Chapter 93

The one called Cao Zi Qing was older-looking; though his face was clean without any trace of youthful acne, it bore the marks of time.

He walked forward slightly nervously through the crowd and said, "Teacher, my name is Cao Zi Qing. I was previously a master's student in the Sports Medicine Department, and this time I am applying to take the exam in Sports Medicine as well."

"Old Zhu, this is your Sports Medicine candidate. Take him to 804 for the assessment first!"

"That... Fang Ziye, you follow Cao Zi Qing and Professor Zhu Kewei to 804 to help out." Qi Wenshan made the arrangement without avoiding suspicion.

Although Professor Qi Wenshan was short, even a little shorter than Cao Zi Qing, as the assessment proceeded this old man increasingly entered his element, bearing both scholarly elegance and an oppressive aura; it was no wonder that despite his short stature he could become a leading figure among many old professors—he had something about him.

Indeed, Qi Wenshan did not avoid suspicion at all, because Fang Ziye's assessment was conducted in public view; he was originally a master's student of this hospital, and after passing the operational special plan, he did not occupy a regular quota.

Under such circumstances, once he switched to the identity of staff, no one dared to raise an objection.

Still the same old saying: if you can do it, do it; if you can't, don't keep yapping. As long as it doesn't affect your normal assessment, don't talk too much.

Fang Ziye obediently followed along.

Since getting to know Professor Li Guohua of Trauma Surgery and Professor Wen Dongfang of Hand Surgery, Fang Ziye had roughly formed an impression of this older generation of figures.

He knew that the old professors still shining and contributing in the training rooms were all retired from various sub-specialties, now only doing outpatient clinics, and were the mainstays of the entire Orthopedics Department.

Of course, the names of people of their generation all had distinct characteristics of their era.

For example, although the names of Teacher Han Shan of Sports Medicine and Professor Zhu Kewei were fairly conventional, the names of Professor Qi Wenshan of Joint Surgery and Professor Dong Wensheng sounded very similar.

Professor Wen Dongfang of Hand Surgery and Professor Zhu Weiguo were absolutely iconic names of the sixties and seventies of the last century.

The names of Professor Li Guohua and Professor Xiong Zhizhang of Trauma Surgery were somewhat more conventional...

Professor Zhu Kewei, sporting a very striking bald head, bald beyond compare, walked while asking, "Student Cao, aren't you nervous? The reason we assess you separately is to thoroughly understand your true level."

"Hopefully we can give you more chances. To be honest, our hospital is very generous toward talent. This time we have prepared nine old fellows, totaling only twenty-three people, planning to use one day to slowly assess you."

"As long as your ability is good enough, being assessed several more times is no problem. As long as the difference isn't too outrageous, you don't need to worry about insufficient time at all." Besides his bald head, Professor Zhu Kewei also had the approachable kindness of a monk, and his words were very comforting to hear.

The hospital highly valued high-quality operational talent, so it especially valued the operational special plan in the PhD application assessment system.

Naturally, it valued the Onion Research Plan even more; that offered more opportunities than the operational special plan. As long as you had enough foundation and were excellent enough, you wouldn't have to worry about having no books to read.

"Thank you, Professor Zhu. I'll do my best." Cao Zi Qing was still very nervous.

Professor Zhu Kewei had indeed expressed that he would give more chances, but damn it, chances were not a guarantee of success; without sufficient strength, even ten chances might not be grasped.

Cao Zi Qing felt a bit apprehensive inside, finding it very stinging.

As they continued walking, Professor Zhu Kewei gave Fang Ziye a document, asking him to carefully explain the Sports Medicine Department's emphasis on basic operational skills.

The operational types valued by the Sports Medicine Department overlapped with Trauma Surgery but were not entirely identical.

Incision and suturing techniques were equally valued, but regarding debridement and hemostasis, the requirements were not as high in the early stage; instead, there were higher requirements for puncture techniques and arthroscopic simulated mirror-handling operational techniques.

