31 – Evaluation

On the 12th week of residency, the chiefs reviewed the quarterly performances of the residents. Most of the comments and performance evaluations were made by the head nurses and attending doctors from each department.

Unsurprisingly, Li Yun had the lowest assessment from the doctors and surgeons, but higher assessment from the nurses. The ACS chiefs knew from experiences that nurses were more reliable in their assessments than doctors. Doctors graded the residents based on how much they like the resident, and nurses graded doctors on how well they can work with patients.

"I'm surprised Doctor Zhao gave him a high evaluation," commented Chief Lim. 'The grumpy man never praised any residents before. It's a C, but still better than most."

"It's because he gets more time to sleep with Little Yun working," said Chief Gao.

"Little Yun?" Chief Lim raised her right eyebrow while looking at Chief Gao from across the meeting room table. "I thought you hated the kid."

"I hate him more now than ever before," Chief Gao commented. Having spent most of the night shifts with Li Yun, he had a good general idea of Li Yun's personality and work ethic. The guy was really committed to helping as many patients as possible, but it bothered him how easy things came Li Yun. The guy was just too good for a first-year resident. Chief Gao had seen geniuses before, but they all seemed to have traumatic pasts that pushed them to grow up quickly and the type who couldn't deal with patients well.

According to the nurses, Li Yun didn't suffer from any particular personality problem with the patients and was talkative and friendly to everyone. He had problems were some of the senior doctors, but Chief Gao himself had issues with most of them and he got a kick from hearing about Li Yun chewing them out.

Chief Gao was admittedly a workaholic as it was a way to avoid the loneliness of an empty home. To see someone like Li Yun, who had everything going for him, worked just as hard made him envious. Although his hate was genuine, he couldn't help but like him as well.

"Enough about that brat," Chief Gao said as he passed Chief Lim two other reports. "But we have to talk about An Luchang and Mi Xuan."

"Both performed excellently in classroom settings, obeyed orders well, and could make great technical surgeons. You're still worried about their low EQ?" asked Chief Lim.

"For surgeons, having emotional intelligence isn't as important as primary care doctors, but having some form of empathy will help patient recovery," said Chief Gao. "I didn't want them in the program before, and after this year, it's likely I will recommend them to a different program."

"Aren't you being a little too harsh?" asked Chief Lim. "Their withdrawn personality is likely due to them constantly being frowned upon because of their strangeness and gender."

"I know, but they are training to be surgeons who will be dealing with extremely stressful situations," Chief Gao replied. "We don't need surgeons who will have mental breakdowns. This is dangerous for patients."

Chief Lim sighed. An Luchang was quiet, but his awkwardness made the patients feel awkward as well. Mi Xuan was even worse as she was the confrontational type.

"It is a concern, but it is also too early to tell," Chief Zhang remarked at the head of the table.

"How about we let Dr. Li handle them?" asked Chief Lim.

Chief Gao gave Chief Lim a look of disbelief. "You're not serious?"

"The residents address Dr. Li as their boss. I'm sure it's easier for them to help themselves. We are in charge of training them to be qualified surgeons, but we are too old to understand how their generation thinks."

"You're old! I'll let you know I'm a cool dad."

"Really?" Chief Lim snorted. "Just because you follow C-pop doesn't make you a cool dad. Little Ahna probably pretends you're a stranger."

"Anyway, I'll speak with Little Yun later. This will probably distract him from causing more chaos around the hospital."

"Oh? How so? Can't be nothing more chaotic than Dr. Chun's arrest..." Chief Lim watched Chief Gao's face hinting at something. "You think Dr. Li had something to do with Dr. Chun's arrest?"

"Just a guess."

"Interesting."

"Oh ho ho, it's too bad I'm stuck with all these management meetings," complained Chief Zhang. "I really want to see how good this kid is up close. I have watched some of the recordings. Although I can't say he is a great surgeon, he knows what he's doing, and can handle the pressure well. If you tell me he's a first year resident, I would not have believed it."

"Yeah, from a purely technical aspect, both Mi Xuan and An Luchang performed better during simulation," Chief Lim assessed. "However, in actual surgeries, Li Yun typically performs better, and it has more to do with him knowing how to handle real patients and make decisions under stress. This is not something that can be taught."

"Chief Lim, wanna switch places?" Chief Zhang pleaded, he was always stuck doing administrative work as the Department Head.

