novelraw Chapter 352 - 318: The First Patient
Chapter 352 - 318: The First Patient
Lu Jiu didn’t know that inside the clinic room, the other doctors were discussing him.
He had just familiarized himself with the items at his workstation when, with Shang Yehua’s help, he began to get into the groove of receiving patients.
Just now, Shang Yehua had already seen three patients, and after he finishes, all he needs to do is press a button at the workstation to notify the nurses in the main hall that his workstation is ready for the next call.
After pressing the button, Lu Jiu sat quietly at his workstation and waited.
It was around 7 a.m., and although there were quite a few people, they were all clustered in the first few clinic rooms.
"Dr. Shang, how many doctors do you have at Wei Medical Hall?" Lu Jiu asked, seeing that no patients were coming in for the moment and starting a casual conversation with Shang Yehua.
Shang Yehua laughed and said, "We have seventeen chief physicians, all of whom have been in practice for over twenty or thirty years as seasoned senior TCM doctors. As for regular doctors, there are about sixty or seventy, and every one of them is quite skilled."
Lu Jiu believed this.
Wei Medical Hall was a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic established in Jinling, after all.
Although having over a hundred TCM doctors would be considered large in a small place, in Jinling, it’s relatively few.
Among these hundred TCM doctors, even the least skilled one could easily outshine the TCM doctors at Jianghan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
One could even say that the TCM doctors from Jianghan Hospital wouldn’t even qualify to apply to Wei Medical Hall.
Tsk tsk tsk!
Lu Jiu was a bit envious.
If he could invite these people to his hospital, he wouldn’t worry about the hospital not taking off!
It might not even take a year before the entire medical field in Jianghan is dominated by Lu Jiu TCM Hospital!
Yet, unfortunately, that vision could only be a fantasy.
Anyone could see the gap between Jinling and Jianghan.
Who in their right mind would follow Lu Jiu to some remote countryside?
Luckily, Huang Fusheng has his own team, and that team isn’t much weaker than Wei Medical Hall’s. At the very least, those at the chief level can contend with Wei Medical Hall, though they might be fewer in number.
With the addition of the people Shen Congwei brought, Lu Jiu TCM Hospital was able to take off so quickly.
"Can you still expand further?" Lu Jiu asked.
Shang Yehua laughed, "It’s unlikely because all our doctors at Wei Medical Hall are capable of handling things on their own. Although students come to learn every year, few can actually stay. As you should know, in the field of TCM, if you don’t start learning from a young age, starting halfway means you need to spend at least ten years to become competent, and if you want to handle many complex cases, even if you’re extraordinarily talented, it takes at least fifteen years."
"Just calculating from an eighteen-year-old university student, they’d be at least thirty-two years old to barely qualify. But such a level is hard to get hired by Wei Medical Hall, so most of our doctors here are over thirty-five. Almost none are under thirty."
"Actually, we could hire some less skilled TCM doctors, but that’s useless as many patients won’t see a new doctor if their treatments don’t work, significantly affecting the clinic’s reputation. So, for quality treatment, Wei Medical Hall hasn’t set up branches in Jinling."
"At most, we’ve created the Wei Medical Hall Group to apply for patents on the traditional Chinese medicine formulas we’ve developed, then sell them. Oh, by the way, in recent years, Master Wei also wants to establish a Wei Medical Hall Academy to train young TCM doctors, effectively changing the old recruitment method to fostering newcomers."
Quality treatment...
Indeed.
This is the clinic’s way of survival!
To maintain a reputation, you need highly skilled TCM doctors.
However, this approach blocks the advancement space for new doctors. The plan for the Wei Medical Hall Academy nicely fills this gap.
Yet, even with the fierce competition at Wei Medical Hall, it can’t satisfy all the students there. Even if they barely qualify and enter Wei Medical Hall, they likely won’t match experienced doctors because anyone looks for a trustworthy, seasoned doctor.
If nobody books their services, with prolonged low income, they might not endure the place for long.
It’s like working in a company with only a base salary and no performance bonus; who would stay motivated!
Therefore, creating a learning environment outside hospitals isn’t much different from the old traditional Chinese medicine schools.
In the past, people could take their time, but the times have changed now. The old methods clearly don’t work anymore.
Lu Jiu’s system of using consultation fees to determine a doctor’s salary, and employing a disease diversion system to give new doctors maximum patient exposure, differs from the traditional TCM academies.
This method solves the issue of reputation decline due to many new doctors, avoids competition between new and experienced doctors, and still allows newcomers to earn a high salary.
They learn while still earning money, and quite a bit of it too.
Lu Jiu also saw the advantages of his hospital system from traditional TCM clinic systems.
Of course, there are also shortcomings.
For instance, patent applications for herbal formulas.
This is something Lu Jiu hadn’t considered before, and now hearing Shang Yehua mention it, he immediately realized it.
Formulas for things like whitening and anti-hair loss from Lu Jiu TCM Hospital are definitely not meant just for the local market. Once sold widely, the profits would be considerable.
Many TCM clinics, despite having few doctors, are immensely wealthy due to having unique herbal formulas, each patented.
This needs to be put on the agenda once Lu Jiu returns!
After the casual chat, a green light suddenly lit up on Lu Jiu’s workstation.
Shang Yehua immediately informed Lu Jiu that someone had booked his consultation.
Soon, within less than a minute, a patient arrived in the clinic room.
When he sat down in front of Lu Jiu holding his number, his eyes glanced at Lu Jiu, then at Shang Yehua.
He remembered booking an appointment with Shang Yehua, yet the person sitting in front of him was unfamiliar, and Shang Yehua, who should have been treating him, was sitting to the side.
"Dr. Shang, this..." Ding Yulong looked at Shang Yehua, confused.
Shang Yehua immediately smiled and explained, "This is Dr. Lu, Lu Jiu, a general TCM expert we’ve invited. Rest assured, he’s very good."
Although he hadn’t seen Lu Jiu practice medicine before, Wei Zhengxian had mentioned it beforehand.
Lu Jiu’s medical skill was very high, definitely not below his own. As for how high the limit was, even Wei Zhengxian wasn’t sure.
That’s also why he wanted Lu Jiu to come over!
The purpose was to see just how strong Lu Jiu really was.
Oh!?
If even Dr. Shang says he’s good, then he must not be bad.
Ding Yulong felt much more at ease now.
"Alright, Dr. Lu, please take a look for me."
Lu Jiu nodded, "I’ll check your pulse first. Come on, extend both your hands."
Wei Medical Hall, the first patient.
Lu Jiu decided to carry out his teacher’s advice.
Make a grand impression!
...