Chapter 143: A Good First Assistant

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Well, that’s all for today’s debridement. There’s no problem, right?” Wang Haiyang personally debrided the severed finger because this was his first time working together with Ling Ran. Otherwise, he would have allowed Ling Ran to take over during this simple step.

Ling Ran nodded his head gently.

“Hmm, how many times have you performed debridement?” Wang Haiyang was ready to ask questions.

Ling Ran thought about it and said, “Hundreds of times.”

“What? Hundreds of times…”

“If I don’t count the times I’ve performed debridement for the surgeries using the M-Tang technique, it should be around several hundred times.” Ling Ran could not remember very clearly. When he first arrived in the Emergency Department, he had already done debridement and sutures for some time.

Debridement was also the basis of all other skills in the operating theater. Most patients who required the M-Tang technique also needed debridement, which was the same as patients who required finger replantations.

Wang Haiyang nodded in a level-headed manner. “Have you done thousands of debridements if you count the debridements you’ve performed for the surgeries requiring the M-Tang technique?”

“It should be.” Ling Ran refused to be modest when it came to such numbers.

Wang Haiyang’s hand paused for a short while before he quickly changed his question, “Which part do you think is the most important during debridement?”

Ling Ran rarely served as assistants to senior doctors. At that moment, since he was not used to the situation just yet, he could not help but hesitate a little.

Wang Haiyang chuckled and said, “It’s okay. Be bold and just say it.”

The scenario of senior doctors asking junior doctors questions was a form of entertainment in the operating theater, especially when there were nurses around. Occasions where senior doctors, who had greater skills, suppressed the junior doctors would often lead to a few soft and fake peals of laughter.

Senior doctors oppressing the junior doctors in terms of skill and knowledge was a special feature in the doctors’ community.

Professionals in other fields reached the peak of their skills when they were around thirty to forty years old. There were few who could still remain at the peak of their skills when they were around fifty years old.

However, it was different for doctors.

Doctors had to learn for their entire lives, which meant that medical students who graduated from universities had only learned for five years. Doctoral graduates had learned for only seven or eight years, perhaps a little longer, while attending physicians would have studied medicine for around fifteen years. As for associate chief physicians, they had around twenty years of experience in the field.

After studying medicine for so long, when the senior doctors decided on a topic for their questioning, junior doctors were doomed to be oppressed in terms of their skills. Most of the time, senior doctors threw questions at junior doctors the way high school students questioned elementary school students. Wang Haiyang naturally did not regard Ling Ran as a primary school student. A youngster who knew how to perform the M-Tang technique would at the very least be at junior high level. If Ling Ran answered well, perhaps his rank would rise even higher in Wang Haiyang’s eyes. However, Wang Haiyang did not think deeply into this. He was only subconsciously teasing the youngster. When he saw Ling Ran thinking hard, Wang Haiyang urged him to answer with even more interest boiling in him. “Don’t be in a hurry to come up with your answer. Think about it more.” The nurses in the operating theater also looked at Ling Ran.

The young first assistant, Ling Ran did not have many thoughts about debridement and sutures. He provided a very disappointing answer, “If I must say, the most important thing in debridement is to clean up the wound and avoid secondary damage.”

“It’s a little bit of that…” Just as Wang Haiyang smiled and prepared himself to provide more explanation, the door opened.

“So… So… sorry, I’m late.” Lu Wenbin felt extremely regretful. He was part of a surgery where a chief physician served as a chief surgeon. While the chief physician was not from his department, it was still a rare opportunity.

However, Wang Haiyang was a reasonable senior in the operating theater. He smiled faintly and said, “As long as you aren’t shouting ‘oh no’ when you rush in, I’ll forgive you.”

“Ah… about that, I’m sorry.” Lu Wenbin did not know how to continue the conversation.

“That’s okay. We just did… Hmm, we are almost done with reconnecting bone.” Wang Haiyang could not help but turn his head and glance at Ling Ran.

A first assistant’s aid to a chief surgeon was usually implicit. They provided passive aid to the chief surgeon when the chief surgeon operated.

A good first assistant could effectively improve the speed of the surgery.

During the process of bone reconnection, for instance, Ling Ran made all the preparations, and Wang Haiyang, who was the chief surgeon, could just easily reconnect the bone…

Wang Haiyang coughed a couple of times before he said, “Um, Ling Ran, you know how to perform bone reconnection as well, right?”

