Liu Jin, the vice president of medical administration at the Binhai University Affiliated Hospital, carefully sized up Yan Feifan, who had come to report for duty.
He had neat short hair and a slender build, which made his nearly 1.8-meter frame seem even taller. However, unlike before, he didn't give off a sense of frailty.
His handsome, sunny, oval-shaped face had well-defined features and a clearly healthy, rosy complexion.
Liu Jin nodded in satisfaction and said with a faint smile, "Feifan, I've looked over your physical exam and the psychiatric evaluation from Mr. Miao..."
"There's no problem with you coming back to work."
"It's just..."
Liu Jin said with concern, "You still look a little thin. You haven't fully recovered. Are you sure you don't want to rest at home for a little while longer?"
Yan Feifan shook his head. "Thank you for your concern, Sir. I've just gotten so bored of staying at home."
Liu Jin laughed. "I get it, I get it!"
"Your sister mentioned more than once that you can't sit still at home. When you weren't busy with physical therapy, you were either watching surgical training videos or practicing with surgical instruments to get your touch back."
After a pause, Liu Jin's tone changed. "Over the past couple of days, I've discussed your situation with a few of the department heads..."
He said thoughtfully, "Feifan, you still haven't completed your pediatrics and gynecology rotations for your residency."
"It's just, those two departments are swamped with patients. The workload is intense, and we're worried it might be too much for you to handle right now..."
Just as Yan Feifan was about to insist that he was fine and could handle the intense workload, he heard Liu Jin continue, "After some discussion, we've decided..."
"We'll have you start in the Diagnostics Department."
Liu Jin explained, "The Diagnostics Department primarily handles difficult and complex cases. The work is more cerebral, and the workload is relatively light."
"You can get back into the rhythm of hospital work, give your body more time to recover, and then we'll plan your next phase..."
The Diagnostics Department is the core of any hospital. Its caliber is arguably the most direct reflection of a hospital's overall standard of medical care.
The department brought together the hospital's most clinically experienced physicians. They took on patients with complex cases that other departments struggled to diagnose, as well as referrals from other hospitals, running repeated examinations and tests to confirm a diagnosis and create a final treatment plan.
The Diagnostics Department at Binhai University Affiliated Hospital had a total of five expert-level diagnosticians.
Each of them had over thirty years of clinical experience and was renowned nationwide in their respective fields of expertise.
They each led a medical team of junior and mid-career doctors. While they treated patients with difficult cases, they also focused on teaching and providing guidance.
For the most promising young doctors in every department of the Affiliated Hospital, getting into the Diagnostics Department was a primary goal.
It would allow them to receive direct guidance from the expert diagnosticians, an experience that would be of immense benefit to their careers.
Yan Feifan was, of course, delighted with this arrangement.
He offered his thanks, left the vice president's office, and first went to Administration and Logistics to pick up a new uniform and work ID.
Then, he went to Equipment Services to collect the tools he needed for work: a stethoscope, a medical penlight, a pen, a notebook, and a personal tablet.
After checking that everything was in order and getting properly outfitted, Yan Feifan hurried to the sixth floor of the Comprehensive Diagnostics Building.
He knocked and entered the office of Qee Sheng, the director of the Diagnostics Department. Inside, Yan Feifan saw seven junior and mid-career doctors gathered around the hale and hearty, white-haired Dr. Qee Sheng, deep in a heated discussion about a patient's condition.
Seeing the group stop their discussion and turn to look at him, Yan Feifan gave Mr. Qi a slight bow and introduced himself. "Mr. Qi, I'm Yan Feifan, a resident physician. I'm here to report for duty."
The director, Qee Sheng, was sixty-one years old. He was a chief physician and a nationally recognized medical expert who received a special allowance from the State Council.
As for the other seven doctors of varying ages, Yan Feifan thought two of them looked vaguely familiar, but the other five were complete strangers.
The Affiliated Hospital was a top-tier comprehensive hospital that integrated medical care, research, and education, with a staff of three to four thousand people.
