The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 241

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 241

Seo Inae planned to blend in naturally with the staff for now.

She couldn’t lose her authority, but there was no need to create unnecessary conflicts, right?

Her goal was to get along well while identifying problems and gradually correcting them.

The first day was observation.

She needed to understand how the front desk and treatment rooms operated.

She had to see if they were following the manual and supplement any lacking areas.

“Hello~ Is this your first visit?”

“I came yesterday too.”

“What’s your name?”

“Kim Gwanbok. Shouldn’t you remember by now?”

“I’m sorry~ I’m not good at remembering faces~.”

Today was Heo Youngseon’s turn to handle the front desk.

She responded to patients smoothly and skillfully deflected potentially unpleasant remarks.

“It would be better to say you need to confirm even if you know.”

“Yes, Manager~.”

Even when Seo Inae added a comment, she just nodded without complaint.

“….”

In contrast, the younger staff members were a complete mess.

During just the afternoon observation of the treatment room, there were three needle removal mistakes.

“You missed removing a needle. Lift their clothes and check thoroughly up to the top.”

“Oh, yes.”

Seo Inae caught and prevented some mistakes.

“Also mention asking them to check if there are any needles left in their head, hands, or feet. That way, even if a missed needle is discovered later, the patient also didn’t check thoroughly, so it saves face.”

“Ah, I forgot. I’m sorry.”

She called them aside to talk, but it was questionable whether they understood.

Still, since Seo Inae kept watching the staff’s performance from behind, they checked for needles more carefully than before.

‘This won’t be easy.’

After treatment hours ended.

Seo Inae told Director Chu Miyoung to wait and see a bit more for now.

It would be good if educating them whenever necessary could fix things, but if there was strong resistance, other measures might be needed.

She called Director Hanyewon at the headquarters’ closing time.

– Manager Seo~ How was it?

“Their attitude isn’t very good. They seemed to be getting by doing things half-heartedly and peacefully, but they seem quite displeased that a manager has come.”

– Hmm, it doesn’t seem like they’re thinking of learning well and working hard.

“I didn’t expect that anyway.”

– Are there any problematic individuals?

“There’s someone I suspect, but I’m going to observe more for now.”

– Yes. Fighting!

After finishing the brief interim report, she reviewed the manual at the dormitory.

It would be good to include small details like greetings when entering and leaving.

And the next day.

“Teacher Inae~ It’s your first time here so you’re probably not adjusted yet, right? Let’s eat lunch together~.”

“That sounds good. Please call me Manager Seo.”

“Oh my, sorry. Yes, Manager! Where are you from? If you’re dispatched from headquarters, are you from Busan?”

“Yes.”

“It must be hard being away from home~ Am I around your mother’s age? I’d like you to think of me as a mom and be comfortable~.”

Heo Youngseon began to actively cozy up to Seo Inae.

The mistake with titles was understandable, but.

The words about thinking of her as a mom brought up her real mother’s face, and displeasure surged from deep in her heart.

“…Yes. Thank you.”

“Please be understanding even if our kids are a bit clumsy~. They’re friends who work hard.”

Seo Inae maintained a mechanical smile without showing her feelings.

Since she came to supplement the clumsy parts, she needed to refrain from wearing colored glasses.

But as one day passed, then two days.

The more days that went by, the more things happened that she absolutely couldn’t view favorably.

“Excuse me.”

“….”

“Excuse me!”

A patient was calling, but Lee Miri at the front desk didn’t respond because she was looking at her phone with earphones in.

When Seo Inae reluctantly tapped her shoulder, she finally startled and removed her wireless earphones.

“Teacher Lee Miri.”

“Ah, yes!”

– Everyone~ I’m in Okinawa today~~

From the sound coming from the earphones, it seemed she had been watching someone’s vlog on YouTube.

“What if you miss responding to someone while looking at your phone?”

“I’m sorry. But the director said I could look at my phone when there are no patients.”

“You need to keep track of whether patients are coming and how the treatment rooms are running, and look at it appropriately with flexibility. How would you know anything with earphones in?”

Do I need to write this in the manual too?

Videos prohibited, checking messages under 1 minute OK, something like that?

When it’s constantly busy, it’s actually fine, but telling someone to do absolutely nothing during idle time is a form of torture.

That’s why most companies implicitly allow brief phone checking, isn’t it?

But when they respond like this without any awareness that it’s work time, I have no choice but to prohibit it by principle in the manual.

When Seo Inae pointed this out, Lee Miri pouted her lips.

‘Sigh.’

