Chapter 452 - 267: The National Competition Begins
Chapter 452: Chapter 267: The National Competition Begins
The competition venue was divided into seven regions, each housed in a separate room.
Each region had its own panel of 30 expert judges, in addition to scorers, timekeepers, and other personnel.
In the main hall, a large screen simultaneously displayed a seven-way split-screen view of all the regions.
The main hall was overseen by seven chief judges who provided real-time commentary. They could also enlarge the feed of an outstanding contestant from any region for the mentors and accompanying personnel in the audience to watch.
After everyone had arrived, the seven chief judges on the main stage made their appearance.
The panel was led by Scholar Jiang Keji, the president of the Jin Country Medical Association’s Fuwai Hospital, which was ranked number one in the nation. He was joined by other titans in the field of cardiac surgery: the president of Capital Medical University Affiliated Anzhen Hospital, the president of Guan Province People’s Hospital, the vice president of Lin Province Pinfan Hospital, and the vice president of Wu City Jinzhou Heart Disease Hospital, who all sat on the judging panel.
In addition to these expert professors, officials from the Ministry of Health were also in attendance.
This national competition was also being covered by the Headquarter TV Station for a special report. The final twelve contestants, and especially the top three, would get the opportunity for extreme close-ups and brief, exclusive interviews with the station.
The prestige was off the charts!
Scholar Jiang delivered the opening remarks:
"...This competition is a grand family reunion for our cardiac surgery community. It has brought together many of our country’s top cardiac surgery experts. Through this event, we can not only assess the overall skill level of our nation’s young cardiac surgeons but also improve our techniques through the commentary and guidance from our senior experts..."
"...I hope our young cardiac surgeons will continuously refine their skills, always striving for excellence, and become the future pillars of our field’s development..."
When Scholar Jiang finished his speech, everyone rose to their feet and applauded.
Before an eager audience, Scholar Jiang and the other deans and experts jointly launched the "Jingshu Jin Country—National Cardiac Surgery Skills Competition"!
To ensure fairness, the twelve contestants in each region drew lots to determine their order of presentation. They would then wait in their respective waiting rooms to be called.
The procedure for the preliminary round required each contestant to first introduce a patient’s medical history, provide a detailed analysis of their condition, and present their pre-operative assessment. This was to be followed by a video demonstration of the surgical procedure, a discussion of the comprehensive post-operative management, and the patient’s follow-up results.
After the presentation, the regional judging panel would hold a question-and-answer session with the contestant, which would be followed by on-the-spot scoring!
Wu Ting went with the other eleven contestants to the Eastern Region’s waiting area, where they would draw lots and prepare.
They were not allowed any contact with the outside world while in the waiting area, leaving them cut off from any external information until the competition concluded.
In the Eastern Region, all twelve contestants had gathered in the waiting room.
The most popular among them was Deputy Director Li Xun from Xianglin City Xuanshang University Affiliated Hospital, who was also the favorite to win the Eastern Region.
Director Li gave everyone a calm, smiling nod and took his seat.
The others exchanged brief greetings and also sat down.
Wu Ting was the youngest of the twelve and the least familiar face in the field of cardiac surgery. Paradoxically, however, he was also the most famous person in the room.
After all, Wu Ting was quite influential in the Central Region, thanks to his work in the fields of Hepatic Tumor Surgery and business.
However, today’s competition was about presenting videos of cardiac surgeries. As far as everyone else was concerned, Wu Ting had only been selected because of his invention of the fourth-generation bioabsorbable polymer stent.
They didn’t really consider him a serious competitor!
Once the twelve contestants were seated, a staff member brought out slips of paper for the drawing. They began to draw lots in order, from front to back.
Wu Ting took his slip of paper, unfolded it, and saw his number: eleven!
Deputy Director Dong Bo from Jinggang University Affiliated First Hospital, who had arrived with him, drew the number one spot.
Li Xun, on the other hand, drew the very last spot.
With the order decided, the contestants began to prepare.
Dong Bo, being the first to go, was a nervous wreck.
Wu Ting struck up a casual conversation with Dong Bo to ease his tension.
"Brother Dong, your case is on aortic arch repair, right..."
"Yeah, a modified application of a minimally invasive endovascular repair technique..."
As Wu Ting and Dong Bo started discussing professional matters, Dong Bo began talking animatedly, momentarily forgetting his anxiety.
"Good luck, Brother Dong. We’ll grab a meal together after the competition is over."
Wu Ting offered him some encouragement.
Dong Bo, who had arrived on the same flight, looked at Wu Ting—who was so much younger than him—nodded, and clenched his fist.
"Right. Regardless of the outcome, just being selected for the national competition and getting to compete on the same stage as so many top-tier doctors is a rare experience and an honor."
Soothed by Wu Ting’s words, Dong Bo felt much calmer as he headed off to be the first to compete.
[Ding! By competing on the same stage with a top cardiac surgeon from the Eastern Region and by encouraging and calming Director Dong Bo, you have acquired an entry from him: Ascending Aortic Arch Branch Vessel Bypass Graft (Purple). This is Dong Bo’s most proficient surgical technique, used for complex and difficult-to-treat lesions of the aorta involving the arch. It is a mainstream minimally invasive endovascular repair technique with considerable clinical value.]
Wu Ting’s eyes lit up. He had come to this national cardiac surgery competition specifically to collect all sorts of entries. He hadn’t managed to get any to drop while chatting with Dong Bo and Qiao Yushan on the plane, but now, a heavyweight entry had just dropped in the waiting room.
This gave Wu Ting the idea to chat and interact with the other contestants. These eleven people were the strongest young cardiac surgeons in the Jindong Region; each of them had to have at least one impressive Surgical Technique they could be proud of!