"No."

"That's cold, you didn't stop to think," Chief Zhang sighed. "But it is a necessary evil. I was able to convince management to approve of the ACS leading the ED. Chief Luo will be retiring soon, I will take over his position."

Everyone nodded. The reason why there were two Deputy Chiefs was for this particular reason. Director Hong had promised to have ACS take over the Emergency Department once Chief Luo retired. Chief Luo was already in a semi-retirement state and was coasting on his remaining vacation days.

"The final approval process will be during the next staff meeting," Chief Zhang declared.

"It would be good to have our own space instead of sharing with the general surgery department," said Chief Lim.

****

Elsewhere in the cybernet, everyone was busy being nosy.

FattyFang: Engagement party in a week!

Xuxu: Do you want me to rent up the entire karaoke?

JuDe: Don't flaunt your wealth you idiot. Just a seating area.

Bufu: @mulian. Need me to help with the planning?

Mulian: *shakes head emoji*

FattyFang: @DaYun, you better go.

Li Yun closed the app as a message popped up to remind him of his evaluation meeting with Chief Gao. The resident's quarter was close ER, and Li Yun timed it to arrive exactly on time. After knocking on the door, Li Yun entered the office, sat down across from Chief Gao, and casually made himself at home.

"You cheeky punk, all the doctors are pissed off at you," Chief Gao threw Li Yun's report on the table.

Li Yun glanced through the report and rolled his eyes.

"How's Mr. Gu recovering?" Li Yun asked. Mr. Gu was the husband from the car accident.

"Recovering well," replied Chief Gao. "His last checkup was a few days ago. We shouldn't need another checkup for a few months. His wife is also doing well."

Li Yun nodded.

"The police arrested Dr. Chun the other day," Chief Gao continued.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"So the anonymous tip wasn't you?"

"Nope, not me."

Chief Gao eyed Li Yun suspiciously.

Thinking back, Dr. Chun looked unusually nervous during the last staff meeting. Chief Gao had wondered if something had happened since Li Yun was his assistance during an appendectomy.

The nurse at the time was Nurse Liu, who was also Dr. Chun's wife. She resigned a day before Dr. Chun was arrested.

Out of everyone in the hospital, Chief Gao hated Dr. Chun the most. While all the attendings were egoistical and flawed in some ways, they were mostly bearable. Dr. Chun was rumored to be lecherous, but no one had directly accused him of such acts. There were some years ago, but the accusation never formally took place.

"You haven't been here long, but you should know Nurse Liu is a good woman," Chief Gao said. "She was the one that tipped off the police about his drug deals."

The hospital didn't announce the reason that Dr. Chun was fired, but there was a small posting online from a local newspaper. Dr. Chun had been revising the purchase order and reselling drugs on the black market for a long time. Nurse Liu had kept track of the original receipts and purchase orders. It seemed that she always had the intention to expose him, but she was afraid to actually take the final step.

Chief Gao shook his head. "It's too bad that they can't charge him for his other crimes."

Dr. Chun had likely used his position to abuse many people, but none of it was the cause of his downfall. There were things in society that didn't make sense. Rapists and murderers could easily find ways to avoid arrest, but it was usually tax evasion and money fraud that did them in.

"How did you manage to convince her?" Chief Gao asked.

"I guilted her into it," Li Yun finally admitted. "She's the type of woman who thinks of herself as a good person. She regularly goes to the temple and prays that her husband will improve, but never actually attempts to stop him. She had watched many women suffer, but convinced herself that there was nothing she could do or that the timing isn't right. After I made her realize how selfish she really is, she decided to come forward, but more to prove that I am wrong about her. So I do wonder, is she still considered a good person?"

"Do you have a therapist?"

"Yep," Li Yun replied.

*** Somewhere in Kaishi High, Wu Bin sneezed. ***

"Dr. Gao, don't you have a bigger problem with An Luchang and Mi Xuan?" Li Yun asked.

Dr. Gao took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I would rather you handle these two than the attendings. The attendings aren't the best, but we are short-staffed. If you get rid of one attending, the next person that replaces them isn't going to be any better."

Li Yun nodded.

Two weeks later, the hospital hired Dr. Chun v2.0. He wasn't lecherous as Dr. Chun, but constantly touted his own horn to compensate for his lack of ability. At least he was too new in his position to cause harm to others.