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With my clinical prescription instructor, Dr. Zhang Jin

This is my first blog entry, and I will start my "journey in the sea of medicine" by speaking about my learning encounters with one of my former clinical prescription instructors, Dr. Zhang Jin. And I will also speak about her teacher, Prof. Shi Dian-bang.

I met Dr. Zhang about eight years ago, in September 2002, during my six-month clinical placement at the Xiyuan Hospital in Beijing. At the time she was working at the International Ward of the Inpatient Department, where only the rich, the famous and the important could seek treatment. 

 

Back in 2002, she was also working closely with the legendary Shi Dian-bang, former honorary president of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, a well-known expert in TCM spleen and stomach diseases and also liver disease. I met Prof. Shi a few times at his specialist clinic. I remember him always starting his shift very early, at 7am on Tuesdays, and being forever surrounded by young students. On the other side of his desk, Dr. Zhang was helping him chart his diagnosis and prescription in an early laptop version of EMR. In his clinic, Prof. Shi was very calm, soft spoken, mannerly and composed. And he explained his diagnosis to the patient in a clear and kind manner and in everyday language that made complete sense. Just being around him was an educational experience, even if you did not really understand his formula. I also heard his patients often say that they felt instantly better, even before taking his prescription. 

In my personal practice, I always tried to channel a little of that positive healing energy, which is perhaps the best lesson I have received from these interactions. If you have ever received treatment from me, you probably understand exactly what I mean. 

Prof. Shi passed away in early December 2005, and I went to his funeral with Dr. Zhang, and another of Shi's students, Prof. Yang Guo-hua. I say this because Dr. Yang also taught me prescription during the same period, and she very much also strongly influenced my current clinical approaches. 

 

But let’s get back to Dr. Zhang Jin. As I said above, I was following her around during my clinical placement at the Xiyuan hospital in the last year of my medical degree. Every morning after the grand rounds and patient discussion, she would sit with me and teach from Prof. Shi’s manuscripts on Spleen and Stomach, and Liver. This was a great privilege, and her teaching helped me in my professional clinic ever since. 

Unfortunately, I recently found that one of these manuscripts were openly published by some dude from the year below me. Not sure how he received permission from Prof. Shi to do so, but it doesn't really matter. We will speak about "respecting the teaching" and "appreciating and keeping the teacher's secrets" at another time. 

 

Anyway, after my graduation in 2003, I went on to pursue a Master’s Degree at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. Balancing research, clinical residency, part time work, and maintaining a rudimentary social life was really hard. But I often returned to the Xiyuan Hospital to learn prescription from her in her outpatient clinic. 

 

By that time though (2004-2008), she had become a lot more careful about sharing Prof. Shi’s “secret” manuscripts with people. But her skills, medical ethics and teaching abilities had grown exponentially. Counting myself as her student had always been a great honor. 

 

We took these photos in August 2008, just the day before the start of the Beijing Olympics. 


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