For example, regarding puncture techniques, the standard in the training room of Zhongnan Hospital was to be able to puncture five points you had memorized through tofu, achieving four-fifths of the bullseye, to complete the operation.

And the thickness of the tofu was not reduced.

Naturally, the early puncture requirements in the Sports Medicine training room were not that high; they just needed to meet the passing requirement, which was to achieve four-fifths and penetrate six centimeters of tofu thickness.

This not only tested memory and angle control, but also required finding precision.

In Sports Medicine operations, creating arthroscopic portals was crucial.

Arthroscopic simulated mirror-handling operational technique actually meant: through a box, without fluoroscopy, while simulating looking at the monitor of the observation mirror, using a pair of pliers similar to arthroscopic operating instruments, to pick all the soybeans from the bottom of one box into a box inside.

Generally, about fifteen beans would be placed; if all the beans could be picked in within thirty attempts, it counted as a successful operation, which already gave a very large margin for error.

And this operation simulated arthroscopic exploration and removal of loose bodies within the joint, and was also a basic skill.

After all, with the beans scattered in the box, how you adjust the arthroscope's field of view is up to you to figure out; the box has many control holes, and you adjust the entry paths of the observation mirror and operating mirror yourself. This requires a certain understanding of spatial structure, and then you complete the design yourself.

This was completely different from Trauma Surgery's high requirements for debridement and hemostasis.

After Fang Ziye finished speaking, Professor Zhu Kewei touched his big bald head and asked with a smile, "The practice modes and practice materials for puncture and arthroscopic simulated operations in Sports Medicine are basically the same in every teaching hospital, right?"

"Don't go finding me some instrument I've never heard of."

Cao Zi Qing at this moment dared not be presumptuous or joke around. If necessary, what if this old Professor Zhu really called his hospital's teachers to contact and confirm, to verify whether he was lying—wouldn't that be exposing himself?

Immediately after, once Cao Zi Qing was familiar with the corresponding standards, the operational assessment began.

First of all, Cao Zi Qing did not request to change any operational materials; they still used tofu. It was estimated that in the university where Cao Zi Qing was, the practice materials in the training room were also tofu.

And at this moment, Fang Ziye's mindset was slightly 'deformed,' very similar to after passing a driver's license test, going to watch others take the second and third subjects—the feeling boiled down to two words: loved watching.

Moreover, having just finished the exam, he was familiar with all the processes and requirements, and even knew the assessment standards backwards and forwards, so he loved watching.

Fang Ziye stood to the side, watching Professor Zhu Kewei score on the rating scale while scoring Cao Zi Qing, and from the bottom of his heart also began to critique Cao Zi Qing's operation.

Fang Ziye's current suturing technique was Level 4 Proficiency, one level higher than Cao Zi Qing. Therefore he could discover that if Cao Zi Qing could control his strength a little bit more, the suturing effect might be better; not only could he complete the suturing on the tofu surface, but it would be almost no different from suturing skin jelly.

Cao Zi Qing's current operational level—from the needle entry angle of his first stitch and the angle selection when passing the needle—Fang Ziye knew he had skill in suturing; completing suturing on the tofu surface was not difficult.

This Cao Zi Qing dared to directly volunteer to challenge the training room; he had something about him.

After glancing at Cao Zi Qing's operation, Fang Ziye glanced sideways at the content of Professor Zhu Kewei's detailed rating scale, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

This Professor Zhu Kewei was truly harsh and strict.

Even when tying suturing knots, Cao Zi Qing pressed the thread knot twice and points were deducted—was this even letting people live?

He didn't know whether, during his own assessment, these old professors had given him face and deducted fewer points.

But he estimated it was difficult; the more he himself was the first to participate in the assessment, the stricter they would be.

Time slowly passed; after about ten minutes, Cao Zi Qing's operational proficiency was still not very stable. While making one stitch, he directly pried open a small piece of the tofu surface.

Cao Zi Qing panicked at that moment, pretending as if Professor Zhu hadn't seen, and directly pressed the tofu surface back, then continued to suture.

