse move for department directors to ask chief physicians to share those rewards with junior doctors. Some of the associate chief physicians working under stingy department directors would even feel like they were having difficulty paying off their housing loan. There were also department directors who were so generous that the resident doctors working under them earn even more money compared to associate chief physicians in other departments.
Ten years ago, Chief Physician Tao used to care more about this kind of stuff. Nowadays, he took things easy.
What was the point of earning so much money? One person could only sleep in one bed… or sofa at a time. What was the point of tiring yourselves out by engaging in office politics? It just meant buying a set of imported Italian sofa with the extra money you earned. And even after that, you might still need to sleep in a 70 RMB tent bed.
As everyone looked at him, Huo Congjun nodded at people he knew as he walked into his office in the Emergency Medical Center.
The doctors and nurses behind him discussed in a hushed tone.
“Is it just me, or is Department Director Huo’s way of nodding different from how it used to be?”
“It’s a bit similar to how Doctor Ling nods.”
“Huh… is Department Director Huo imitating Doctor Ling?”
“Hey, stop with the gossip. Ah, look at Zhao Leyi. His imitation of Doctor Ling is even more perfect.”
The group of doctors and nurses who were clustered together were smiling as they talked about it. Zhao Leyi, who was walking past them, nodded even more fervently than usual at them.
“Young Zhou, come over.” Huo Congjun suddenly stuck out his head out from the office.
“Department Director Huo?” Doctor Zhou hesitated as he pointed at himself. He then dawdled into the office.
“It’s good news.” Huo Congjun glared at Doctor Zhou and said, “Talk to a few pharmaceutical sales representatives and see if they have any suitable medical conference that Ling Ran can attend.”
Doctor Zhou froze for a moment. “What kind of… medical conference?”
“Those where he gets to show his face.” Huo Congju snorted and said, “Ling Ran has been working very hard lately. Don’t tell me that you expect him to stay in the hospital all the time and carry out the tasks you and the other doctors are supposed to perform. Good wine needs no bush. Just pick the conferences that are about things Ling Ran is good at. I think that hepatectomy-related ones would be the best. It’s more classy, too. Forget about finger replantation surgery-related ones. And the microsurgery-related ones are too tiring.”
“Oh, alright.” After Doctor Zhou listened to what Huo Congjun had to say, he understood what Huo Congjun was trying to do. He was trying to make a name for Ling Ran.
Even though Doctor Zhou was envious of Ling Ran, he did not plan to do anything about it.
Although it was a really great feeling for a doctor to receive support from his hospital and department as he made a name for himself, only capable doctors got to enjoy this privilege. Otherwise, the doctor would be bringing shame to himself, his department, and his hospital.
Besides, Doctor Zhou saw no point in becoming famous. He would just earn more money as well as garner more respect from other people. And at the same time, he would need to take in more patients and be under more pressure.
“I’ll go and make a call now.” Doctor Zhou was worried that Huo Congjun would continue talking to him if he were to continue staying in the office. He immediately turned and left with his tail between his legs, like someone who had just escaped the clutches of death.
