Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1007 - 839: Experience as Chief Surgeon

Chapter 1007: Chapter 839: Experience as Chief Surgeon

Professor Shi had quite a temper, too; at his own hospital, sometimes the junior doctors were scolded so fiercely it was as if blood was spraying from their heads.

A conflict was on the verge of erupting.

"Professor Yang asked him to come up on stage, right, Professor Yang!"

In a moment of desperation, Director Fang immediately turned to Professor Yang for help. Zhang Lin was not one to recognize anyone when putting on airs; it was best not to provoke him or else one would become a victim of his grandstanding. If he were scolded here in the operating room, how could Old Fang ever establish himself at Sanbo Hospital? Several doctors from the General Surgery Department were watching.

Yang Ping looked up, just having been introduced to Professor Shi from Nandu Medical University Cancer Hospital, and nodded, "Yes, I just asked Director Shi to come up."

Once the boss spoke, the show-off had no response and had to give up his pretentious intentions.

Director Fang breathed a sigh of relief. Zhang Lin was a well-known figure, and nobody dared to provoke him, not even the head of the Medical Services Office, let alone others. He was known for his abrupt changes in behavior, showing no consideration for others’ feelings. Fang recalled an incident when a patient’s relative had assaulteed his wife, and he, disregarding everything else, had fought back relentlessly, unstoppable by anyone. Eventually, the arrogant relative had no choice but to bow their head, apologize, and beg for mercy. Director Fang felt it was best to stay away from such people.

"There’s not enough space for so many people on stage. You don’t need to come up anymore. Crowding can contaminate the surgery," Zhang Lin stated coldly.

Indeed, that was the case. The operating table was only so big, and squeezing too many people was definitely not feasible. Any small movement, arm brushing against arm, could contaminate the surgical field and disturb others.

Helpless, Director Fang, with his hands previously raised to his chest, reluctantly lowered them, enviously watching his senior colleague reveling on the stage. He regretted inviting his senior; he would have been better off alone. If it weren’t for caring for his senior, he would have already been standing there as the first assistant.

Director Shi adjusted his sterile gloves and immediately went into action as the first assistant. He picked up two vascular clamps, gently clipped some connective tissue, and lifted it to help the chief surgeon separate the tumor from the normal tissue.

"Come on, Professor Yang, continue!" Director Shi urged.

Yang Ping picked up a scalpel and continued the surgery.

"Raise this vascular clamp a bit higher."

"Oh! This way?"

"No, next to the hepatic portal vessels."

"Is it this spot?"

"Yes!"

"Let the other clamp loosen a bit, loosen it some more."

"The clamp slipped off, wait a second."

As he adjusted the two vascular clamps, one was not handled properly and directly slipped from the soft tissue it was clamping.

Director Shi had not served as an assistant for many years and now felt extremely unaccustomed; he lacked a cooperative spirit and had never coordinated with Yang Ping before, making him utterly confused and dizzy.

Now, Yang Ping was preparing to separate a tumor in the hepatic portal area. The tumor, entangled with the vessels, meant that the vessels could not be saved. Both the vessels and the tumor needed to be resected, and during the resection, it was critical to manage hemostasis and to preserve and mark the remaining healthy vessels for subsequent vascular reconstruction.

"Don’t let your hands tremble; I have a scalpel, a slight distraction can cause injury."

"Oh, oh, oh---"

"Stop shaking!"

"I’m not---"

The more it was mentioned, the more Director Shi’s hands trembled uncontrollably, making him break into a sweat. Given Yang Ping’s rapid pace, and Director Shi’s unfamiliarity with being an assistant—moreover typically using tissue scissors—it was challenging for him with Yang holding a scalpel. Director Shi felt uneasy watching, unable to continue effectively.

"I guess I haven’t recovered from a cold these past few days; my head feels swollen. Director Fang, you come!"

Director Shi finally couldn’t hold on anymore. Continuing this way was definitely going to cause a mishap.

"Alright!"

Director Fang immediately responded. He had been waiting for such an opportunity, regretting that he had earlier lowered his hands, as now he had to re-scrub them.

Without a moment’s delay, Director Fang immediately prepared to go out and scrub. The door of the operating room opened, and Song Zimo came in with his hands raised; he had finished his meal, and now it was Xu Zhiliang’s turn to eat.

After scrubbing, Director Fang dressed and ascended to the platform: "Dr. Song, take a breather, I’ll take over as first assistant for a while."

"Oh!" Song Zimo, seeing Director Fang’s eagerness, didn’t say anything and yielded his place to him. Director Fang, filled with excitement, stepped into the position of first assistant, ready to perform impressively.

Organs were laid out on a specialized sterile surgical table, Yang Ping continued to separate the tumor, Director Shi couldn’t keep up with the pace, how could Director Fang possibly keep up?

Human tissue lay flaccid on the sterile table, leaving Director Fang somewhat at a loss. He had always operated within the body; now facing these external organs, he was unexpectedly at a loss. Thus, his performance as an assistant was barely better than his senior’s, primarily due to the fundamental skills gap.

After all, those from the Surgical Research Institute were trained differently; they had a scientific system of basic skills training, with daily sessions of basic skills for one to two hours followed by extensive surgical training.

Director Fang followed traditional surgical training. Traditional surgical training lacked a systematic and scientific training system; it was merely sporadic and discontinuous, with many hospitals not even engaging in fundamental skills training, just doctors attempting to explore on their own through self-training. Most learned by mimicking others on the operating table, learning through practice.

This backward training method directly leads to a lack of basic skills training for surgeons. Many orthopedic surgeons could not fully identify the instruments specific to their specialty, often needing engineers from the manufacturers to guide them. Without the engineers present, they could not proceed with the surgery.