Chapter 1015: Chapter 1015: No Regrets
"Oh, Director Liu, you really dare to speak your mind."
Seeing that the cameras on the side were turned off and everyone in the observation room had left, Wang Lei said.
"Hehe, just saying it as it is, telling the truth," Liu Banxia said.
"But today’s surgery went quite well. This is just the basic version; in the future, there’ll be an advanced version, which requires techniques like rectal eversion. It will be a bit challenging then."
"We’ll have more opportunities in the future to do some TaTME. That’s the real deal. After finishing this surgery, I’m full of confidence."
"Teacher Liu, are you really that confident?" Liu Yiqing asked curiously.
Liu Banxia looked at her helplessly, "Can’t you just go along with what I’m saying? Alright, the patient is waking up soon. Notify the family later; let Su Wenhao handle it, not you two."
Liu Yiqing was also helpless; seeing Liu Banxia in a relaxed state, she thought he was telling the truth.
"Actually, it was a bit tricky during the specimen collection part of this surgery. I’ll need to study the TEM system more, at least it could mean fewer incisions," Liu Banxia said.
"Let’s work hard together, keep pushing forward. If someone can invent such a surgical method, we can do it too. We’ll build our own experience, right?"
"Teacher Liu, maybe we should first get the hang of laparoscopic surgery before moving on to such advanced ones," Huang Bo said.
"I’m giving myself ten years, learning slowly. If after ten years I can’t learn even a bit from Teacher Liu, then it means I’m really not cut out for this line of work."
"Tsk tsk, are you praising me or yourself?" Liu Banxia gave him a look.
"Alright, the patient has regained consciousness. Sir, rest assured, our surgery was a great success. Let’s move him back to the ward first, and I’ll check in later."
The patient responded with a blink of an eye.
Liu Banxia waved his hand, and Su Wenhao pushed the patient out.
"Alright, the patient is gone. Tell me what you all felt in the past few days," Liu Banxia asked while cleaning up the operating room.
"What I felt was that Teacher Liu is bold and speaks his mind," Xu Yino said earnestly.
"Oh, that’s good. Let me ask you, do you think what I said was right, and if you were the one performing the surgery, what would you choose?" Liu Banxia asked.
"Teacher Liu, can I speak honestly?" Xu Yino asked.
Liu Banxia nodded, "I want you to speak honestly."
"Well, I might choose a stapler first, because my current suturing skills aren’t good enough," Xu Yino said.
"But in the future, when my suturing skills improve, I might still use the stapler because I might be used to it and choose it naturally."
"Yeah, I feel the same way. My reliance on these instruments is quite high, always thinking they’re more reliable than my own skills," Liu Yiqing added.
"Comrades, this is the key issue," Liu Banxia said.
"These instruments are here to serve us, but we can’t forget mastering the basic skills just because we have the instruments as an aid."
"And my requirement isn’t to avoid using instruments if they can be avoided; it still depends on the patient’s actual situation. This patient could afford the surgery, but being our first NOSES, we wanted to make a statement."
"We have to show that the whole surgery didn’t cost much, with discounts. Our hospital shouldn’t lose money on this surgery either. There are so many people in the operating room, everyone’s effort deserves to be rewarded."
"But considering the current environment, there are still a significant number of patients who are tight on expenses. Even in the treatment of some emergency patients, we need to control costs wherever possible."
"Our emergency center actually runs a significant deficit every month, from various causes. But we can’t ignore it just because of this, as it concerns both finances and patients."
"If we can manage expenses when treating these emergency patients while still providing them with comprehensive medical services, won’t we be reducing losses accordingly?"
"And if we use the savings to help other patients, wouldn’t we be able to treat more patients? Sometimes, seeing patients who can’t afford surgery is really concerning."
"We’ve discussed this issue before; anyway, this is my initial thought. Whether it works or not will depend on everyone’s efforts."
"But there’s one thing not to forget, our sole principle is for the patients. We can’t insist on hand-sewn stitching just to showcase skills, that would be over-correction."
"Every decision we make should consider the patient’s wishes and the actual situation at the time as the judging criteria. Got it?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
In fact, many things are like this, not simply black or white. So, in terms of using consumables, there’s no very clear judgment.
