Path of Medicine With a System

The world was filled with countless contradictions. For instance, the medical field counted as s type of service industry, which meant that the patient was God, the patient was a customer, and so on. No matter which Chinese hospital, they would all try and satisfy the patient/customer as there could be severe consequences otherwise.

However, the medical field was also an industry where professional skills and experience was truly important. On top of that, lives were also at stake in this field. Oftentimes, doctors would need to make certain highly risky decisions. It really would be quite easy to satisfy the patient’s every request, but sometimes that wouldn’t be possible when making the necessary correct medical decision. How to resolve such a contradiction then? This would be really difficult.

To give a simple example regarding a bone fracture surgery, if an orthopedic surgeon tried to satisfy a patient’s request and affix the metal plate as closely as possible so that it adhered directly to the bone, maybe the patient would be really satisfied after seeing his X-ray because it was as if the metal plate was attached to the bone, but this would be nothing more than a ridiculous treatment.

Metal plate affixation usually wouldn’t look pretty on the X-ray at all, because the surgeon was trying to decrease the damage to the periosteum by as much as possible. This would make the metal plate look rather haphazard on the X-ray. Some patients didn’t understand this, and if such patients had family members who also didn’t understand and started complaining, then this could be quite troublesome and start drama.

There was a saying in the orthopedic department: “Treatment is about treating people, not X-rays.” However, this was a contradiction that was unsolvable. There was currently no possible method to both have an excellent treatment and produce an excellent-appearing X-ray for the patient.

Zhang Fan gave the child a simple physical examination, and then told Baiyintibu, “Manager Bai, you should have the child hospitalized for more detailed checkups. Once all the necessary checkups are complete, we can start on the first step of treatment.”

“Is it really severe?” Baiyintibu and her older sister both looked at Zhang Fan in worry. Everyone would be the same. Parents would always hope that the problem was as small as possible, especially with regards to their own children.

“How should I say this? You should mentally prepare yourselves. This surgery isn’t a small surgery. The postoperative recovery period is also incredibly long. This isn’t any simple bone fracture or appendectomy. This will be a corrective surgery, which requires a lengthy period of time,” Zhang Fan explained to Baiyintibu and her sister.

Meanwhile, the almost seven-year-old boy still didn’t understand the severity of the situation as he put on his clothes. Since he had grown up in the plains ever since young, he was really curious about this place known as a hospital that he was visiting for the first time. He was really curious about everything here which all seemed so strange. What attracted his attention the most was a skeleton model placed in the corner of Zhang Fan’s office, along with all sorts of diagrams plastered on the walls. He was too young to understand his mother and Aunt Baiyintibu’s sadness and worry.

Baiyintibu’s sister asked her in Mongolian, “What should we do? Should we find an older doctor and get a second opinion?”

“No, there’s no need. I’ve already asked around. He’s the best doctor in all of Chasu City Hospital.” Baiyintibu then turned to look at Shao Hua, who understood what she meant.

“Zhang Fan, is it possible to avoid surgery? Or, would it be better to go to Raptor City instead?” Shao Hua helped to ask such things as Baiyintibu would find it inconvenient to ask so directly.

Zhang Fan considered it for a moment, and then replied, “It’s extremely risky not to have surgery. The boy is still growing, so it would be best for him to receive corrective surgery as soon as possible. As for Raptor City, you can go there if you like, but I personally think that it won’t be necessary.” The hospital was no jail. Zhang Fan couldn’t force anyone to get a surgery if they didn’t want to. Still, he really wanted to have an opportunity to work on this surgery.

Zhang Fan had yet to work on a single corrective surgery in real life. Not only that, Chasu City Hospital had never accomplished such a surgery before. Corrective surgeries were extremely difficult, and even more so on young children as all sorts of factors needed to be considered. Adult corrective surgeries were easier as all that was needed was to affix according to the anatomical position for correction. However, that wouldn’t do for young children, as they were constantly growing, which meant that their bones were still constantly changing. If the corrective surgery didn’t fit the child’s development pattern properly, then that would directly cause a medical incident.

Moreover, spine corrective surgery was best done as early as possible. The spine was like the main support of a car or a house. Any problem that appeared in the spine would be immediately followed by various problems in nearby organs. Although it was still possible to change the spine back again at an older age, it would be impossible to do the same for other organs. A spine distortion would immediately start affecting the sternum, hip joint, and pelvic cavity. Basically, the spine would affect the entire body.

