East Campus Gastrointestinal Surgery Department 2

The Second Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery at the East Campus was established in 2003. It is a multidisciplinary department encompassing gastrointestinal surgery, minimally invasive surgery, external abdominal hernia surgery, thyroid surgery, and anorectal surgery. It currently has 20 clinical physicians and 35 nursing staff and is a key specialty in medicine and health care in Shandong Province. It has 88 beds, including 3 chief physicians, 7 associate chief physicians, 7 attending physicians, and 7 physicians. Sixteen members of the medical and nursing staff hold master's degrees or higher; there are 2 doctoral supervisors and 3 master's supervisors.

The department's diagnostic and therapeutic scope focuses primarily on the surgical treatment of gastrointestinal tumors. It has optimized the rational treatment of difficult and critical illnesses in gastrointestinal surgery and perioperative nutritional support, while developing expertise and techniques in thyroid surgery, external abdominal hernia surgery, and minimally invasive surgery. In gastrointestinal tumor surgery, the department has established standardized treatment protocols and, on this basis, develops individualized plans for each patient in order to provide the greatest possible benefit. Since 2006, the department has successfully performed total laparoscopic radical resection of rectal cancer, laparoscopic-assisted total colectomy, and laparoscopic-assisted ultra-low rectal cancer surgery with anal preservation.

For low rectal cancer located within 5 cm of the anus, surgery has progressed from 70% of patients previously requiring anal resection and stoma creation to 95% of patients currently achieving the “three preservations”: preservation of sexual function, preservation of urinary function, and preservation of the anus in its original position. Patients’ postoperative quality of life has improved significantly. In 2010, the department made further progress by successfully performing laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy. To date, it has completed more than 150 laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomies and more than 180 radical operations for colorectal cancer, ranking among the leading institutions in Qingdao. The thyroid specialty covers all types of thyroid disease. The department has extensive clinical experience in the diagnosis and treatment of hyperthyroidism, thyroid malignancies, nodular goiter, giant nodular goiter, thyroiditis, and recurrent laryngeal nerve injury. Its standardized thyroid surgical treatment has reached an advanced and leading level nationally. The department has promoted the use of ultrasonography and color Doppler ultrasonography as routine examinations; combined with ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy, this has greatly increased the definitive diagnosis rate of thyroid cancer. On the basis of fully performing traditional open abdominal wall hernia repair and various open tension-free hernia repairs, the abdominal wall hernia specialty has promoted laparoscopic repair of external abdominal hernias, including unilateral or bilateral inguinal hernias, femoral hernias, umbilical hernias, incisional hernias, and parastomal hernias. These procedures offer significant advantages, including good efficacy, minimal trauma, less pain, and rapid recovery.

The department performs standardized radical surgery for gastrointestinal tumors, progressing from simple tumor excision to radical surgery focused on lymph-node clearance, and from surgery alone to comprehensive perioperative treatment centered on surgery, thereby improving survival rates. It also emphasizes the concepts of enhanced recovery after surgery and “tumor-free surgery” to reduce surgical injury and prevent iatrogenic tumor dissemination. Laparoscopic minimally invasive procedures are actively performed, and laparoscopic-assisted radical surgery for colorectal and gastric cancer, as well as external abdominal hernia repair, is now widely carried out. The department has developed a set of techniques and procedures for laparoscopic surgery. Over the next 3 years, it will invest more human resources and effort in improving laparoscopic surgical techniques and keeping pace with advanced technologies nationally and internationally. It provides treatment for critically ill patients and uses double-lumen irrigation and drainage tubes to manage severe intra-abdominal infections. The rational use of nutritional support has shortened the course of illness and increased patients’ cure rates. During the perioperative period, the department performs neoadjuvant chemotherapy and molecular targeted therapy for gastrointestinal tumors, reducing tumor stage, creating resection opportunities for tumors that were previously unresectable, and improving survival rates.

As a provincial-level key discipline, the department actively conducts relevant scientific research, continuing education, academic exchanges, and other activities while strengthening the discipline. Guided by the principles of “developing the department through education and science” and “strengthening the department through science and technology,” it has established cooperative relationships with institutions of higher education such as Qingdao University, providing a platform and the necessary conditions for new technologies, new projects, and scientific research, and has introduced a scientific research incentive scheme. It strives to obtain 1 National Natural Science Foundation grant and establish 2–3 provincial- and municipal-level research projects each year, strongly promoting scientific and technological research and improving medical technology and service capacity. The department is responsible for fourth-year classroom teaching and clinical observation and internship assignments for the five-year undergraduate program of Qingdao University Medical College. In recent years, it has established a teaching management group headed by the department director, with 1 teaching secretary responsible for organizing, assigning, and coordinating teaching staff within the department and ensuring that teaching tasks are completed on time. Director Mao Weizheng received the “Excellent Clinical Teaching Instructor” award from Weifang Hospital in 2010. A teaching management system combining medical rounds and teaching rounds has been established. In addition to completing the routine medical rounds of their own groups, all students must participate in the department’s rounds. They are also encouraged to prepare actively for questions from instructors, which has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of intern physicians for learning. A problem-based clinical teaching-round system has been established and has played an important role in motivating students to study their specialty.

The department is currently a graduate training site of Qingdao University Medical College. It has 5 supervisors for doctoral and master’s students and trains 2–3 doctoral students and 4–6 master’s students each year, providing a valuable opportunity for the training of general surgery professionals and the development of a talent pipeline. Every year, the department sends physicians to leading medical schools in China and abroad for further study. For this purpose, it has established friendly departmental relationships with the Departments of General Surgery of the University Hospital of Munich and the University Hospital of Hamburg and has sent physicians there for study and advanced training on multiple occasions. In China, department physicians and nursing staff have repeatedly undertaken further training at renowned hospitals such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Beijing Cancer Hospital, where they have learned advanced diagnostic, therapeutic, and nursing techniques and promoted the development of the discipline. Academic lectures are held regularly within the department to introduce the latest advances in medical technology, provide short-term training for residents, and implement a comprehensive system of rewards and penalties.

All medical and nursing staff of the Department of General Surgery uphold the departmental cultural mission of “broad learning and continual progress, with virtue benefiting the people.” They are constantly striving for self-improvement and pursuing excellence, working to make the department the largest in scale, strongest in technology, and most highly appreciated by the people of Qingdao.

Editing time: 2026/5/20 15:43:59