This issue wasn’t discussed further. After tidying up the operating room, they came out.
As usual, people they met in passing still offered congratulations. Regardless of Liu Banxia’s bold statements earlier, or whether those people knew, the congratulations were there.
After all, this is also the honor of the emergency center, and not all surgeons strive for excessive use of consumables.
"The surgery was very successful, have the nurses been briefed too?" Liu Banxia asked when he arrived at the patient’s ward.
"Director Liu, everything has been explained, thank you so much," Chu Wanting said.
"It’s my duty. Observe for two days; if everything is fine, you can remove the tube then. Just pay attention to the drainage volume and try to record it daily," Liu Banxia said.
"Director Liu, how long until he can get out of bed and move around?" Chu Wanting asked.
"That will also depend on the elder’s recovery. Don’t worry, the medical staff will inform you. Normally, if everything goes well, he can move around slightly tomorrow."
"Alright, thank you, Director Liu," Chu Wanting said.
"Okay, that’s it for now. If there’s anything unclear or abnormal, just call our medical staff, no need to worry too much," Liu Banxia said with a smile.
"Although the pathology results aren’t out yet, I think it’s unlikely to be a big issue. You all saw the specimen, right? It’s clean around it. The check-up timing was very fortunate."
"Sigh... We have you and Qiaoqiao to thank for that; otherwise, we might have delayed it further, which would have been dangerous," Chu Wanting said.
Liu Banxia didn’t linger here much longer. Checking in was also to give reassurance to the patient’s family. Coming over was just to fulfill the duty. The outcome of the surgery will be seen in the next two days.
If there’s an anastomotic leak, it will certainly show.
"Great, another achievement accomplished."
As soon as he returned to the emergency center, Zhou Shuwen, waiting in the lobby, immediately offered praise.
"Director, please don’t flatter me. This surgery was about as routine as it gets; the tumor wasn’t very large and the specimen collection was easy," Liu Banxia said hastily.
"But your explanation during the surgery was very precise and could serve as a reminder for many people. If others are interested in studying the NOSES surgical method, this can save them a lot of detours."
"You must focus more on this area in the future, and currently, dedicate your efforts here and on pediatric surgery. Take orthopedic surgery slowly; anyway, your orthopedics skills are already quite good."
Liu Banxia didn’t know what to say. Although the last surgery gave him a sense of accomplishment, thinking about pediatric surgeries still made him a bit nervous.
"You really have guts, doing this on the fly, or was it premeditated?" After Zhou Shuwen went back to the office, Shi Lei and they gathered around again.
"A bit of both, actually. Today’s channel was relatively good, so I said a bit more," Liu Banxia said.
"Is there any reaction outside? I suspect many people didn’t like what I said, but I believe there’s nothing to worry about in our emergency center."
"You’ve said it all, what else can we say? Are you treating us to lunch? We’ve been supporting you spiritually," Wang Chao said earnestly.
"Of course, I’ll treat you, and ask Manager Zhou to buy some extra pickles," Liu Banxia responded unreservedly.
Everyone joked around for a while before dispersing to do their own work.
Today, all six of the "little ones" were brought to the operating room by Liu Banxia, which suddenly made the emergency center very busy. Usually, with them spreading out, there were no worries.
Many things could be handled directly; only the more complex ones would require them to come over.
This is also the role of the six little ones. Occasionally missing one or two is fine, but when all are absent, it can cause some inconvenience in handling emergencies.
Back in his office, Liu Banxia had to personally handle the paperwork related to this surgery.
He also knew that what he said would surely invite various perspectives on him. The assessments would be varied, but he truly didn’t care, nor would he regret it.
Diagnosing at the emergency center daily presented numerous situations. Witnessing the helplessness of patients’ families could really bring down one’s mood.
But there’s no way around it; it’s an issue the entire healthcare environment needs to face, not something he alone could bear.
He also understood that what he said today was only a topic for a few days, possibly not even reaching a week. Then the wind would blow past, and things would remain the same.
The boundaries are blurred, and one can’t easily define them. Whatever the original thoughts and feelings, they remain the same.
Just managing oneself is enough, leading by example.