“We’ll be troubling you, Doctor Zhang. Let’s have him hospitalized then. We’ll truly be troubling you,” Baiyintibu agreed after some further discussion with her sister.

“It’s fine, this is no trouble at all. Yanan, help them with the hospitalization paperwork.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” Jiang Nini hurriedly volunteered herself instead when she heard this. She then secretly observed Shao Hua for a while longer while dealing with the necessary paperwork.

Zhang Fan didn’t need to worry about a single thing related to paperwork, whether it be hospitalization or necessary checkups. Shao Hua saw that there wasn’t anything else for her to do here, so she told Baiyintibu, Zhang Fan, and Wang Yanan, “I’m going back to work now. Feel free to call me if there’s anything else.

“Thank you!” Baiyintibu was really emotional as she grabbed onto Shao Hua’s hand.

“It’s fine. I’m leaving now!”

“I’ll take you,” Zhang Fan hurriedly offered to Shao Hua.

“There’s no need to see me off. You should hurry and go have some lunch,” Shao Hua said as she helped Zhang Fan to straighten his slightly wrinkled shirt. Although Shao Hua had said that she didn’t need Zhang Fan to take her anywhere, he still saw her off all the way to the entrance of the surgical department building.

“You should hurry and go back to work.” Only after Zhang Fan watched Shao Hua leave did he go back upstairs to orthopedic department #1. As he went up, he kept thinking about how to do this surgery, which was so difficult that it would be impossible for him alone. He would have to have Director Gao and Director Wang as his surgical assistants.

‘How am I supposed to get those two rivals together on the same surgery?’ This was an even more difficult problem than the surgery. It was quite easy for the two rival directors to argue with each other, especially over different surgical methods. Zhang Fan was unable to figure out a solution no matter what. In the end, he could only go and ask for outside support.

Zhang Fan had been about to head back to orthopedic department #1, but he suddenly changed direction to go to the hospital administration building. Of course, he was going there to find Superintendent Ouyang as she would be the only person capable of having the two orthopedic directors peaceably sit down for a discussion. Although using such a method was a bit like bullying, Zhang Fan had no other way. That was just how contradictory life was for him.

Even though lunchtime was also naptime for most hospital employees, Zhang Fan needed to go to find Superintendent Ouyang and resolve this issue as early as possible. Earlier this morning, Superintendent Ouyang had been in a governmental meeting in the city. Although Chasu City Hospital had been developing excellently over the past few years, it seemed like the government had recently begun to greatly support traditional Chinese medicine, so lots of resources were beginning to funnel towards Chinese medicine hospitals. Superintendent Ouyang had to debate all morning as there was no other choice for her. Government funding would be limited. More money for Chasu City Chinese Medicine Hospital would mean less money for Chasu City Hospital.

Zhang Fan knocked on Superintendent Ouyang’s door. She finally replied more than 30 seconds later. “Enter!”

“Superintendent, were you resting? How about I come back later?” Zhang Fan smiled as he poked his head into her office room. This was the advantage of his being young. Even though he clearly knew that she was likely taking a nap, he could still be shameless enough to come and interrupt her nap.

“You’re already here, so why pretend? Just come in.” Superintendent Ouyang was rather tired after debating all morning as she had needed to maintain a powerful aura as well as come up with convincing logic. She slowly sat up while rubbing her temple.

Zhang Fan sat down, and explained, “Superintendent, our orthopedic department #1 has received a special patient.”

“A special patient? Why are you here to see me instead of your department director?” Superintendent Ouyang looked directly at Zhang Fan. She was a veteran who was also a highly successful superintendent. Although she couldn’t guess the specifics of what Zhang Fan was here for, she figured that it definitely had something to do with personnel.

“Oh! I need to find a director, but more than one director, which is too much for me. That’s why I’m here to ask for your help!”

“Hah! Tell me what this is about.” Superintendent Ouyang became interested. She was also the really competitive type who loved a challenge.

“It’s like this…” Zhang Fan explained the situation in detail.

“Do you have a guarantee? I do know about spine deformity. Heart problems will appear later if a surgery isn’t performed early enough. I met with such a patient back when I was still in the cardiology department.”

“I do have a guarantee, but there’s a really troublesome issue.”

“What’s the trouble?”