The Emergency Department’s meeting was mainly to summarize the week’s work, where the director would critique existing problems and suggest improvements. Of course, with criticism also came praise, and outstanding individuals would be commended.
Huo Yun looked at his team members like a lion surveying its territory.
As his gaze swept across the room, all the doctors grew nervous, lowering their heads to avoid Director Huo’s sharp gaze.
Most people were apprehensive during department meetings, and sure enough, Director Huo came out swinging right from the start.
"Regarding this past week’s work, our department has the following problems."
"These are the same old problems, mainly related to the quality and safety of our medical care... First off, we had no disputes or complaints this month, which is good. Let’s keep that up. However..."
"...communication with some of our special-case patients has been inadequate. Junior physicians are often the ones handling the pre-operative consent forms. While that’s acceptable for routine patients, for special cases, the attending physician must personally handle the discussion."
"Furthermore, some medical record cover sheets are being filled out incompletely, creating difficulties for reporting to the statistics office and the pricing department. I won’t name names... but this applies especially to a few of the residents. Your respective attending physicians need to pay attention!"
Hearing Director Huo’s targeted criticism, several senior physicians and a few residents lowered their heads in shame.
Director Huo continued his barrage, "Also, the inappropriate use of antibacterial agents and other medications, especially our rate of antibiotic use... You need to be more mindful of these things..."
"And another thing. Remember that most emergency surgery patients are in critical condition with unstable vital signs. OR nurses and anesthesiologists need to get ready for surgery as soon as they get the call. An OR nurse must be waiting at the door to bring the patient into the operating room..."
After raising several issues and suggesting improvements, Director Huo’s tone shifted.
"However, despite these shortcomings, our department also had many highlights this month. In this meeting, I want to specifically commend Dr. Qin Donglai and Dr. Wu Ting."
"Their performance has been outstanding. They collaborated with Director Lu from Orthopedics to complete a highly difficult severed finger replantation surgery, earning recognition and awards from both hospital and city leadership."
"Dr. Wu Ting, in particular, is a model for all of you. The tracheotomies he’s been performing, which combine National Medicine with modern medical techniques, have also achieved remarkable results. Let’s give him a round of applause!"
As Huo Yun finished speaking, everyone turned to look at Wu Ting and began to applaud. Though their thoughts on the matter varied, the general sentiment was one of admiration.
Almost all of them had observed the limb reattachment surgery that Wu Ting and Qin Donglai performed with Director Lu. Huo Yun and Lin Hu had been in the operating room that day as well.
Wu Ting’s performance during the surgery had been nothing short of breathtaking!
"Speaking of Dr. Wu Ting’s excellent performance, I have a major announcement. This year, the provincial medical system, in conjunction with the Jin Province Physicians Association, is organizing a case study competition. This competition will be open to all hospitals in the entirety of Jin Province, and the judging panel will be comprised of top experts from our province."
"This case competition is undoubtedly a high-level contest of medical skill. It will be divided into preliminaries and finals. For the preliminaries, each hospital will submit its own entries. For the finals, the expert panel will make their selections, and ultimately, ten cases will be chosen for a final presentation. The awards will be decided right there and then."
"The cases will be scored based on several criteria: the thoroughness and representativeness of the case data, the logical rigor of the diagnostic process, the clarity of the differential diagnosis, the appropriateness of the treatment plan, and the completeness of the summarized clinical experience. Cases that demonstrate multidisciplinary collaboration will receive bonus points."
"In addition to the prize money from the organizers, our hospital will also grant annual performance awards to the winning individuals and teams in this competition."
"The first prize is a cash award of eighty thousand."
"Our Emergency Department plans to submit three cases. So, over the next few days, everyone should review and summarize their current cases. Anyone with a compelling case is encouraged to apply."
After Huo Yun finished his announcement, all the physicians began to murmur amongst themselves.
’This was clearly an excellent opportunity. If they could pass the preliminaries and reach the finals, it wasn’t just about prize money and glory. More importantly, it was a chance to make an impression in front of the most authoritative experts in Jin Province. With the prestige that came from winning such an award, one’s career would be fast-tracked.’