"Cough cough, hmm." But although Professor Zhu Kewei was nearly seventy years old, he was not muddle-headed.

Cao Zi Qing stopped operating at that moment, and with the needle holder gently tapped his left hand once.

After being slightly annoyed for a while, he turned his head to look at Fang Ziye, smiling and nodding, indicating very clearly that he hoped Fang Ziye could change another piece of tofu for him and help cut two more cuts, so he could have another operational opportunity.

Fang Ziye actually didn't need Cao Zi Qing to tell him; there was no mockery on his face, because at this moment Cao Zi Qing's operational level was slightly higher than both Xiong Jinhuan and Li Yuanpei—how could he mock him?

Fang Ziye carefully took away the previous tofu with gloves and first placed it on another operating table; these were to be kept as evidence fixed in place. In case Cao Zi Qing's subsequent operational assessment failed, there would be a reason for the failure.

After taking another piece of tofu to the operating table, Fang Ziye drew the knife twice; the sharp knife split the tofu as smoothly as a machine cutting it: "You can slow down a bit, keep it up."

Fang Ziye added a word, not knowing whether doing so was a violation, but it didn't matter; he just added a word of encouragement, telling the other person to slow down and not rush.

Zhu Kewei didn't even look at Fang Ziye, but after refilling Cao Zi Qing's basic information, he changed to a new scoring scale and wrote a 2 on the blank scoring scale.

Cao Zi Qing, hearing Fang Ziye speak at this moment, smiled bitterly and looked at Fang Ziye.

It really was not knowing until trying, and once trying, it was tm terrible; previously watching Fang Ziye's suturing operation, there was nothing exquisite about the operation, nor any fancy flourishes of swinging the needle holder, just standard and proper.

It looked not difficult, but only when actually doing it oneself did one know that the difficulty of these assessments was still not less than that of the training room in his own hospital.

Cao Zi Qing did not delay too much; this time, he just continued to slow down the speed, possibly because of the previous operational warm-up, or possibly because after failing once before, he was more steady; therefore, this time's suturing, double row totaled seventeen stitches.

Cao Zi Qing completed it standardly and properly; although two stitches tore the tofu surface, forming cutting marks, it was no big deal, as long as it wasn't directly lifting out a block of tofu, it was not a one-vote veto.

Finally, Cao Zi Qing passed the suturing operation assessment with a relatively dangerous score of sixty-eight points.

Immediately after, it came to the incision technique assessment.

Cao Zi Qing first asked a question, whether he could carve the character Zi.

Old Professor Zhu Kewei, upon hearing this, rolled his eyes at that moment: "Are you sure?"

Carving characters is the assessment content of debridement technique; although related to incision technique, it actually does not belong to the same category.

Cao Zi Qing was joking, right? How much skill did his debridement technique actually have?

Did he think that because the character Zi has few strokes, he should choose the character Zi?

Although Fang Ziye chose the character Bo, the character Bo is actually all combinations of horizontal, vertical, and dot strokes, without the horizontal hook strokes like the character Zi; the operational difficulty is actually smaller than the character Zi!

Wasn't this exposing his cognitive level all at once?

"I want to try." Cao Zi Qing nodded; he might have no choice, knowing his incision technique did not reach the corresponding level, so he simply directly switched to debridement technique.

But his suggestion was truly...

The Sports Medicine Department's requirements for debridement technique were not particularly high.

No one stopped him, and Fang Ziye could not speak up to remind him again.

Fang Ziye had always known that his classmates Xiong Jinhuan and Li Yuanpei were definitely not mediocre, just excellent but not particularly obvious; wanting to pass the test in the Master's stage to benchmark against the Master's stage training room was not something one person could do alone.

Watching was watching, and it was indeed good to watch.

After Cao Zi Qing failed the debridement technique operation for the third time, Zhu Kewei took the initiative to call a stop: "That's enough, the assessment ends here; do you want to continue with the incision technique assessment?"

