My Medical Skills Give Me Experience Points

Chapter 219: How Hard It Is to be a Medical Student, Seeking Help in Surgical Department



In the operating room, Zhou Can was performing surgeries back to back like a machine.

The sense of crisis that inexplicably emerged in the middle of the lipoma removal surgery was mysterious and just as enigmatic when it vanished. He didn't know when it dissipated on its own.

Zhou Can didn't dwell on it and immersed himself in a new surgery.

...

Busy until the end of the workday, Zhou Can had completed a total of seventeen surgeries today. According to his pace, he could reach close to thirty operations in a day for Level 1 and Level 2 surgeries.

However, the lipoma removal surgery today was a Level 3 operation, having taken up nearly three hours.

There was also the earlier surgery for the thyroid tumor patient, which was likewise a Level 3 operation.

As a result, he only managed to complete seventeen surgeries.

Two Level 3 operations and fifteen Level 1 and Level 2 operations—this volume was actually quite remarkable.

Wu Ziyu had been busy all day following him and must have learned a great deal.

As evening approached around a little past five, although she was reluctant to leave due to bed management duties, she had to hastily head to the wards to hand over her shift.

Resident doctors are essentially equivalent to regular employees—if they happen to be in a less busy department, the workload might be lighter.

In departments where staff is lacking, the workload is considerable.

Her willingness to work eight hours in the operating room followed by a night shift managing the ward demonstrates her dedication to enhancing her surgical skills.

In Tuya Hospital, there are many doctors who strive to advance.

Most doctors and nurses work extremely hard.

After finishing his surgeries, Zhou Can made a point to visit the patient who underwent the lipoma removal surgery.

The patient was already awake.

The patient looked somewhat pale and not very spirited, seeming somewhat fatigued.

"Who is the attending doctor for this patient?"

"It's me, it's me! Hello, Dr. Zhou, my name is Bo Shiren. I'm temporarily in charge of managing the patients in this ward. If there's anything you need, please feel free to tell me to do it."

The attending doctor was a young doctor around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, a genuine resident doctor.

A few years older than Zhou Can.

His position was a little higher than that of Zhou Can, a rotating intern.

Once specialty trainees pass both certifications and register as practitioners in the hospital, they become resident doctors.

However, with relatively little experience, most people obtain their Medical Practitioner Certificate after about two years of specialty training. There are also those less fortunate who fail the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam and have to reapply for the next one.

For those who have not obtained the certificate after three years of specialty training, the situation is quite awkward.

Since the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam is a national examination with a fixed schedule, and practical skills are tested separately from theory, this leads to a quite lengthy testing cycle.

For those rotating interns who do not pass the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam on the first attempt, it is almost impossible to obtain the certificate by the end of the three-year training period.

What to do after the training period is over is a question.

Even if the hospital is willing to keep you to continue working and applying for the Medical Practitioner Certificate, the treatment of rotating interns is pitifully low, while the cost of living in provincial capital cities is high. The result can be that after working for four or five years, you still need to ask your parents for money.

It's already not easy for a family to support a medical undergraduate. If they support a master's or doctoral student, the financial investment is even higher.

The vast majority of families are ordinary, and it took a lot of effort to get you through college or even graduate school.

A few years into working and you still have to ask for money from your parents—it may be given willingly, but it's not something nice to mention.

You would also feel particularly ashamed.

At the same time, you see other peers who have passed their exams and have started on their normal career progression path. One by one, they become official resident doctors, their salaries increase significantly, they are able to participate in department performance bonuses, surgery commissions, and so on, plus year-end bonuses.

To say there's no envy or jealousy—who would believe that?

Then, there are even more serious issues to face. By this time, you are at least in your late twenties and it's time to find a partner.

Girls may have it a bit easier, but if you are a male medical student with no money and an unsettled career, which girl would want to marry you?

The pressure at this time will be like mountains weighing down on you.

And there are even more tragic scenarios than mentioned above.

If you don't pass the Medical Practitioner Certificate exam the first time and the training hospital does not allow you to apply for the Practitioner Certificate, you can only find another hospital on your own and pay to apply for the exam.

So, the road from being a medical student to a doctor is truly exceptionally difficult.

Because it's difficult, it has led many medical students to be forced to change careers—to take on administrative roles or other jobs related to the medical field.

Passing the exam doesn't necessarily lead to smooth sailing, either.

There are too many variables.

For instance, they may lack talent in diagnosis and surgery, or are not outstanding academically, and even if they aren't eliminated by the hospital after a few years, there's little future. Either continue to get by, try to participate in projects, pay for a couple of papers, put in some effort yourself, and aim to promote to an attending physician first.

The success rate for resident doctors to promote to attending physicians is quite high.

Even if you fail once, there's always the next time. Eventually, you will pass.

After becoming an attending physician, just honestly stay in the department.

As long as you don't make any major mistakes, it's no problem to peacefully reach retirement.

What I've described above are the most miserable types of situations.

As for those who do well, they truly have limitless prospects.

Promotion to department head in your forties is not the endpoint but a new beginning in life.

At this level, you will definitely join the academy and take up a teaching position. Rising from assistant to associate professor and then to professor—the teaching positions at the university have thirteen levels, and reaching the position of a Grade 1 professor basically enshrines your name in history.


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