Bi Zengqi: Regarding people as a whole
[Listen to the doctor]
He has been in medicine for more than 60 years and has formed a deep bond with the medical and health industry. In the 1970s, he was appointed as the medical officer of the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations, witnessing the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and China's restoration of its legal seat in the United Nations. In the 1980s, he established the Chinese Nephrology Department together with his colleagues, and the Xiehe Nephrology Department. The first report of IgA nephropathy in China; the first in the country to explore the non-dialysis comprehensive treatment of chronic renal failure in the early and mid-term... As a famous nephrologist, he is still active in the clinical frontline after retirement, visiting outpatient clinics, rounds, consultations, earthquake relief, etc. He was left behind for many moments.
Bi Lao's life is legendary and colorful. From his narration, we can see the changes of the times in the old and new China in the past century.
——Interviewer Dong Lin
Going to work at Xiehe started as an intern.
At that time, hospital leaders often transferred to various departments. Party and government leaders went deep into the masses and the grassroots. The hospital's medical, teaching, and research were well organized.
It turned out that the Department of Internal Medicine of Union Hospital was divided into groups, and I was in the heart and kidney group.
At that time, there was a popular saying: "There is heart but no kidney", which means that the heart and kidney group is mainly based on the heart, and no one has concretely implemented the kidneys. Director Fang Qi asked me to pay more attention to kidney disease.
At that time, I was a little aggressive. I wanted to formally set up a kidney disease group. I directly sent a report to the hospital party committee, and the party committee agreed.
That was when the reform and opening up began, nephrology developed, and we just caught up with this trend.
The establishment of the kidney disease group took a lot of effort, and it was nothing at first.
Director Jin Lan supported me very much and gave me 5 beds. I also found some young nurses and technicians from the hospital.
It was very laborious for Dr. Shen Yajin to build the hemodialysis room during the day and night.
At that time, Xiehe did not have an "artificial kidney" for hemodialysis treatment. The first hemodialysis machine was donated by Li Dazhao's daughter.
She returned from Japan to Xiehe for treatment. She brought a hemodialysis machine and donated it to Xiehe.
At that time, foreign "artificial kidneys" were already very mature, but our country was just getting started.
In the beginning, the kidney puncture was carried out, and the pressure was relatively high. At that time, it was a bit rough and the puncture was relatively blind under X-ray.
I took the lead in Corey, and if it succeeded, I would teach it to young people.
My graduate student, Dr. Li Xuewang, has set up a scientific research project related to renal puncture. We have established relevant standards for renal pathology.
Later, a doctor in Hong Kong came to Xiehe to demonstrate the use of ultrasound for renal puncture and positioning. After that, we started using ultrasound.
With the consent of the hospital, I opened a ward in Shijingshan Hospital and transferred mildly ill and convalescent patients there. At the same time, I helped them establish a nephrology department and train doctors. Their hospital invited me to be a consultant, and I went there every week. Ward rounds, so that the problem of hospitalization of kidney patients is solved.
I was on the right path at the time. If there is no source of patients for a discipline, it is difficult to develop.
In China, before the establishment of the kidney disease group in Xiehe, several places have established kidney disease specialists.
Although Concord started late, it developed relatively quickly because we grasped a key issue.
At that time, I had an idea. To do a good job in this department, we must find a relatively hot and unsolved problem that everyone at home and abroad is concerned about, and that is the treatment of chronic renal failure.
At that time, the United States was also studying this issue, and our research direction was the non-dialysis treatment of chronic renal failure.
We engage in integrated Chinese and Western medicine, as well as comprehensive treatment and nutritional treatment, and treat people as a whole. It cannot be said that kidney failure will definitely fail, and there will be no cure.
As soon as the Nephrology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association was established, we took the lead in carrying out this topic. It can be said that it echoed a hundred responses, and it also attracted everyone's attention. Xiehe has a certain impact on the treatment of chronic renal failure with integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Therefore, the starting point for the development of a discipline is very important, and it must meet the needs of the broad masses of people.
In addition, since it is a nephrology subject, we should not only focus on one disease, but should develop it in an all-round way.
It is very important for doctors to protect the labor force of patients, and to treat people as a whole.
For example, in the elderly with kidney disease, the kidney function of the elderly is reduced. This reduction is a manifestation of aging. The kidneys can be protected a little more safely and just don't develop.
I have a patient who commits suicide as soon as he hears of a bad kidney.
Later, when he came to see Xiehe, we treated him. We couldn't cut off the roots, but we could support and protect the labor force. After he worked for many years, he would achieve the goal of treatment.
He continued to work without lying in bed, his mentality was different, and his outlook on life changed.
At the beginning, we thought that the patient should rest after early renal failure.
But once, a Japanese came to Xiehe to see a doctor. He said that he wanted to come to us for dialysis and that he had to go to work during the day. We said that your kidney function is so bad, how can you go to work?
He said, I can do it in the United States, why not do it with you?
This incident inspired us a lot. After dialysis, he went back to work and went back to China after all the work was completed.
At that time, the level of dialysis technology in China was relatively poor, and the people’s understanding was relatively poor. When it comes to dialysis, that person would be finished.
Since then, our understanding of this issue has improved, and we can correctly arrange the relationship between disease, labor, life, and psychology for patients who are not in the late stage of renal function.
If a clinician has no training in scientific research and just sees a doctor, he can treat the patient steadily, but it is not easy to move forward. He often just stays in place, because he has no ideas and can't ask questions.
Clinicians must do some scientific research, and their thinking will change on the basis of research work.
Of course, I don’t think that all doctors in the country should be required to have clinical or scientific research, but it is necessary to find out the problem in the clinic and then discuss the idea of solving the problem, because the clinic itself must continue to improve.
To the patient, I deeply felt the words of Director Zhang Xiaoqian, "As if facing the abyss, like walking on thin ice."
At work, for patients, and even for patients’ family members, you have to think in a different place, think in their place, and you can stand in one position to communicate together.
Be rigorous in life and learning, these are all good styles of Xiehe.
Young comrades should make progress in medical work, not to mention big creativity, but at least they should be at the forefront.
There is also a need to raise awareness in ideology. If a person's ideological level is not high, then his life path cannot be walked well.
Doing nothing, pursuing nothing, and being full of the status quo, that won’t work, the world is developing too fast.
Concord should be taken to the next level, not to be rooted, and to live up to the expectations of the country and the people.
(Compiled by our reporter Cui Xingyi)