But Lee Miri was just the beginning.

“How much is Gyeongokgo?”

“Um… I don’t know.”

“It’s 134,000 won for 30 packets a month! Should I schedule a consultation with the director?”

“Oh, is that possible now?”

“Please wait 10 minutes, or you can make an appointment and come back next time.”

“I’ll wait.”

Kim Juwon almost blew a non-covered consultation.

“Teacher, please check the bleeding carefully. If it keeps flowing, put on a bandage too.”

Choi Semi didn’t properly stop the bleeding when removing the wet cupping.

Wet cupping is a treatment that helps blood circulation by drawing blood with cupping after bloodletting, and when removing the cups, you need to press firmly on the bleeding areas to stop the bleeding properly.

Otherwise, the wound areas could get infected, or blood could get on clothes.

“Ah~ I’m sorry!”

“There’s also a risk of infection, and we might get patients asking us to pay for their clothes.”

Every time I said something, their attitude wasn’t good either.

“…The syringe is in the regular trash?”

Even their waste management was a mess.

…Why did they throw the herbal acupuncture syringe that should go in medical waste into regular trash without even capping it?

It’s obviously written in the manual, and they learn it when taking the nursing assistant exam.

Even if they forgot all that, they’d know with just a little thought.

“Oops, it was a mistake.”

“Teacher, the clinic gets fined for this. If the bag gets punctured, everything spills out.”

When I said another word after Lee Miri’s confession.

“Well, if you just cover it with other trash, no one would know…”

“Teacher!”

Even an absurd retort.

Seo Inae finally raised her voice.

“Oh my, a young person might not know. I still get confused about where to throw fruit peels~.”

Heo Youngseon mediated, but it was hard to accept.

If you don’t know, you can ask or look it up online, can’t you?

Is this really a mistake?

She has no intention of fixing it at all?

“I’ll teach you well~ Don’t get too angry! Let’s do well~ Our Oriental Medicine Clinic is so nice, right? Let’s make it even better.”

Heo Youngseon smiled brightly while comforting both Seo Inae and Lee Miri.

“I was doing fine until now, but the manager is too strict.”

Of course, it wasn’t very effective.

After about two weeks of Seo Inae working at the Daegu Branch like this.

The same pattern repeated several times a day.

When Seo Inae said something, the three staff members would nod curtly.

And Heo Youngseon’s mediation only made Seo Inae angrier.

“Complaints have been reduced to 1/10. Thank you.”

Nevertheless, Chu Miyoung was pleased.

After all, with Seo Inae keeping a sharp eye on things from behind, they were making an effort to reduce mistakes.

Just eliminating the ridiculous needle mistakes and doing other things at the desk made many problems visible to patients disappear.

“I was at a loss about what the problems even were, but as expected, having Manager here fixed things right away!”

“It’s still not enough. They’re just being careful because I keep nagging them from the side.”

“Hah, is that so? Still, it’s amazing. I’d have nothing to fear if I had a staff member like Manager Seo next to me too.”

“It’s thanks to Doctor Han. Under my previous director, I was just a below-average staff member who stayed quiet.”

“Ah.”

Does it change depending on how the person above acts?

Director Chu Miyoung muttered quietly.

“You’re right. I’ll work hard to learn so I can do it like Manager Seo and like Doctor Han too.”

While the fundamental aspects of the staff hadn’t changed at all, only Director Chu Miyoung nodded repeatedly, saying she had gained enlightenment.

“Go in and rest quickly. I’ll finish up the settlement and leave.”

“What? Didn’t the staff already do that? I saw them put it on the director’s desk before I could even look.”

“They often make mistakes, so I double-check once.”

“…I’ll look at it.”

Sure enough.

Seo Inae immediately spotted the error.

An amount that was neither the initial consultation fee nor the follow-up fee caught her eye right away.

“Do they always just toss it to the director like this every time?”

“I find it quickly anyway, so.”

Seo Inae made up her mind.

No further investigation was necessary.

She needed to take action quickly, and rather than correcting mistakes like now, completely new education would be needed from the start.

“There’s something I need confirmation on. I’d like to discuss it with Doctor Han this evening as well. Could you make time for that?”

“Of course. Absolutely!”

Director Chu Miyoung readily agreed.

* * *

“Oh, that’s faster than I thought.”

I received a call from Seo Inae.

She said she had sufficiently assessed the clinic situation and requested if we could all have a meeting together.

Since the other branch clinic directors also wanted to help with this matter, I set up a new video conference room.

