I Can Hear the Heart's Voice of Traditional Chinese Medicine-Chapter 124 - 63: Remember to Buy Yourself a Bottle of Liuwei Dihuang Pills Later (10th Update, 40,000 Characters—Please Subscribe)

According to his understanding, such an excellent Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor would have no problem sitting in at the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, let alone the City Hospital.

"Brother, can... can you tell me how I can become like you?" The young doctor looked at Lu Xuan with a face full of expectation.

After speaking, he scratched his head awkwardly.

Apparently, even he himself felt that asking this question was a bit abrupt.

Lu Xuan looked at him with some surprise, thought for a moment, and asked: "Are you also studying Traditional Chinese Medicine?"

"More or less, I studied integrated Chinese and Western medicine."

"I haven't had much exposure to Western medicine, let's just talk about Traditional Chinese Medicine. What do you think is the most important aspect of it?" Lu Xuan asked.

Before having the miraculous ability of Heart's Voice, he was actually no different from this doctor in front of him, who was about his age.

He clearly understood how unbearable that feeling was, having experienced it himself.

"Memorizing the contents of medical books by heart?" The young doctor reflexively gave an answer.

"That's just the basics."

Lu Xuan shook his head and said: "The foundation of practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine is indeed memorizing the contents of several important medical books by heart, but that is not the most critical part. The most crucial is practice, which we often refer to as clinical experience, combining what you learn with practice.

The development cycle for a successful TCM practitioner is long, finding a job is difficult, and this is the reality. The challenge for new graduates is that they can't have mature clinical experience immediately, and accumulating clinical experience indeed requires time for practice, which becomes an unsolvable problem for fresh graduates.

You are going through this process, and I am going through this process too."

At this point, Lu Xuan paused for a moment and continued: "Currently, the common methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating illnesses are twofold: prescriptions and acupuncture.

Prescribing requires very high cognitive skill, not easy to learn, and it takes a lot of practice to ensure each prescription is effective. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect that at the beginning of your career or after only a few years of clinical practice, you can come up with many great prescriptions.

This is not realistic, nor possible.

Acupuncture, on the other hand, is different. It doesn't rely on complex theories; the meridians, acupoints, and their treatments are quite fixed and standardized. Once memorized, you can start practicing.

If you find pulse diagnosis and prescription difficult, you could shift your focus to acupuncture.

Of course, becoming proficient at acupuncture is not easier than prescribing to treat illnesses, and it's not something that can be easily achieved. Don't misunderstand me as belittling acupuncture or thinking that it's easy to master.

I'm just saying that acupuncture is relatively easier to get started, especially since there are more practice opportunities; you can practice every day."

The young doctor hesitantly said: "But I just graduated, and the hospital won't give me the opportunity to interact with patients."

"Yes, indeed they won't."

Lu Xuan smiled: "But we can first 'operate' on ourselves, practice needling on our bodies, familiarize with the acupoints, and feel the needles.

Start with simple acupoints like Zusanli and Sanyinjiao, they are safe and have a tonifying effect, and long-term needling can strengthen the body.

To joke a bit, after gaining some initial experience, we can then 'operate' on classmates, parents, relatives, and neighbors.

With several years of practice, you can accumulate a lot of experience.

There are many people in the world who are sick, many who can't afford medical treatment, and many diseases that can't be cured. Acupuncture is effective, doesn't cost money, and is easy to learn, so why not pick it up sooner?

The Medical Saint Zhang Zhongjing once said in his writings: 'From above, to heal the illnesses of lords and relatives; from below, to save the woes of the poor and humble; in the middle, to maintain the whole and nurture life,' and I believe that acupuncture in Traditional Chinese Medicine is one of the best means to achieve this ideal."

Once you master acupuncture, it's not too late to think about prescribing. Whether to do so, you can think it over thoroughly."

The young doctor thought for a long time before nodding slightly to Lu Xuan: "Thank you."

"There's no need for thanks. I just shared some simple truths." Lu Xuan waved his hand.

Acupuncture in Traditional Chinese Medicine is much simpler than pulse diagnosis and prescription.

The most important thing is that you can practice on yourself.

But with prescriptions, that's not the case.

Moreover, once proficient in acupuncture, you can treat many diseases.

There are many paths in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it's not necessary to walk the most challenging one.

Having one skill mastered is already better than many who study Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The young doctor thought for a while and then looked up: "Brother, does your Health Center's Traditional Chinese Medicine Department still hire? I want to learn Traditional Chinese Medicine from you."

"Why?"

"Because you are the first one willing to talk to me so much. I've also interned at the hospital for some time, though I was an assistant, I haven't even touched a patient's pulse once."

It's quite dismal, but this is the fate for most interns.

Not every doctor is willing to take their assistant along, more often it's the unwillingness to talk much; sometimes it's not about unwillingness to teach, just plain dislike of the hassle.

Bringing an assistant is much more troublesome than seeing patients.

The assistant needs to try things out, explanations are necessary, and whereas seeing patients might not require much talk, having an assistant means you might not stop talking the whole morning.

The key point is, the more you talk, the more it doesn't guarantee understanding.

Perhaps, the teaching might end up in vain.

So now many skilled Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctors are actually unwilling to take on students.

Lu Xuan was taken aback, then smiled and said: "I'm not sure, but you can keep an eye on it then."

"Okay, I will keep an eye on it."

After he finished speaking, the bus had already stopped at the station: "Dr. Lu, I'm here, thank you very much for your guidance today."