General Surgery Ward 3

General Surgery Ward III (Colorectal Tumors and Anorectal Surgery) was established in 1999. After nearly 20 years of development, it has become a department with considerable influence and distinctive specialty characteristics in China and Heilongjiang Province. It is a National Key Discipline of General Surgery, the Intestinal Fistula Treatment Center for the three northeastern provinces, the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) ward of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, and the Clinical Nutrition Support Center. The department currently has nearly 7000 outpatient visits annually, admits nearly 2000 inpatients each year, and performs nearly 1200 operations annually. Standardized and meticulous surgical procedures, rational comprehensive treatment, extensive case-management experience, and humanistic nursing provide patients with the most reliable assurance of treatment efficacy. Years of accumulated clinical experience and exchanges with domestic and international experts have enabled the Department of General Surgery III of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University to gradually develop distinctive characteristics in medical practice. It mainly admits patients with (1) colorectal, gastric and intestinal, and digestive tract tumors, as well as other benign and malignant lesions of the digestive tract; (2) various digestive tract fistulas (intestinal fistula, gastric fistula, biliary fistula, pancreatic fistula, etc.); (3) acute severe pancreatitis and cystic pancreatic tumors; (4) anorectal diseases such as mixed hemorrhoids, anal fistula, and anal fissure; and (5) common and frequently occurring general surgical diseases of the thyroid, breast, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, and other organs. The department actively advocates standardized surgical treatment, adjuvant treatment, neoadjuvant treatment, comprehensive treatment involving multidisciplinary collaboration, and palliative treatment. In particular, on the basis of solid general surgical techniques, the introduction of ERAS and perioperative management concepts has made high-risk and difficult operations a technical specialty of our department. At the same time, we actively apply new technologies in colorectal surgery, such as robotic colorectal resection and intraoperative radiofrequency ablation. The successful implementation of these procedures has effectively increased the surgical resection rate for colorectal tumors.

While developing high-difficulty new technologies, we have always placed medical safety first. During the treatment of colorectal cancer, we attach importance to preoperative diagnosis, strictly control indications, and use NRS2002 risk assessment and a 3D imaging surgical system for preoperative evaluation. During surgery, we perform meticulous procedures and preserve intestinal function rationally. After surgery, we carry out strict examinations and monitoring and provide scientific and rational sequential nutritional therapy. At the same time, postoperative complications are controlled at an advanced level in China. For colorectal cancer with liver metastases, we actively advocate multidisciplinary cooperation and work closely with the hepatic surgery, gastroenterology, interventional medicine, and radiotherapy departments of our hospital to provide neoadjuvant treatment, molecular targeted therapy, and conversion therapy. We also apply new technologies, including single-stage R0 resection for colorectal cancer liver metastases, portal vein embolization, and radiofrequency ablation, greatly increasing patients’ opportunities to receive curative treatment. The 5-year survival rate of patients treated by us is at a nationally leading level.

Main diseases treated: Common and frequently occurring diseases in general surgery, such as diseases of the thyroid, breast, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tumors, and anorectal diseases, are the main treatment targets. In particular, the surgical treatment of gastrointestinal tumors, intestinal fistula, obstruction, bleeding, constipation, and anorectal diseases has reached an advanced level in China.

Our department’s specialties: Comprehensive treatment of colorectal tumors; surgical treatment and nutritional support for critically ill patients and patients with difficult and complex conditions; ERAS techniques; various digestive tract fistulas (intestinal fistula, gastric fistula, biliary fistula, pancreatic fistula, etc.); severe pancreatitis; and anorectal diseases.

Our advantages: Nutritional treatment for critically ill patients; the ERAS concept; and minimally invasive techniques are our strengths. Nutritional treatment, intestinal fistula treatment, and ERAS were among the first to be introduced and applied in the three northeastern provinces. Our department is a leading department in the three northeastern provinces and is at an advanced level nationally.

Our team:

There are currently 11 physicians, including 3 chief physicians and professors, 5 associate chief physicians and associate professors, and 3 attending physicians. Nine hold doctoral degrees and 2 hold master’s degrees. Under the leadership of Director Zhang Xinyu, our department makes full use of its distinctive characteristics and technical strengths, constantly advancing and innovating its treatment concepts and striving for excellence in its treatment methods. For many years, we have maintained close academic exchanges with the National Key Discipline of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the General Hospital of the Nanjing Military Region, led by Academician Li Jieshou. As a result, our department has long been at a nationally leading level in the treatment of intestinal diseases.

Our technology:

Our team is proficient in performing surgical treatment for common and frequently occurring general surgical diseases, emergencies, and difficult and complicated conditions. We pursue the latest treatment concepts in China and abroad and formulate individualized treatment plans scientifically and rationally to meet the needs of patients throughout Longjiang with our excellent technical skills.

We use nutritional support therapy as a safeguard throughout the treatment system for every patient, making treatment safer. With superb surgical techniques, we have treated countless critically ill patients referred from within and outside the province with intestinal fistula and intestinal failure, bringing hope of life to critically ill patients struggling in despair and pain. We admit more than 100 patients with intestinal fistula annually and rank second nationwide among tertiary A hospitals in the number of intestinal fistula cases treated, with a cure rate of over 95%. For critically ill patients with preserved digestive tract function and patients with advanced tumors, we use nasojejunal feeding tubes and PEJ technology to establish reliable routes for enteral nutritional support, safeguarding patients’ survival and intestinal function.

