Question about the surgery scene

I’m confused. This was suppose to be the first surgery Nathan was in charge of, but where were the other drs. that could have assisted or been there for consultation? And Melanie is suppose to still be a nursing student–not a nurse, why is she assisting? I felt so scared for the poor patient. I’m starting to think Days has really gone off the deep end in some of these scenes, not doing any research and just slapping together a scene for the "plot." This was a really dumb one!