“I know how to the reconnect bones of severed fingers,” Ling Ran said.

The Replantation of Severed Fingers Skill he acquired was actually a surgery that required multiple skills. In addition to the simplest debridement, it also included bone reconnection, blood vessel anastomosis, nerve anastomosis, tendon repair, and the closing of an incision.

Among them, the only part that Ling Ran had absolutely no knowledge of was bone reconnection. As for the others, he had already learned them.

Of course, there was a high possibility that his Finger Replantation Skill was at Perfect Level because he already had the other skills.

Wang Haiyang nodded subconsciously and said, “Your skills are very good already.”

He was able to make that judgment based on how well Ling Ran worked with him.

Ling Ran just smiled a little.

“Next, tendon repairs. Oh, this is your line of work.” Wang Haiyang laughed and said, “But I’ll do it myself for now and pass it to you later.”

As Wang Haiyang said that, he began to clip the severed section of the tendon.

Ling Ran walked around the patient’s head and continuously used scissors as well as the scalpel to assist Wang Haiyang.

As for Lu Wenbin, he could only watch foolishly by the side.

There was currently no need for his assistance. Not to mention, the circulating nurses and the others were busy, so no one helped him to wear the scrubs.

Ling Ran was focused on the surgery. His mind worked quickly to help him perform the operation.

He had already sutured far too many many tendons. Usually, he thought about the problems as a chief surgeon, but now, he stood in the opposite position as a first assistant. It was a new experience, but he could still utilize his own experience to handle the surgery.

The feeling was comparable to a pilot in a double fighter jet who had to move to the back to serve as the Weapon Systems Officer, or an elite archer in Kings of Glory who had to play as a support class.

The importance of their role may be reduced, but if their abilities were good enough, they could still become the carriers of the “game”.

Wang Haiyang could obviously detect Ling Ran’s ability in “carrying” the surgery.

This was especially so when they were at the suturing stage. After Wang Haiyang performed the suture, the remaining knots were tied by Ling Ran, the first assistant. He also put the thread through the needle and did a good, swift job.

That meant, when Wang Haiyang completed one round of suturing, Ling Ran completed leading the thread through the needle, tying the knot, adjusting the position of the needle on the patient, as well as other tasks.

Due to this, Wang Haiyang, who had thought of asking questions again, immediately became alert.

“Young people are really good when they do these tasks,” Wang Haiyang praised Ling Ran and said to Lu Wenbin, “Well, let’s have some music. Play some popular songs. Hmm… play something from Little Tigers [1].”

Chief Physician Wang Haiyang casually ordered Lu Wenbin about. He did not feel the slightest bit guilty over it.

Lu Wenbin was glad that he still had some value to be ordered about. When the melody and lyrics filled the air, he even felt like dancing.

“Chief Physician Wang, should we continue with the suture?” Ling Ran, the first assistant asked the chief surgeon.

“Oh, of course.” Wang Haiyang chuckled and lowered his head to work.

He did not expect to hear that one question multiple times that day.

He heard it twice during the tendon repair process.

He heard it thrice during the nerve anastomosis process.

Chief Physician Wang had originally prepared to give a long-winded speech when it came to the most complicated blood vessel anastomosis, but in the end, he had to quicken his pace because Ling Ran again.

“Chief Physician Wang, should we continue with the suture?

“Chief Physician Wang, should we continue with the suture?”

Now, whenever Wang Haiyang heard this question, his hands would quicken unnaturally.

Ling Ran’s rhythm also naturally quickened.

He had obtained Perfect Level Finger Replantation, which meant that his first suture was the only suture he did not feel confident about.

However, it was different when there was a chief physician leading the surgery. Ling Ran could provide perfect cooperation.

To put things in simple terms, apart from Ling Ran’s constant urging for Wang Haiyang to hurry up, all of his actions in cooperating with Wang Haiyang made Wang Haiyang very comfortable and extremely efficient.

Wang Haiyang initially planned to let Ling Ran take over the nerve anastomosis process, but when they reached the latter half of the surgery, he was reluctant to let go.

For doctors, being able to perform surgery smoothly was a very comfortable feeling.

Once the surgery was completed, Wang Haiyang licked his lips. He did have his fill just yet. He took the initiative and asked, “Why don’t we do another finger replantation surgery?”

Translator’s Note:

[1] Little Tigers: A Taiwanese boy band formed in 1988.

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