Even though there were directors mixed in that Seo Inae only knew slightly by face, she willingly said she would give the briefing.

She said she should gradually learn these things too, shouldn’t she?

‘That would be so great. I want to hand over the PK matter quickly too!’

Seo Inae presented a very simple PPT containing the incidents and accidents that had occurred.

Needle insertion mistakes, poor patient care, careless billing, excessive snacking during work hours, etc.

Every type of accident that could happen without the director noticing was all there.

– Oh no, it must be because I’m inadequate!

As soon as the presentation ended, Chu Miyoung covered her face with both hands.

This isn’t the Three Kingdoms era, what’s this about lacking virtue?

The other directors comforted Chu Miyoung, saying that wasn’t the case.

“Still, Manager Seo made them fix things and mistakes were reduced by over 90%? In just 2 weeks?”

– Yes. I don’t think these mistakes come from lack of ability on their part.

– They lack awareness…

It’s not that their intelligence is low or they have attention deficits, but that they lack sincerity.

– Educating friends like these isn’t easy. How about Director Chu having one-on-one interviews to instill goal consciousness?

– Overall crisis awareness is needed. Start by firing staff who haven’t passed their probation period yet.

Kim Chunsik, befitting a former educator, presented somewhat idealistic ideas.

Im Suchul came up with ideas befitting a former business manager.

But Seo Inae, who had directly experienced the field, shook her head.

“What do you think, Manager Seo?”

When I asked, Seo Inae opened her mouth as if she had been waiting.

– I think we need to fire Teacher Heo Youngseon.

– Teacher Yeongseong?

Chu Miyoung was shocked.

She was the employee who had worked the longest, and made the fewest mistakes.

She had been doing well as an intermediary, conveying staff requests and such, which was why the clinic had been running until now.

– Teacher Heo Youngseon is manipulating things. She probably does very well in front of Director Chu, right? By gaining the director’s trust like that, she changes the clinic however she wants. The break room snacks too.

– Ah…

– Since Teacher Heo Youngseon has worked for a long time, if she had put her mind to it, she could have corrected the other staff like I did. But by covering for everything, she’s popular with the young staff too. The worse those kids do, the more praise Teacher Heo Youngseon gets. She has no interest in the clinic’s future or patient convenience – making her own work comfortable is most important to her.

I nodded.

Indeed, Seo Inae had accurately grasped the situation as I had expected.

There was definitely someone who created a situation where doing work carelessly was okay, or rather, advantageous for survival.

The rest of the staff went along with it.

“I agree as well.”

– You too, Doctor?

“Teacher Heo Youngseon has worked the longest, right? If you don’t follow her manipulation and act sensibly, you can’t endure it and leave.”

– Ah…

Chu Miyoung grimaced and clutched her chest.

It seemed hard to accept that the person she trusted most was the cause.

– This is difficult.

Seon Nayeon empathized and pondered.

– The middle manager played the wrong role.

– The problem started when she tried to play a middle manager role that was never assigned to her.

Im Suchul and Yu Gyeonghun also shook their heads.

– That’s right, directors. Hearing it from Manager Seo like this, everything fits together.

Chu Miyoung finally nodded.

She pressed her palm to her forehead, feeling pathetic for having given her trust without knowing even that much until now.

– I should recommend resignation, right? …I’ve hardly ever fired anyone before. If she refuses to leave, I’ll have to give her severance pay and force her out.

Chu Miyoung pursed her lips, saying it was difficult to even bring up the topic.

“No. Wait a moment.”

I temporarily stopped her from worrying.

– Does Director Han have a different opinion?

– I think it would be difficult to revise it at this point when things have gone this far.

The directors asked questions, but naturally there was no disagreement that Heo Yeong-seon had to be fired.

I’m not a saint or anything.

Why would she carry someone who had only caused harm to Chu Mi-young all this time?

Instead, I made an even more outrageous proposal.

“While we’re talking about difficult things, fire all four of them.”

Even after cutting out the main culprit, the remaining three had become accustomed to being steeped in office politics and reluctant to do their jobs properly.

If we fire Heo Yeong-seon in this state and hire one new person, wouldn’t the three of us just keep longing for the good times we had together?

If Seo In-ae left, a new Heo Yeong-seon would simply emerge from the remaining three.

‘That’s exactly how the old Yongbong branch was. Even decent late-stage disciples would turn into thugs once they joined, and whenever we punished one or two of them, a new thug leader would just pop up.’

When the black water has gotten this severely discolored, just removing the ink isn’t enough.

I need to clean it thoroughly when I change the water.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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