Great Doctor Ling Ran

Panda Novel

In the department director’s office of the Emergency Medical Center, the spider ivies and money plants were strategically positioned by a professional landscape company all over the office’s walls and windowsills. Sunlight shone in through the window, bestowing warmth upon the skin. It was a pleasant place to be in.

The office was not the only place that had transformed. Department Director Huo’s table was now made of beautiful silkwood. It was a little yellowish and grained, and it looked forbiddingly pleasant.

Ling Ran only had to inform the administrative assistant sitting by the door about his arrival, and he could enter the office without hassle. And a huge flock of pharmaceutical sales representatives were standing behind him.

“Remember to close the door,” Huo Congjun reminded Ling Ran with a chuckle. “You know, those pharmaceutical sales representatives like to find out what’s going on inside here when they have nothing on their plates.”

Ling Ran was used to this, and he merely nodded. “You can’t stop other people from eavesdropping by closing the door. You can try broadcasting music to create spatial distance, it’s more effective than spatial isolation.”

Huo Congjun thought about it and could not help but laugh. “Then, in the future, I should work in a golf course where music is broadcasted.”

After a moment, before Ling Ran could say anything, Huo Congjun continued laughing and said, “Or I can head to a prison’s plaza where music is broadcasted.”

Ling Ran looked at Huo Congjun with an indifferent expression. He did not get what Huo Congjun was trying to say, and he did not intend to do so either.

Huo Congjun started laughing again when he saw Ling Ran’s expression. “Forget about it. Hm… with your attitude, it’ll be hard for you to coordinate things.”

He had already seen the information on the screen of the iPad Ling Ran was holding. He furrowed his eyebrows even though he was still smiling. “Metastatic stomach cancer? For this kind of surgery, our hospital is currently implementing a multidisciplinary approach, MDT. Hm… quite a lot of departments will be involved.”

Ling Ran nodded and said, “The input from various departments will be helpful.”

“Of course it’ll be helpful, but it’ll be troublesome to coordinate things. You really want to take on this project?”

“Of course.”

“MDT has been implemented for quite a while in our hospital. You can say that it’s simple, but you can also say that it’s hard. It’s easy for some people, but it’s harder for others…” Huo Congjun raised his chin, and the expression on his face was hard to decipher.

Ling Ran merely hummed in acknowledgement. He was not someone who liked to read between the lines, and this was because people around him always spoke with hidden meanings. To be able to continue living life without trouble, it was impossible for him to read between the lines whenever people spoke.

Huo Congjun went silent for a moment.

From what he could see, Ling Ran was actually not a suitable person to carry out any collaborative efforts with. Comparatively, Zuo Cidian might be able to coordinate all the parties involved better with his personality and experience.

Of course, it was impossible for Zuo Cidian to take on this project. The coordination of the project was merely a plus point and not a must. A doctor who was not skillful enough would be pushed around like a doormat throughout the entire project like this if he were to lead the project. This was just like what happened with renovation companies. When an ordinary house was being renovated, even if the owner were to supervise the renovation day in and day out, he would not be able to understand what was going on and would hence be deceived at every step of the way. However, if a large and tall building were being renovated, the owner would need to be proficient in this field so that he could supervise the work progress.

Surgery for stomach metastasis from liver cancer was considered quite a large project among the MDT projects in Yun Hua Hospital. Hence, it was obvious that there would be a high requirement in all aspects.

Huo Congjun took a deep breath and shook his head as he looked at Ling Ran again. He emphasized his point. “This wouldn’t be easy for you.”

Internally, Huo Congjun was feeling a little helpless too. Things would have been easier if he was an associate hospital director.

Truth be told, Huo Congjun had also gone through some traumatic experiences when it came to coordinating things between departments.

Why did he try to expand the Emergency Department all the time? And why did he scold people day in and day out? It was all because in the early days of being the department director of the emergency department, he was always oppressed and tortured by various departments.

Now, he had managed to make a name for himself by scolding people, and the Emergency Department had become an Emergency Medical Center. However, there was still a certain distance between the scale of the Emergency Medical Center and his end goal. Even if he were to disregard arduous aspects, the fact that the department did not even have its research center meant that it was not that large of a department.

Aside from this, ever since the inception of Yun Hua Emergency Medical Center, even though the other departments had ignored them and did not give them any trouble, it was impossible for those departments to offer them any help.

And for surgery which involved both the liver and the stomach, they would need to coordinate with more than one or two departments.

Huo Congjun extended his fingers one by one as he spoke to Ling Ran. “Based on the patient’s medical records, he was first taken in by the Digestive Surgery Department. But I reckon that the General Surgery Department and Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology would also want to participate in a surgery of such a scale. Of course, the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery should be included too. If all of them are in, there would be four departments involved. Together with our department, a total of five departments would be working together. Don’t forget about the Pathology Department, Medical Imaging Department, Chemotherapy Center, and the Oncology Department—”

“What if we take the lead and ask other departments who are willing to participate to send doctors over?” Ling Ran had participated in disaster relief efforts before, so he had witnessed various departments and even hospitals working together.

“MDT doesn’t work like this,” Huo Congjun said calmly, “Everyone will have to participate in meetings and coordinate things, as MDT emphasizes on centering things around the patient. So, everyone would need to explain things in detail to the patient, and this includes convincing the patient. Aside from this, doctors from various departments will also have to participate in the actual surgery. Remember what happened a few days ago when a lot of burn patients were sent in because of the fire? You took charge and did everything by yourself in the emergency room, covering everything with your skills. This wouldn’t work for MDT.”

Ling Ran thought for a moment and asked, “Why not?”

Huo Congjun was actually tongue-tied for a moment. ‘Why not?’

“Because multidisciplinary effort is the trend right now.” Huo Congjun managed to utter a reply.

Ling Ran shook his head. “I don’t care about trends.”

“This isn’t what I mean…” Huo Congjun was unable to think of what to say next. Actually, trends in the field of medicine and fashion were not much different.

Was something that was in trend definitely the best? Of course not.

Small incisions were the trend, but it did not mean that small incisions were the best. This was especially true under arduous conditions such as surgery for cancer patients, and the size of the incision was the least of all the problems involved in such a surgery. Yet even so, minimally invasive incisions could still be said to be the trendiest thing in the field of medicine right now.

Trends came and went. Some would end up becoming the main trend, but most would not.

Even if something ended up becoming the main trend, it did not mean that it was the only choice.

Huo Congjun glanced at Ling Ran. In reality, Ling Ran was the most unconventional doctor that he had ever met.

“Since you are able to perform hepatectomy and gastrectomy, theoretically, you can carry out this surgery alone…” Now that Huo Congjun was thinking from Ling Ran’s perspective, he could kind of understand where Ling Ran was coming from. He then continued, “But this is kind of an old-fashioned way of going about it, and I have no idea what other departments would say about this.”

Ling Ran hummed in acknowledgement and said, “I never know what they’re thinking about, anyway.”

Huo Congjun could not help but laugh. “True, that.”

“So, does it mean that we can operate on this patient?” Ling Ran asked. This was what he cared about the most right now.

Huo Congjun nodded slowly, and his brain was working at full speed. He said as he thought about things, “I’ll talk to the Digestive Surgery Department and start an MDT team first. With an MDT team, we’ll be able to trick the patient into agreeing to be treated by us. After that, we’ll see what you can do.”

As Huo Congjun spoke, he suddenly gained a better understanding of things.

Of course, it would be best if Ling Ran was able to lead an MDT team. But even if he could not, it would be fine. If this were to happen, the other departments would be the ones having a hard time.