Chapter 233: Stepping Stone (Requesting Subscription)

Nie Xuehua did not press further; after all, he had reached the level of senior attending physician. Having seen too many outstanding classmates from high school through doctoral graduation drop out of their studies for various reasons, Nie Xuehua knew all too well.

Among them were some with extraordinary talent who fell into decadence during high school due to personal immaturity, or who went to work during their undergraduate or master's stages for various reasons.

In truth, studying at every level is like a ferry crossing; every crossing washes many people away. Some of those washed away left willingly, but others were not incapable or unwilling to continue their studies—they simply had all sorts of other reasons.

No regional assessment anywhere in the world can guarantee absolute fairness.

Everyone has their own troubles, and the environment each individual faces cannot be absolutely fair either.

The reason Nie Xuehua spoke up was that he felt Wu Xuanqi's classmate, having earned a doctorate, should not have ended up at Yi City First People's Hospital, but should at least be making his way in a provincial city, given his professional ability.

Generally, as long as a hospital director is not a fool, he only needs a few well-connected placeholders rather than someone who actually gets things done; they would keep such talent.

Of course, the crowd did not focus all their attention on Wu Xuanqi's classmate.

As the procedure continued, Wu Xuanqi's classmate eventually revealed the 'flaw' of insufficient staying power. Therefore, compared to Ning Jindong—whom Fang Ziye had been briefed about and who was also competing next to him—he had little to distinguish himself.

Nie Xuehua and Wu Xuanqi were both drawn in by Ning Jindong's performance. At this moment, Nie Xuehua had nothing left but a faintly desolate murmur: "Ning Jindong's talent is truly strong; what a pity."

"Yes. For Brother Dong's sake, Old Professor Xue has regretted it more than once."

"But there was no way around it. Back then, Brother Dong was not outstanding during his master's stage, and moreover, Old Professor Xue, as Brother Dong's supervisor, was about to retire and would no longer serve as a doctoral supervisor, so no special arrangements were made."

"But Brother Dong himself was actually fortunate—he earned the appreciation of Director Wang of the Central Hospital," Wu Xuanqi said.

He then asked, "Brother Xue Hua? If we judge by Professor Dong's recent description of being close to the ceiling of the hall-and-chamber level, what level can Brother Dong reach now?"

Hearing this, Fang Ziye's heart stirred, and he pricked up his ears.

In fact, Fang Ziye often speculated that in the training room, with so many different practice materials and methods set up, many professors held a non-instant-noodle-panelized understanding of different levels.

But no one had ever mentioned such a theory.

Fang Ziye knew it might be because he had not yet reached that stage, so no one had brought it up to him.

As for the term "entering the hall and chamber," Fang Ziye had once heard his teacher Yuan Weihong explain it: it takes the level of performing demonstration surgery as the starting point and clearly draws a dividing line.

Before that, one has not formally entered the gate.

And to perform teaching surgery, the starting point is being highly proficient in surgery, with no mistakes allowed, being able to prevent others from finding loopholes in the surgical procedure; one must be extremely proficient while also achieving absolute mastery of the standard surgical process recognized by the domestic and provincial medical industry.

That difficulty is not low!

To perform demonstration surgery without embarrassment, generally only very capable associate professors and professors dare to show their face.

Fang Ziye guessed through the panel that Level 4 might be the standard for entering the hall and chamber.

However, the knowledge-point ladder for Level 4 is 5000, with every 1000 knowledge points as a ladder.

But for a skill to go from Level 1 to Level 4, the total knowledge points consumed is only 550.

The difference here might be the gap between genius and genius, enough to make the word "despair" apply to geniuses.

Nie Xuehua said upon hearing this: "Probably the second or third one. I seem to have heard someone say that Ning Jindong only needs half a year to learn a surgery to the demonstration-surgery level, and his potential index can reach a height of 10."

"And from his graduation to now, he has accumulated so many years; he should have moved forward another two or three steps."

Nie Xuehua's words were very awkward.

Wu Xuanqi immediately reacted and nodded repeatedly.

But Fang Ziye reacted strongly for a while.

Potential Index—Teacher Shen Tao had explained it to him before: it is the time a person spends learning Level 3 or Level 4 surgery.

Generally speaking, to reach a Potential Index of 10, one must learn it within half a year.

Reaching Level 4 proficiency in half a year is truly not easy—equivalent to gaining 570 proficiency points in half a year. One year would be over a thousand...

Calculating this way, Teacher Ning Jindong might truly have a Level 4 proficiency of 1000+ or 2000+, after all, he has graduated for so many years.

However, this involves an issue of increasing difficulty.

In fact, to calculate the Potential Index—i. e., the commonly understood learning speed for Level 3 and Level 4 surgery—the prerequisite is that one's basic skills accumulation must reach a certain level of maturity.

If basic skills are not solid—i. e., not even thirty years old—then you cannot even access Level 3 and Level 4 surgeries.

The improvement speed of basic skills will then be much slower.

