Guess who won the Golden Scalpel Games?!
Some stars go for glory in the Olympic Games. Or the Commonwealth Games.
Up-and-comers in Western Sydney play it a bit differently – and they’re so good they’ve just won the Golden Scalpel Games.
The Golden Scalpel Games are the major education and training event for the HETI Surgical Skills Network, and showcases the surgical skills of aspiring surgeons.
Westmead resident medical officer Dr Dominic Ku, Dr Wenjie Zhong and senior registered medical officer Dr Rakesh Quin and Dr Wenjie Zhong teamed up with three colleagues from Nepean (Intern Dr Kartik Vasan, resident medical officer Dr Jessica Tay and Dr Cameron Dunlop) to complete six stations.
They were supported by their reserve Dr Mia Zhang and a squad who trained with the team: Dr Pratima Herle, Dr Mona Liu and Dr Reuben Tang.
The team had just 20 minutes to complete each task – and a real-time scoreboard revealed their progress throughout the day.
At the end of round six, Sydney West was the winner, beating Northern and Eastern and Greater Southern into second and third place.
Dr James Rogers and Dr Alfin Okullo took the lead this year to coordinate the Sydney West team and its training, which was done at Westmead Hospital.
Westmead Hospital specialists – led by Professor of Surgery Westmead Professor Henry Pleass, Clinical Superintendent Surgery Dr Thomas Oh, SRMO Westmead Dr Alfin Okullo and SET General Dr James Rogers – took charge of the vascular anastomosis station for this year’s games.
The winning team was bolstered throughout their training by consultants who gave tutorials and support, including Network Manager Ms Linda Bell, Head of Trauma Dr Jeremy Hsu, Surgical Oncology H&N Dr Muzib Abdul-Razak, transplant surgeon Dr Lawrence Yuen, Professor Pleass, Dr Thomas Oh, SET General Supervisor & Head of Acute Surgical Unit A/Professor Vincent Lam and Vascular VMO Dr Delfino De Mascio.