Yan Feifan wasn't a very social person to begin with.
In the entire hospital, there were probably only forty or fifty people he could greet by name.
Qee Sheng gave Yan Feifan a once-over, then gestured to an empty spot on the sofa. "Have a seat."
Yan Feifan sat down calmly, ignoring the others' scrutinizing gazes.
"We were in the middle of discussing a patient's case."
Qee Sheng offered a brief explanation, then turned to a female doctor in her thirties with a ponytail. "We Xin," he instructed, "send a copy of the patient file to Xiaoyan."
The doctor, We Xin, acknowledged the request and sent the patient's file to Yan Feifan's tablet via Bluetooth.
Yan Feifan then began to quickly scroll through the patient's medical records on his tablet, including her history, examination results, and various lab data...
The patient was a fourteen-year-old girl referred from Su Province. Her chief complaints were unexplained bodily swelling and a stinging pain all over.
The onset of these symptoms was sporadic.
According to the patient, the symptoms first appeared in mid-February of last year.
Since then, episodes would recur, sometimes with a gap of two or three months, other times only one or two weeks.
These sudden symptoms would last for a day or two before resolving on their own, with no lingering adverse effects.
The patient also reported that the swelling and stinging pain grew stronger with each subsequent episode.
As Yan Feifan scrolled further into the file, he saw that the various examinations and lab tests the patient had undergone, both at other hospitals and most recently at the Affiliated Hospital, revealed no significant abnormalities or markers.
While Yan Feifan reviewed the patient's file, the interrupted discussion between Qee Sheng and his medical team resumed.
After a few minutes of discussion, a large, burly doctor said in a booming voice, "Mr. Qi, I believe it's an allergic reaction to some kind of substance."
"That would explain the sporadic nature of the patient's swelling and pain, as well as the spontaneous recovery."
We Xin countered, "The patient has already undergone allergen screening and testing, but they didn't find any such allergic reactions."
The burly doctor insisted, "There are countless allergens. It's perfectly normal for something to be missed during lab tests."
"Mr. Qi, I strongly recommend conducting a detailed environmental investigation and taking samples from the patient's home and school..."
As he said this, the burly doctor suddenly noticed Mr. Qi's displeased expression, and he immediately tensed up.
He then realized that Mr. Qi's displeasure wasn't directed at him, but at the new young resident.
The burly doctor looked over at Yan Feifan and saw him staring blankly at the ceiling, seemingly zoned out.
"Yan Feifan, are you finished with the patient's file?"
Hearing the dissatisfaction in Mr. Qi's voice, the burly doctor sat up ramrod straight, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.
He glanced at Yan Feifan out of the corner of his eye and saw him lower his gaze, his expression unchanged as he said, "Mr. Qi, I've finished!"
"And you've memorized it?"
"I have."
Hearing Yan Feifan's reply, the burly doctor thought, 'This is bad.'
He could already hear the anger simmering in Mr. Qi's tone.
There were over ten pages of detailed consultation notes, plus the diagnostic records and treatment plans from other hospitals, not to mention dozens of examination and lab results. It would take several minutes just to skim through it all.
Let alone memorize it.
'For this guy to be so brazen... Isn't he just asking for trouble?'
'Does Yan Feifan have some ace up his sleeve?'
'Or did being in a coma for over a year fry his brain?'
Having worked for many years and holding the position of department director, Qee Sheng had considerable self-control.
He took the tablet from We Xin and began scrolling through it. "Yan Feifan, I'm somewhat familiar with your situation."
"I know that before your accident, you had a reputation for being a 'genius' and a 'top student,' and you were always quite arrogant and conceited."
He paused, then said bluntly, "I sympathize with what happened to you, but a doctor's duty is to heal the sick and save lives. There is no room for deceit or a lack of rigor."
"You claim you've memorized it all. In that case, I'll have to test you."
Qee Sheng stared into Yan Feifan's eyes, his tone suddenly sharp. "If you're just making irresponsible boasts, then you can go right back where you came from. Get out."