26 Leveling up (1/2)
After the traumatic injury department's morning meeting, Director Lin Cong brought Zhang Fan and two postgraduate students that recently graduated to the operating room.
The two medical students Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang had both just recently finished medical grad school. Ding Lei specialized in joints, while Wang Guiyang specialized in the spine. Right now, both of them had been accepted to BCU Hospital to further their studies in other medical specialties. Today, Lin Cong's main job was to observe Zhang Fan's and the two recent graduates' abilities.
Lin Cong showed the CT scan of the patient with a severely shattered femur to the other three. ”Doctor Zhang, take a look at this CT scan. Do you have any guarantee of being able to perform this surgery?”
”It will be a little difficult, but it probably won't be a problem,” Zhang Fan stated after checking the CT scan.
Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang exchanged glances. What they both thought was obvious. 'Man, he's really bragging. This is a really difficult surgery, yet he's saying there won't be any problems?'
Lin Cong was also rather surprised by this. The difficulty of this level for the traumatic surgery department was such that it could only be handled by the doctors with the second-highest level certification. A young doctor from the border province who was here to study actually claimed that such a surgery would only be a little difficult? Lin Cong decided to let Zhang Fan be in charge then.
”Alright, I'll be the primary surgical assistant. Ding Lei, hold the patient's leg. Wang Guiyang, disinfect. Doctor Zhang, look over the CT scan more carefully as you'll be the primary surgeon for this operation today.”
”Okay, Director.”
Wang Guiyang could barely wash his hands properly as he was confused with what was going on today.
The surgery began with connecting the bone and cleaning up the extravasated blood. The bone was severely shattered, so it would be impossible to deal with all the tiny bone fragments with just a single metal plate. Zhang Fan first used Kirschner wires to hold the fragments together as he corrected the shape of the metal plate so that it adhered better to the broken bone.
The metal plate was made with professional standards. Although it was quite standard, every individual's bones would still be different. Zhang Fan had deeply imprinted muscle memory thanks to his System, so he was able to correct the shape of the metal plate as if the latter had been customized for this patient.
”Truly excellent. His skills are quite something.” Lin Cong watched Zhang Fan perform surgery in admiration.
”Damn it, could you somehow be even better? Did I go to a fake medical grad school!?” Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang were both astounded. They both knew that it would take them more than five years of actual working experience before they could handle being the primary surgeon for such a difficult surgery.
The graduate students still had sharp eyes. Ding Lei discovered a problem, and instantly asked, ”Doctor Zhang, why are there so few screws on this side?”
”What Doctor Zhang? Call him Teacher Zhang in the future. He's worked hard on our country's border. He probably knows more than enough to be your teacher,” Lin Cong told the graduate students.
”Teacher Zhang,” Ding Lei and Wang Guiyang addressed Zhang Fan in unison.
At a Grade 3 hospital like BCU Hospital, being addressed as teacher meant that a doctor had significant accomplishments. Most doctors here were simply addressed as doctor, especially since this was a hospital with an advanced medical level. Everyone here had constantly worked hard at accumulating experience in the operating room.
It was quite common that one doctor wouldn't respect another unless there was complete suppression through the difference between skills. Being better by only a small margin wouldn't be good enough. That was why ”teacher” wasn't a mere title in the major hospitals. It would truly be a sign of respect.
”I'm just slightly more well practiced. I'd feel awkward about being called teacher since I just recently finished my undergraduate studies.” Zhang Fan felt rather awkward. However, his awkward refusal to be called ”teacher” gave the two grad students a critical hit.
”The medical field depends on the foundational basics combined with clinical experience. Just the basics will never be enough. However, it's relatively more difficult to improve one's clinical experience, which is why you don't need to feel awkward,” Director Lin Cong exclaimed.