136: Chapter 136 Your focus is always so practical.

Third-floor cafeteria.

Lu Chen got a meal and sat in a corner to eat.

Zhao Yaqin sat opposite him.

After taking a few bites, Lu Chen asked a question.

“Sister Zhao, exactly how much is the prize money for this assessment?”

Zhao Yaqin nearly choked on her food.

“You're asking this now?”

“Just curious.”

“As far as I know, the individual first prize is five thousand, the second prize is three thousand, and the third prize is two thousand. Then, after returning to the Hospital, there will be additional performance bonuses based on your ranking.”

“Five thousand?”

“Mm.”

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

Five thousand yuan.

Adding the Hospital's performance bonus, it should come to seven or eight thousand no matter what.

This amount of money would be enough to repair a room for the Orphanage.

Zhao Yaqin looked at his expression and shook her head helplessly.

“Can you go one second without thinking about money?”

“When it comes to money, you have to think about it.”

“So you're going to fight for this five thousand yuan?”

“Five thousand is still money. Besides, if the assessment results are good, it should help with future promotions, right?”

“That's true. If you get top three in a provincial-level assessment, it's a bonus point when you're being evaluated for Attending Physician.”

“Then that settles it.”

Lu Chen increased his eating speed.

Zhao Yaqin watched him clear his meal like a whirlwind and sighed.

“Your focus really is always so pragmatic.”

“One has to be pragmatic to survive.”

After eating, Lu Chen went to the restroom and ran into Director Qian Fangxu on his way back.

Director Qian Fangxu was holding a cup of tea, leaning against the window in the hallway.

“Little Lu, come here.”

Lu Chen walked over.

“Director Qian.”

“How was the written exam?”

“It was alright.”

“Are you nervous about the practical assessment this afternoon?”

“Not really.”

Director Qian Fangxu looked at him and nodded.

“I like your personality, but I have to remind you of something.”

“Please go ahead.”

“The practical session this afternoon uses a random draw to decide the assessment content. Everyone draws a different topic and the difficulty varies; there's a significant element of luck involved.”

“Mm.”

“But luck aside, the scoring standards for the judges are uniform: operational standardization, time efficiency, adaptability, and final results. These four dimensions each account for twenty-five points, for a total of one hundred.”

He paused for a moment.

“There are five judges in total. The average score is taken, and if one judge's score is too high or too low, it will be excluded, taking the average of the middle three.”

Lu Chen nodded.

“Understood.”

“One more thing.”

Director Qian Fangxu lowered his voice.

“Among the five judges, there is one named Jiang, an old professor from the Provincial Peoples Hospital Emergency Department. This person has always been a very strict grader, and he has some connections with certain people in your Hospital. Just keep that in mind.”

Lu Chen glanced at Director Qian Fangxu.

Director Qian Fangxu's gaze was calm; he didn't say anything more.

“Thank you, Director Qian.”

“No need for thanks. You're the one who warded off those thugs on my Guangfu Hospital territory; I had to give you a heads-up no matter what.”

Director Qian Fangxu patted him on the shoulder and walked away with his teacup.

Lu Chen stood in place, thinking for a few seconds.

Professor Jiang.

Connected to Vice President Peng.

Section Chief He Zhongfeng had come too.

This game of chess was being played quite obviously.

But it didn't matter.

There were five judges, and the average of the middle three would be taken.

Even if Professor Jiang deliberately suppressed his score, as long as the scores from the other four judges were high enough, that low score would be directly excluded.

So the key was still his own strength.

Lu Chen returned to the rest area and sat down to rest with his eyes closed.

...

1:45 PM.

All participants gathered in the practical assessment hall on the fourth floor.

The hall was spacious. In the center was an open operating table equipped with various emergency equipment and a simulator mannequin. Around it was a circle of observation seats, and the judges' seats were positioned directly facing the operating table.

The five judges were already in place.

Lu Chen scanned the judges' bench.

Sitting in the very middle was an old professor around sixty years old with gray hair and a serious face. The name tag on his chest read 'Chief Examiner,' but Lu Chen couldn't see the name clearly.

