This doctor is already middle-aged, and he's only just started practicing medicine.

Chapter 16 Tsushita Suturing Techniques! ~ (Please add to your favorites and read on!)

In Longxian County, a barbecue stall wasn't doing very well.

Lu Cheng and Chen Song sat facing each other in a corner. After Lu Cheng ordered, he handed the menu over while opening an ice-cold Dettol beer: "Teacher Chen, would you like to add anything else?"

"It's my treat today, please don't be shy."

Lu Cheng ordered first, since he was in Long County, so he knew which restaurant had good food and what was special.

Chen Song shook the menu as he picked it up. He had originally planned to make Lu Cheng bleed money on a meal, but after seeing the amount Lu Cheng ordered, he not only didn't add any dishes, but actually reduced the portions: "It's fine to treat someone, but don't waste food."

"Waste is the greatest disrespect to food," Chen Song said earnestly.

Lu Cheng explained, "Teacher Chen, this should be your first time here. I don't know your tastes, so I thought I'd let you try more."

"A toast to you, let me sip my drink."

Bored in the summer, Chen Song was alone in Long County. Although he was often invited to drinking parties by Lin Qianlong and others, the conversations were mostly meaningless.

Chen Song preferred to have a private chat with Lu Cheng about professional knowledge: "You've mastered the modified Kessler technique to a point where you've barely entered the door. You're ready to go to the clinic and actually solve problems for patients."

"Going further, the goal is to pursue higher surgical quality, rather than practicing in order to complete tendon suture surgery."

"Judging from the summaries of key points you sent me, you must have consulted quite a few professional books!"

"The Tsushita suture method and the Tang method are two classic techniques that cannot be bypassed in hand surgery tendon suturing. In terms of applicability, the Tsushita suture method developed by Japanese doctors is even more widely applicable."

"Therefore, the Tsushita suture technique is the next subject you need to study in depth."

"There's one thing we need to get right. While patriotism is important, we should also learn the excellent techniques developed by Dr. Tsuge. Mastering these techniques will help us solve problems for our patients more effectively."

Lu Cheng replied, "Teacher Chen, of course we should learn any good technique."

陈松解释着：“1区、3区的屈肌腱，2区、3区、7区的手部伸肌腱，目前最推崇的缝合技法就是津下缝合法。”

"Although many professors in China have tried to replace the Tang method or the modified Tang method with it, there is currently no substantial evidence that it can replace the tendon suturing in these areas."

“If we have the opportunity, we can try to cover it up with other stitching techniques, but for now, as beginners, we still need to learn this technique…”

"If you find the right technique for tendon injuries in different locations, it's very difficult for problems to occur."

"Regarding the Tsushita suture method and the practice rhythm of Tang, do you want to find the information yourself or should I help you find it?" Chen Song asked Lu Cheng specifically.

Lu Cheng quickly said, "Teacher Chen, I can handle finding the information myself."

"It would be a great trouble for you to offer some guidance at the appropriate time..."

Whether it's a master's or doctoral degree, no matter how honest and caring the student is, they wouldn't dare ask their supervisor to find materials to provide feedback and support.

Go against Tiangang!

Learning technology is your own responsibility. You can ask a mentor for help when you have questions and receive guidance from a teacher when appropriate.

Expecting a teacher to lecture you like a high school student and force you to learn technical skills is absolutely unrealistic.

College students are adults, and adults should be responsible for their own future and for every choice they make.

Chen Song thought for a while before asking, puzzled, "Lu Cheng, I see that you have a strong desire to learn, and your aptitude is not bad either. Haven't you ever thought about taking the postgraduate entrance exam before?"

Lu Cheng has a positive and proactive attitude towards learning; it's unlikely he wouldn't have considered taking the postgraduate entrance exam.

Lu Cheng replied frankly, "Teacher Chen, I definitely took the test, but I slipped..."

"Slipped? Why?" Chen Song pressed.

"It didn't come with any articles..." Lu Cheng smiled wryly.

He was an undergraduate from an ordinary family. Even if he studied at Han City University, he couldn't find the door to the laboratory or the direction of the research group during his undergraduate studies. So how could he produce academic papers?
Upon hearing this, Chen Song immediately sensed something was amiss: "No article submitted with you? That's quite rare. Which hospital did you apply to?"