But Fang Ziye could understand—

After all, reaching Level 4 in a skill is one stage; 1000+ is the second stage.

Fang Ziye continued watching the competition.

Soon, the first batch of competitions was nearing its end.

Results would not be announced on the spot; instead, the results of the first round competitors would be announced in the third round, the results of the second round in the fourth round, and so on.

The results of the last two rounds would be announced during the practice operation stage, in spare moments.

The first round had Ning Jindong, but the competitors in the second round were equally exciting.

Zhang Zixi and Ceng Tai both went on stage to compete.

And because there were two relatively outstanding people, Fang Ziye found it hard to take it all in!

At this time, Wu Xuanqi had already gone to the waiting area and bid farewell to Nie Xuehua and Fang Ziye.

After Wu Xuanqi left, Fang Ziye asked: "Teacher Nie, was that Teacher Ning from the Provincial Central Hospital just now very strong in incision technique? He could simulate Professor Dong's operation and carve a cross on a blood vessel."

Nie Xuehua heard this, tilted his head slightly, looked at Fang Ziye, and looked surprised: "Ziye, you're not thinking of competing with Ning Jindong, are you?"

Fang Ziye immediately shook his head.

His own level—incision technique had just reached Level 4—certainly could not reach such a degree.

"Ziye, don't underestimate yourself. The Potential Index we speak of is something you haven't encountered yet, because you haven't accessed Level 3 and Level 4 surgeries."

"And the improvement speed of basic skills is generally one-fifth of the learning speed for Level 3 and Level 4 surgeries after basic skills accumulation is completed. So actually, you don't need to consider so much right now."

"Ning Jindong's current level, in terms of incision technique, is already comparable to your master's level when he won the Special Prize last year—not everyone can reach such a level..."

As Nie Xuehua explained this, Fang Ziye indeed discovered that Ceng Tai and Zhang Zixi from the Provincial People's Hospital, who had just gone on stage, both, at the end of their operation, only dared to simulate a single cut in the blood vessel; seeing no blood, they consciously stopped cutting.

If they cut again and finally broke the blood vessel causing bleeding, it would be better not to touch it at all.

A blood vessel that had been cut once, if one wanted to cut across it again, the difficulty and the control required over incision depth and cutting force were both extremely high.

That is to say, actually, during the Youth Doctor stage, a Level 4 Basic Skill level was already very high!

Ning Jindong was rated as someone who might win the Special Prize, so his proficiency would be relatively higher. Whereas Professor Dong Dongsheng, who performed earlier as a demonstration, was even more awesome, counting as a figure from the generation above Ning Jindong.

The learning cycle of medicine is very long; often, three years of accumulation is not something you can catch up to just by using time, unless there is a huge difference in talent; otherwise, those who walk ahead of you will forever stay ahead of you...

Afterward, Fang Ziye gradually discovered.

It seemed that the three most praised—Pang Shu, Ning Jindong, and Chen Tailin—had only completed the Cross-shaped Incision and thus did not dare to continue; others, such as Wu Xuanqi and the like, merely imitated Professor Dong Dongsheng, cutting only once, and stopped without advancing after seeing no blood.

Aside from these people, others only dared to quickly expose the blood vessel, or make a symbolic incision, leaving only a mark, not daring to cut through the vessel wall at all.

The difference in the degree and level of this imitation was very obvious.

When it was Fang Ziye's turn to compete, Fang Ziye also quickly completed the preliminary exposure, then honestly cut once along the longitudinal direction of the blood vessel.

Hesitating for a while at the incision, he still did not dare to cut down a second time.

After the competition ended, Fang Ziye returned to the spectator seats; although he received awesome flattery from a group of fellow disciples, in fact, Fang Ziye's heart at this moment was very painful.

Because he discovered that if not for having added points to that Level 5 Skill, but if those Level 4 Skills were each given around 1000 points of proficiency, then fifty thousand yuan might truly have been beckoning to him.

But now? Fang Ziye estimated that he probably found it difficult even to win the First Prize.

The Second Prize should be about right! To win the First Prize, he would still need to strive a bit.

Because competition results were not an absolute focus, just a bit of color, so everyone's competition time was only fifteen minutes, and time needed to be strictly controlled.

So, the morning competition also ended around ten-thirty. Afterward came the Free Practice segment.

During Free Practice, everyone could line up behind the competition operating table, then reuse the mice that had been competed on but not yet "euthanized," allowing the operator to freely dissect other locations.

Or one could dissect blood vessels, or complete other operations, counting it as an exchange.

At this time, Nie Xuehua and Zhang Zixi were both greeting the students in their own groups, not staying with Fang Ziye; accompanying Fang Ziye were still his Doctor Senior Brothers.

And, a Qin Geluo with a slightly dark complexion, looking at Fang Ziye with a resentful expression.

His face was full of a struggle of emotions.

After a long while, Qin Geluo said: "Congratulations, Zi Xi; I didn't expect that Brother would so quickly become your stepping stone."

(Chapter End)