997 Expert Opinions (2/2)

”You're right. But I'll be attending to all of you today, so I'll handle all the miscellaneous stuff. I'll go and get some food. Doctor Ling, is there anything you want?” Now that Huang Maoshi had said everything that he should, he quickly rose.

”Prawns,” Ling Ran replied. He then lowered his head and continued peeling off the shell of a large prawn with a fork and a pair of chopsticks.

Huang Maoshi glanced at it in curiosity and quickly went to get food.

His mission today was to follow Ling Ran around. This would not necessarily be useful, but it was very important for a renowned doctor to have someone attending to him on an occasion like this. It could even be considered a status symbol.

For example, those who were here alone were most probably associate chief physicians who were not that powerful. Associate chief physicians and chief physicians who had a treatment group would usually attend the conference with a subordinate whose task was to carry bags. Those subordinates were usually resident doctors who had just started working. They were obedient and strong, unlike junior attending physicians who were older, lazier, and more disobedient.

The status of doctors who came along with two subordinates was a lot higher. This was because the organizer merely had to provide those with a subordinate with a double room, but they had to provide those with two subordinates two rooms.

Doctors who had a pharmaceutical sales representative attending to him throughout the event were extremely rare. Huang Maoshi knew that he might not actually be able to help Ling Ran with everything, but he came anyway so that Ling Ran could showcase his status.

Huang Maoshi was actually quite happy about this.

After breakfast, the conference was held in the conference hall downstairs, and the renowned doctors in Changxi Province took turns giving speeches. They were from Yun Hua Hospital, Yun Hua Provincial Hospital, and People's Liberation Army General Hospital. There were also several doctors from other cities and other provinces.

Before lunch, a few of the renowned doctors took the stage together. They praised each other and announced the launch of a ”Choice of Instruments and Medical Consumables for Surgery” handbook that offered expert opinions [1], and it was the highlight of the conference.

There were many medical academic conferences nowadays. It was easy to organize a large-scale conference, but it was hard to organize one that would become the talk of the town.

A handbook with expert opinions did not carry as much weight as a handbook with an expert consensus [2], and its influence was nowhere near that of a manual's. However, this was considered not bad given that they were only having an academic conference.

The doctors participating in the conference were glad to hear the speeches of the experts and the conversation between them. The attendees were starting to feel like their day did not go to waste.

Even though expert opinions were merely the personal opinions of one or more experts, only experts with years of experience who were renowned for what they did could pull it off. If this were not the case, it would be a total joke.

Of course, unlike expert consensus, there were no formal or informal procedures where the experts had to come to a consensus together when it came to expert opinions. However, this was the first step to forming a consensus.

In a way, the difference between expert opinions and the expert consensus was mainly the status of the experts involved instead of the content.

Extremely renowned experts in Beijing can choose to come up with either expert opinions or expert consensus. However, since experts in Yun Hua City were not qualified enough, they had no choice but to console themselves by coming up with expert opinions.

But no matter what, in this kind of occasion where expert opinions were announced, the experts involved would take their time to explain their thoughts and opinions as well as provide proof. It was a good learning opportunity for junior, intermediate, and senior doctors alike.

This was also when an academic conference became truly meaningful.

Ling Ran listened earnestly to them too. At some point, he expressed his personal opinion, ”Their choice for the usage area of the titanium clip is too big. It's not suitable.”

Yu Yuan was shocked, and she said subconsciously, ”Doctor Ling, don't raise that up now. You'll offend other people.”

”Okay, I won't.” Ling Ran nodded.

Yu Yuan's sudden anxiety did not reduce because of Ling Ran's reassuring reply, and alarm bells started ringing in her mind. ”You really won't?”

”Yes.”

”Then… when do you plan to talk about it?” Yu Yuan knew that Ling Ran would not be able to keep his opinion to himself forever.

She was obviously right. Ling Ran said calmly, ”The speech I will be giving this afternoon will touch on some of the topics these experts are talking about. I'll raise all my objections when I give my speech.”

Translator's notes:

[1] Expert opinion: The opinions of one or more experts that have not gone through formal procedures where consensus has to be reached. (Source: Zhihu)

[2] Expert consensus: A consensus reached based on the experience of experts, and will be used in the production of a manual. It is usually a consensus formed by a team of medical experts from various fields regarding how to tackle a clinical problem. (Source: Zhihu)