System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

October 10th, Saturday, the weather was drizzling.

In the operating room, Tong Yuan’an was putting on a sterile surgical gown and asked, ”Xiao Lu, are you on night shift in the consultation room tonight?”

Lu Cheng nodded, ”Yes, Teacher Tong, I now follow the regular shift schedule for duty.”

”Today’s surgical shift is Tian Zhuang, and since this is a limb replantation, Han Xiaoping could only call you.”

After laying down the last drape with the circulating nurse, Lu Cheng smiled and said, ”If you say you’re unavailable, Teacher Tong, then the patient would have to be transferred.”

”Luckily, you are willing to work overtime, Teacher Tong.”

Since pulling a ninety-six-hour shift in the department during the National Day, Lu Cheng had dared not disobey the normal shift schedule again, respecting others’ fates.

Lu Cheng was even more afraid of overtaxing himself.

”Alright, then I’ll try to speed up and get it done before you start your shift.”

Tong Yuan’an nodded, ”Fortunately, it’s just an amputation of the forearm, not the fingers, so the workload isn’t too heavy.”

Finger amputation could involve multiple fingers, while a forearm amputation has a broader cross-section but only one stump, making it relatively less complicated to handle.

”Okay, Teacher Tong.”

Lu Cheng sat down in the assistant’s position directly opposite Tong Yuan’an, already prepared and waiting for Tong Yuan’an to take the lead surgeon’s role.

After taking the stage, Tong Yuan’an and Lu Cheng meticulously examined the patient’s stump together, ”It’s alright. Although this isn’t the simplest knife wound, it’s not a crush injury either, making it relatively easier to handle.”

”The patient’s injury is recent, just perform the surgery as usual.”

”Start with wound cleaning, then bone connection. During the wound cleaning, you and I will each take a side.”

”I’ll take care of the detached side,” Tong Yuan’an proactively took on the more difficult part.

”Alright, Tian Zhuang, you assist Professor Tong with the distal wound cleaning while I handle the proximal end alone,” Lu Cheng instructed Tian Zhuang to assist Tong Yuan’an.

Wound cleaning is a basic skill, but the distal limb has no blood supply, requiring a detailed assessment of whether the tissue is necrotic, necessitating more delicate operations.

The proximal end has blood supply, allowing necrosis assessment through bleeding during wound cleaning.

Lu Cheng’s wound cleaning skill had been upgraded during the National Day to [Wound Cleaning Skill (Specialization 5/20)].

If not for upgrading the basic level of wound cleaning skill, limb replantation surgery couldn’t be improved, Lu Cheng might not have used skill points.

Basic skills are basic skills, but the overall concept of limb replantation surgery is still incorporated into the [Limb Replantation Surgery].

Lu Cheng’s [Limb Replantation Surgery] was already (Specialization 20/20), so he handled the stump with ease.

Calming himself down to operate, his speed was even faster than Tong Yuan’an who had help from an assistant.

During the National Day, Lu Cheng had already led a limb replantation surgery, so instrument nurse Xue Xue was not surprised by this.

However, seeing that Lu Cheng’s wound cleaning was remarkably swift, Tong Yuan’an’s chubby face trembled slightly, wanting to remind Lu Cheng not to rush. Your Teacher Tong would ensure the surgery is done before you start your night shift.

But after looking around a few times, Tong Yuan’an finally noticed Lu Cheng’s ’trick’!

If compared to tendon suturing, the Tang method is a technique, while suturing skill is a basic skill, then wound cleaning suture, nerve suture, blood vessel suture are all basic skills, and the overall surgical technique of limb replantation is the ”technique”.

Basic skills determine the lower limit of surgical quality, and ’technique’ suggests the upper limit of surgical quality.

It was just during the wound cleaning, Tong Yuan’an couldn’t immediately grasp Lu Cheng’s level at first glance, but after observing for a while, he finally found something amiss.

Lu Cheng’s operation was too smooth, not just as simple as being well-rehearsed.

With this suspicion in mind, Tong Yuan’an simply put down the instruments in his hand, enduringly continued watching for half a minute.

The playful, scrutinizing gaze slowly turned into solemnity and bewilderment.

If he wasn’t mistaken, nor had he misjudged.

Perhaps, potentially, possibly, Lu Cheng’s overall level in limb replantation surgery was again... again...

Tong Yuan’an’s surgery skills were considered high at Xiangya Hospital, even if the other associate professor Han Yunshen has a broader surgical range than he does.

But in terms of surgical depth, he was unmatched by him.

Limb replantation surgery is a standard procedure in hand surgery, a mature hand surgeon must know this entry-level technique, it is a hallmark of a hand surgeon.

But in fact, not every hand surgeon has profound proficiency in limb replantation surgery.

Knowing a technique and being highly proficient in a technique, even being an absolute expert in it, are different concepts.

According to Tong Yuan’an’s understanding, successfully conducting limb replantation surgery requires an accumulation of basic skills, followed by extensive clinical practice.

For him, his skills today were honed by practicing on hundreds of limbs and fingers severed, allowing him to surpass ”surgical genius” Han Yunshen in terms of specialization.

Hence, what’s puzzling Tong Yuan’an now is that clearly, Lu Cheng just started working on limb replantation, where did he find so many hands to practice suturing?

After only a week, how had Lu Cheng’s proficiency level reached such a stage?

Tong Yuan’an is a mature surgeon and wouldn’t be naive enough to interrupt Lu Cheng for questioning.