"If not proceeding, then go prepare well for the interview and re-examination."

Cao Zi Qing's expression was nervous, and he did not want to let go of such a great opportunity so easily; almost with a pleading tone: "Teacher, can I try the arthroscope operation? Teacher. I."

Zhu Kewei stood up at once; beneath his bald head, his gaze turned sharp: "You want to pass the professional assessment simply through the arthroscope operation; do you know what the standard is?"

"I ask you, can you perform a very proficient shoulder arthroscope exploration and cleaning operation?"

"If not, let's not waste time; I am very busy. If yes, I can give you an opportunity, but don't hold a侥幸 mentality."

"Integrity is a very precious quality."

Hearing this, Cao Zi Qing's expression gradually stiffened.

Then he lowered his slightly arrogant and unyielding head, admitted defeat and threw down the scalpel to surrender.

Cao Zi Qing's failure was not an accident; Fang Ziye brought Cao Zi Qing and Cao Zi Qing's related assessment materials back to the Joint Surgery Department's Training Room 803, and handed the materials to Old Professor Qi Wenshan.

Qi Wenshan carefully finished reading all the materials, then used a clamp to collect them, and encouraged: "Don't be discouraged; so far, only one person has passed the Professional Special Plan; Cao Zi Qing, you are still very good, able to pass the suturing test."

"You still have a chance; wait a while to properly attend the interview and the subsequent shadowing assessment re-examination. Don't affect your mood."

Cao Zi Qing nodded slightly and bowed slightly: "Thank you, Teacher; then can I leave first to prepare for the interview?"

"Go. Ziye, you see him off, show Cao Zi Qing the way, so he doesn't get lost." Qi Wenshan still politely instructed.

Although Cao Zi Qing did not pass the Special Plan assessment, it did not mean Cao Zi Qing had no opportunity at all.

Fang Ziye nodded in agreement, and then politely went with Cao Zi Qing back to the direction of the Demonstration Classroom where the Orthopedics Ward was located.

On the way, Cao Zi Qing turned his head and asked: "Old Brother, did I choose wrong? Should I not have switched to debridement technique halfway?"

Fang Ziye nodded: "You chose the wrong character; for debridement technique simplified character carving, the more horizontal and vertical strokes, the easier to carve; generally most people choose to carve the Tian character or the Hui character."

"Although the character Zi has few strokes, the requirement for debridement technique is very high; it is an item that our teachers in the training room perform after the Doctoral stage of debridement technique, with difficulty greater than the crushed muscle debridement in clinical practice."

"In our Trauma Surgery Department, if you can carve some high-difficulty characters, such as a smooth Ren character, then the score awarded for such operational proficiency is very high."

Fang Ziye explained a sentence.

Fang Ziye did not know what models other teaching hospitals had, but at Zhongnan Hospital, Fang Ziye knew that after debridement technique carving simplified characters, it came to the more advanced formed debridement of crushing pork, and only after that was the more complex character carving.

"I."

"Ai!" Cao Zi Qing sighed.

"But I feel it is very difficult to make that tofu into an octahedron through incision technique, and also need to carve stairs; I really can't do it." Cao Zi Qing sighed, walked two steps first with some disappointment.

"Old Brother, no need to see me off anymore; I can find the Demonstration Classroom from here; thank you, Old Brother; if there is fate in the future, we can get together sometime." Cao Zi Qing was still very polite.

Fang Ziye did not dwell on it; after seeing Cao Zi Qing enter the Orthopedics Building, he returned to the training room again, with Old Professor Zhu Kewei, the next candidate participating in the Professional Special Plan under 'Operation Assessment'.

This candidate, although at the first step of suturing technique level he slipped, his current actual operation level was about the same as Xiong Jinhuan, and still far from suturing tofu.

But far was far; repeating several times still could not complete it.

Although Fang Ziye had watched several relatively low-quality suturing techniques, he still loved watching, as if he had such a quirk, just not expressed on the surface, not shown on the face.

(Chapter End)