In the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors, we closely follow the latest treatment developments in China and abroad and strictly follow treatment guidelines. According to the different stages of tumors, we adopt standardized surgery or neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens to achieve the most satisfactory results. We also routinely apply laparoscopic, 3D laparoscopic, and da Vinci robotic techniques in colorectal tumor surgery. On the basis of minimally invasive surgery, we combine these techniques with the latest ERAS concept, which was first applied in the three northeastern provinces in 2011, and have successfully applied it throughout the perioperative period of colorectal tumor surgery. This has greatly reduced treatment costs, alleviated patients’ financial burden and suffering, and shortened hospital stays.

We have also actively explored the surgical treatment of chronic slow-transit constipation and successfully performed subtotal colectomy and the Jinling procedure, relieving the suffering of patients with long-term constipation. For anorectal diseases, we were the first in the province to perform minimally invasive PPH surgery. The postoperative results are good, the recurrence rate is low, and patients experience little pain, making anorectal disease no longer “the most painful condition in the world.” The use of dietary fiber and probiotics also produces good results for patients with difficult bowel movements and postoperative defecation difficulties.

Our services and philosophy:

With the patient at the center and the patient’s interests as our starting point, we continuously improve treatment plans and help patients overcome difficulties in a calm and friendly atmosphere, enabling them to obtain the best treatment results at the lowest possible cost.

Our history:

After more than 20 years of trials and tribulations, under the leadership of Director Zhang Xinyu, our department has not only reached a leading level in the three northeastern provinces in the rescue and treatment of critically ill patients with intestinal fistula, intestinal failure, and severe pancreatitis, as well as in ERAS, but has also reached an advanced level nationally in colorectal tumors, constipation, anorectal diseases, and other general surgical diseases. We will uphold our services and philosophy, improve our technology, and serve patients wholeheartedly. Over the years, we have successfully organized various large-scale conferences, including the 2nd National Intestinal Fistula Conference of the Surgical Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association in 2017 and China’s 1st Ice City Multidisciplinary Summit Forum on Nutritional Support Therapy in 2018. We are currently a national training base for parenteral and enteral nutrition, with only 5 such bases nationwide (Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi’an, and Harbin), and have held multiple advanced training courses of the Chinese Academy of Integrative Nutrition. In January 2019, the Heilongjiang Provincial Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Specialty Alliance was established, with our department as the chairing unit. In May 2019, the Heilongjiang Provincial Clinical Nutrition Professional Medical Quality Management and Control Center was established at our hospital. In 2017, the first Heilongjiang Provincial ERAS medical consortium was established. With the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University as its core hospital, the consortium encompasses 9 branch centers, including Qiqihar First Hospital, Mudanjiang First People’s Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, and Daqing Oilfield General Hospital. In October 2018, a branch of the ERAS Elite Academy was established at our hospital. There are only 4 such branches nationwide, making our hospital the only one in the three northeastern provinces. In recent years, we have also held 3 academic conferences on parenteral and enteral nutritional support in the three northeastern provinces; 5 academic conferences on parenteral and enteral nutrition of the Heilongjiang Medical Association; 2 academic conferences on tumor nutritional support of the Heilongjiang Anti-Cancer Association; and 3 provincial ERAS conferences. We have received 10 awards, including Harbin Medical University and provincial medical new technology awards; 1 first prize for scientific and technological progress from the Provincial Education Department; 1 third prize for scientific and technological achievements from the provincial government; published more than 70 papers in core journals in China and abroad; and obtained 1 technical patent.

Nursing philosophy:

With the patient at the center, we strengthen basic nursing, fully implement the nursing responsibility system, deepen the professional content of nursing, and comprehensively improve the quality of nursing services. Patients must be placed first in all activities. We closely focus on patients’ needs, improve service quality, control service costs, develop convenient measures, and simplify work processes to provide patients with medical services that are “high-quality, efficient, low-cost, satisfactory, and reassuring.” We deepen high-quality nursing services, meet patients’ basic daily-life needs, ensure patient safety, maintain physical comfort, help balance patients’ psychological well-being, obtain the coordination and support of patients’ families and society, and improve patient and social satisfaction through high-quality nursing.

General Surgery III nursing team:

The department currently has 15 nursing staff members, including 1 with a master’s degree, 1 chief nurse, 1 associate chief nurse, and 11 nurses in charge. Head Nurse Qu Xiaoju is a chief nurse with a master’s degree in nursing management. She is currently Deputy Head of the Nursing Group of the Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, Chair of the Heilongjiang ERAS Nursing Group, Deputy Chair of the Heilongjiang Wound and Ostomy Nursing Group, an international enterostomal therapist, and a specialist nurse in nutritional support. Under the leadership of Head Nurse Qu Xiaoju, the General Surgery III nursing team has achieved remarkable results in enterocutaneous fistula nursing, nursing for inflammatory intestinal obstruction, nursing for parenteral and enteral nutrition therapy, PICC placement and care, and wound and ostomy care. The team has completed 5 collaborative nursing research projects, developed more than 10 new nursing technologies, and published more than 10 nursing papers. It has served as chief editor of 2 nursing textbooks and participated in compiling clinical nutrition nursing guidelines and expert consensus.