In the second position on the left sat a man in his fifties wearing gold-rimmed glasses with an arrogant demeanor. His name tag read Jiang Weibang, Provincial Peoples Hospital, Emergency Medicine, Professor.

This must be the Professor Jiang that Director Qian Fangxu mentioned.

The other three judges were from different Grade A tertiary Hospitals; Lu Chen didn't recognize any of them.

The Chief Examiner stood up and announced the rules for the practical assessment.

“Participants, this afternoon's practical assessment will use a random drawing system. After each participant takes the stage, they will first draw an envelope. Inside the envelope is your assessment scenario. You need to complete all emergency procedures within the scenario within the allotted time.”

“The scoring criteria consist of four dimensions: operational standardization, time efficiency, adaptability, and final results. Each accounts for twenty-five points, for a total of one hundred.”

“The time limit varies depending on the scenario, ranging from a minimum of ten minutes to a maximum of twenty minutes.”

“After each participant finishes their operation, the judges will reveal their scores on the spot.”

“Participants will take the stage in the order of their draw, while others wait in the observation seats.”

“Are there any questions?”

No one spoke.

“Good, now we will begin drawing the performance order.”

A staff member came over carrying a drawing box, and the thirty participants reached in one by one to draw.

The number Lu Chen drew was twenty-three.

He would be the twenty-third to take the stage out of thirty people.

Towards the end.

Zhou Haoran was eighth.

Guangfu Hospital's Lin Zhuo was fifteenth.

Zhao Yaqin leaned in and whispered.

“Being later is good too; you can see how the people before you perform first.”

Lu Chen nodded.

He sat in the observation area and began watching the performances of the participants ahead of him.

The first to take the stage was a participant from the Second Municipal People's Hospital, a Resident Physician with four years of experience.

The scenario he drew was the emergency management of Acute Left Heart Failure.

His operations were relatively standard, but his pace was slow. He hesitated for several seconds when choosing the drug dosage, and his total time was thirteen minutes.

The judges revealed their scores: the highest was eighty-two, the lowest seventy-four. Removing one highest and one lowest, the average of the three middle scores was 78.3.

It was decent, but not particularly striking.

The second, the third, the fourth...

The participants' levels were uneven, but generally ranged between seventy and eighty-five points.

Many people were standard in their operations, but there were almost none who truly made one's eyes light up.

Number eight, Zhou Haoran.

When he took the stage, the observation area clearly quieted down.

A participant from the Provincial Peoples Hospital, he was last year's practical runner-up and had come for first place this year.

Zhou Haoran reached out and drew an envelope, tearing it open to take a look.

Assessment scenario: On-site emergency treatment for Severe Trauma Combined with Tension Pneumothorax.

He nodded slightly and walked to the operating table.

“Begin.”

Zhou Haoran's movements were fast, and his workflow was clear.

Assessing the injury, opening the airway, emergency thoracic decompression puncture, and then Closed Thoracic Drainage.

His operations were indeed very solid; every step was within the standard range, and his technique was very skilled.

But Lu Chen noticed a detail.

When he was performing the Thoracic Puncture, the needle insertion angle was off by about two to three degrees.

It didn't affect the result, but from the perspective of a standard operation, it wasn't perfect.

Zhou Haoran completed all operations within eleven minutes.

The judges revealed their scores.

The highest was ninety-one, the lowest eighty-three.

After removing the highest and lowest, the average of the three middle scores was 88.7.

There was a wave of low-voiced discussion in the observation area.

88.7—this score was already very high.

Zhou Haoran walked off the stage expressionless, but there was a very shallow curve at the corner of his mouth.

He was clearly satisfied with this result.

As he passed by Lu Chen, he gave him a look.

“Perform well when it's your turn.”

His tone wasn't exactly provocative, but there was a very clear confidence in his eyes.

My standard is set here; you come and try.

Lu Chen didn't speak, only nodding.

Zhao Yaqin noted down Zhou Haoran's score beside him.

“88.7, the highest score so far.”

“Mm.”

“Do you think you can beat him?”

“I don't know. It depends on what topic I draw.”