’Historically, physicians who won were placed on a priority development track not just within their own hospitals, but within the entire Jin Province medical system.’
’The case competition was fundamentally a grand event for professional exchange, but it was also a stage for fame and fortune—an excellent opportunity to expand one’s professional network.’
Many of the senior physicians in the room felt a stir of ambition. However, they knew that just getting past the preliminary round would be incredibly difficult.
As for the junior residents and trainees, they didn’t entertain any such thoughts. They simply never had the chance to be the lead physician on the kinds of cases that could be entered into the competition. All of them, that is, except for one person.
Hearing the news about the competition, Wu Ting immediately looked up at Huo Yun. ’Isn’t this tailor-made for me?’ he thought.
’According to the scoring criteria, my "Combined Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Treatment for Tracheotomy" is a joint project between the National Medical Department and the Emergency Department, making it highly representative and clinically significant.’
’And then there’s Officer Liu’s limb reattachment surgery, which was a complex procedure done in collaboration with the orthopedics department. I have two potential cases I can submit right off the bat.’
After the physicians had been murmuring for a moment, Huo Yun brought the room back to order and signaled for silence.
"Anyone who wants to participate must submit their cases to me by next Friday. I will then organize an evaluation to select our entries. That’s all for today’s meeting. Wu Ting, Jiang Ming, stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed."
Hearing Wu Ting and Jiang Ming’s names, the other physicians understood the implication, their eyes filled with envy.
Of course, no one was surprised about Director Jiang, but Wu Ting was a different story.
Jiang Ming was an associate chief physician in the Emergency Department and the youngest one at City First Hospital. He was the department’s star physician, seen as having the most promise and potential.
Jiang Ming was a graduate of Xuanshang University in Xianglin City and was currently pursuing his doctorate. He specialized in treating acute abdominal conditions, particularly various types of laparoscopic surgeries.
In addition to his clinical talent, Jiang Ming’s research abilities were even more impressive.
With his background from Xuanshang University, both his former classmates and mentors were highly influential. Consequently, he was being specially cultivated by City First Hospital as a high-value talent they had actively recruited.
Huo Yun also intended to cultivate him. By now, Jiang Ming was already capable of leading on his own and served as the head of the acute abdomen medical team, where he managed his own group. This had earned him the nickname "Director Xiao Jiang."
Although Qin Donglai was Huo Yun’s confidant, he simply couldn’t compare to Jiang Ming.
Wu Ting didn’t know much about Jiang Ming. His attending physician, Qin Donglai, and Jiang Ming’s team kept their distance; the lines between them were clearly drawn.
Recently, Jiang Ming had also handled a textbook case of a rare acute abdominal condition.
Sure enough, Huo Yun had kept the two of them behind to give them special instructions; they were his top candidates for the competition.
He told Jiang Ming and Wu Ting to submit their standout cases as soon as possible, adding that he could arrange for assistance with writing the reports if they needed it.
Jiang Ming, of course, needed no help. For him, something like this was a trivial matter.
"I understand. Don’t worry, Director Huo. I’ll submit the case files on time."
Jiang Ming had rather delicate features and fair skin, and he wore a pair of black-framed glasses. In terms of looks, he was just a step behind Wu Ting, but his aura was much more powerful.
After all, he was an associate chief physician capable of leading his own team and performing highly complex surgeries.
Before he left, Jiang Ming shot a curious glance at Wu Ting, this up-and-comer, then departed coolly.
Huo Yun was used to Jiang Ming’s disposition; talented people were bound to be arrogant. Besides, Jiang Ming wasn’t like Qin Donglai. He wasn’t one of Huo Yun’s direct protégés.
Wu Ting, however, was delighted by Director Huo’s kind offer. "Thank you so much, Director Huo. I’m still rather inexperienced when it comes to writing up cases for a competition."
’Wu Ting welcomed any and all medical scenarios. Who knew, this might even drop a few more system entries.’
Huo Yun was very pleased with Wu Ting’s humility and eagerness to learn. "Submit a first draft to me, and I’ll have my graduate student help you polish it."
The graduate student in question was, of course, Cheng Feng. Cheng Feng had plenty of merits; his fundamentals were solid, and he was a talented and excellent workhorse.