“Orthopedics Department, Huashan Hospital,” Lu Cheng said. Chen Song immediately realized, his tone slightly surprised: “Huashan Hospital? Huashan Hospital has so many fewer master's degree positions than doctoral positions, and you still dare to apply?”

Huashan Hospital has a very strong orthopedic department, especially its hand surgery department, which is considered the best in the country. Even the hand surgery department of Jishuitan Hospital may not be stronger than that of Huashan Hospital.

In these top-tier teaching hospitals, the number of master's degree students is less than the number of doctoral students. Once you complete your master's degree, you are basically guaranteed a direct PhD. It may seem like you are taking a postgraduate entrance exam, but in reality, it is a direct PhD entrance exam.

Lu Cheng rubbed his nose: "After all, I was young and impetuous, and I thought I had studied quite well back then."

"I didn't understand the essential rules of the postgraduate entrance examination, so I suffered a lot of setbacks."

"Then why didn't you participate in World War II?" Chen Song asked again.

If one battle doesn't work, there's always another. Lu Cheng was able to get into the master's entrance exam interview at Huashan Hospital. Getting into a 211 university the following year would be a piece of cake, wouldn't it?

Lu Cheng didn't reply, but instead poured Chen Song another glass of beer.

A gurgling sound and bubbles rose simultaneously, the bubbles overflowing the rim of the cup and dripping onto the table, forming water stains.

Lu Cheng stopped what he was doing, bit his lip, and then smiled and said, "Teacher Chen, in the end, it's just that we're young and impetuous and don't know any better."

"Back then, I ranked first in the written exam for my master's degree. The teaching secretary of Huashan Hospital informed me privately that I had failed the re-examination and explained the reasons. They suggested that I apply for a transfer as soon as possible, but I was not convinced."

Chen Song was frank and could understand Lu Cheng's resentment: "And then?"

"And then I ended up getting hurt? I don't even have the chance to go back to my original school. The Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University doesn't lack applicants for master's programs, and in principle, they don't accept transfer students."

"I thought, 'Standardized residency training it is. I refuse to believe that standardized residency training can't take down those guys. I'm determined to go down the professional route and start over.' Professor Chen, you know, top hospitals like Huashan Hospital have 'ladders to the top' for professional and academic graduate students, with 'extraordinary recruitment' standards..."

"After all, I was young. Only after I started my formal residency training did I realize that the little knowledge I learned during my undergraduate studies was completely useless in clinical practice."

"Compared to my master's thesis, my novice status was immediately exposed."

"At Zhongnan Hospital, even the attending physicians were often ridiculed by the head of the team. With my meager skills at the time, I couldn't even get onto the operating table."

"Without the careful guidance of teachers or senior students, no matter how hard you try, you can only barely reach the same level as other master's students in the same year. There is no way to stand out."

“Learning…” Lu Cheng bit his lip: “Teachers are very important.”

“Especially in the study of medical technology, teachers are even more important... otherwise you won’t even know which way the door to a treatment for a disease opens.”

"The information and knowledge available online are barely even close to the basics."

"It's like the modified Kessler suture technique. If I hadn't asked the guys I met during my previous residency, how would I have known to practice it that way?"

Lu Cheng said this with a frank tone: "So I am very, very grateful to Teacher Chen for taking the time to guide me."

"I will cherish this opportunity very, very much." Lu Cheng's voice was not choked with emotion, only filled with gratitude and calm...

"Not so arrogant anymore?" Chen Song showed no sympathy for Lu Cheng, but instead coldly shot an arrow.

Lu Cheng wasn't angry. Chen Song's stance was different from his. In Chen Song's view, he deserved what he had done. His expression was obsequious: "You've suffered enough. Now all that's left is to listen to advice..."

"At your age, it's a bit too late to listen to advice."

I don't even know how to express how good you are.

"Being willful, huh? You won't get anything out of being willful. Medicine isn't as simple as you think, and learning technical skills isn't as straightforward as the textbooks and exam questions you've learned before..."

"These surgical techniques, in modern society, are essentially family skills passed down from generation to generation, dating back two hundred years."

"Many department heads in prefecture-level, county, and provincial hospitals simply don't know certain techniques. They wouldn't dare claim they've mastered them, but you're something else..."

"Serves you right! You deserve it!" Chen Song cursed, his words quite harsh.

A beautiful face, somewhat familiar yet strangely distant, flashed through Lu Cheng's mind, and he laughed: "Yes, she deserves it!!"

(End of this chapter)