Medical Doctor: Difference between revisions

|quote = Hello, how can I help you? Oh, I see you've already broken into Medical Storage and stolen supplies to treat yourself.... How proactive.

}}

Medical Doctors fill a tricky role aboard the station, and are somewhat outpaced by the march of medical technology. With the advent of cloning, saving lives is no longer as all important as it used to be, as death can effectively be made temporary. However, it is your goal to prevent your fellow crew members from getting to the point of needing to be turned into a duplicate of themselves. You are the first line of defense. Your department employs Medical Doctors like yourself, a Psychiatrist, [[Geneticist]]s, [[Paramedic]]s, [[Virologist]]s, [[Chemist]]s, and a [[Chief Medical Officer]] and is often tasked with solving many of the station's problems.

When you begin a shift as a Medical Doctor, you will spawn with a First-Aid Kit in the station's [[Medbay]].

Utilizing the Health Analyzer will give you a readout of all the ailments a patient is suffering from, and a quick overview of all the damage types and simple treatments is found below. To facilitate conservation of consumable supplies in treatment, it is recommended to bring the patient into Medical and put them in a [[sleeper|Sleeper Pod]], which you can then use to inject them with a limitless amount of five basic healing chemicals, only requiring power to do so. Be aware that Sleepers, much like every other piece of technology on the station, can be upgraded by the [[Science]] department to have a larger array of more powerful healing chemicals to administer, as is detailed on the Sleepers page.

===Physical Trauma===

Regardless of if an implement is as sharp as a kitchen knife, or as puncturing as a bullet, the damage it will cause is classified as ''Brute Damage''. Due to this wide range of applying forces, Brute Damage is inevitably the most common form of damage, and proper treatment thereof is crucial. A patient suffering from enough Brute Damage will visually have large bloody red streaks on their body or massive purple-red bruises, and an examination will confirm this. Brute damage is often treated by [[Guide_to_chemistry#Libital|Libital]] injections through the Sleeper Pods, or through the application of [[Guide_to_chemistry#Styptic_Powder|Styptic Powder]] and other advanced medicines to the afflicted areas, which is made in [[Chemistry_Lab|Chemistry]], which is attached to the Medical lobby. Your starter First Aid Kit also has a pile of sutures inside it, which can be applied to injured areas to heal their Brute Damage with short delay.

====Blood Loss====

Brute damage can also cause bleeding, which is covered in the [[Guide_to_medicine#Treating_Bleeding|guide to medicine]] more extensively. To put it concisely, if a patient has brute damage, first diagnose if they are bleeding, as that will cause more complications if it continues unabated. If they are bleeding, wrap the wound in gauze (located in your First Aid Kit) to give yourself time to treat the damage causing it, while taking note of their blood levels. More often than not, a patient will be able to recover their lost blood over time (a healthy diet will speed this process up). Still, if the Health Analyzer reports a '''LOW''' or '''CRITICAL''' blood level, or the patient says that they are feeling lightheaded or look pale, they will need a [[Guide_to_medicine#Treating_Bleeding|blood transfusion]]. If attempting a transfusion, be sure to give the patient the correct type of replacement blood, or you may end up harming them further - the Health Analyzer will provide a blood type readout, as will the patient's medical record file.

===Burn Trauma===

The second most common type of damage is ''Burn Damage''. This is caused by a multitude of sources, from fire and inhospitably high (or low) temperatures to laser blasts to standing in space unprotected. Burn Damage visually manifests as grey streaks on a person's body, which can be hard to see on more thoroughly dressed up individuals. Burn damage is often treated by [[Guide_to_chemistry#Aiuri|Aiuri]] injections through the Sleeper Pods or the application of [[Guide_to_chemistry#Silver_Sulfadiazine|Silver Sulfadiazine]] and other advanced medicines. Your started First Aid Kit also has two pieces of mesh inside it, which can be applied to injured areas to heal their Burn Damage with short delay.

===Toxins and Poisons===

''Toxin Damage'' is the third type of damage, and is somewhat less commonplace than any of the others. Plasma, radiation, and severe alcohol poisoning all increase toxin levels, at varying effectiveness, as well as other methods.

If a patient has Toxin Damage, it is also prudent to use the chemical scan functionality on your Health Analyzer on them (click the Analyzer in your active hand to change between scanning physical and chemical health). If they are actively suffering from [[Guide_to_chemistry#Toxins|poisoning]], continue to administer Charcoal or Anti-Toxin - both will reduce Toxin Damage ''and'' remove other chemicals from the patient - until the offending substance is purged from their bloodstream and their Toxin Damage is reduced to zero.

===Suffocation and Asphyxiation===

The fourth kind of damage deals with oxygen and a lack thereof. ''Suffocation Damage'' often occurs when a patient is in critical health and is rendered unable to breathe as they bleed out, or it is caused by having entered into an air deficient environment, such as space. If a patient is suffocating, take a moment to identify the root source instead of merely treating the symptom. If the Health Analyzer shows that the patient has over 100 total damage, they are likely in critical condition and are dying. A quick injection of [[Guide_to_chemistry#Epinephrine|Epinephrine]] (which is contained in the emergency medical injector in your First Aid Kit) can help reduce the amount of Suffocation Damage they have, as well as typically preventing more from accumulating, allowing you to treat their other damage, or perform CPR to reduce their Suffocation Damage faster, and ultimately stabilize them.

'''NOTE: Suffocation Damage can also be gained through having a ''low or critical'' blood level! Depending on how critical the deficiency of blood is, a transfusion may be in order, as is detailed in the above [[Medical_Doctor#Blood_Loss|Blood Loss]] section.'''

The fifth and final kind of damage is relatively rare and deals with internal organs. Typically, organs inside a healthy living body will continue to function normally (and will regenerate any damage over time so long as the person is healthy and well-fed), so they aren't ''usually'' a point of concern. However, in some instances, such as an overweight patient, severe alcohol overdose, or death, organs will decay. This can complicate revival procedures and will have lingering effects post-revival.  

{{anchor|Medical_Storage}}

==Medical Storage and Tools==

This is a more secure location inside of the Medical department, and houses much of the various equipment you'll need to perform your job. One important tool of which is the [[Clothes_and_internals#Eyewear|Health Scanner HUD]]. These eyepieces passively perform scans of the vitals of those within your range of sight, allowing you to see bars over people's heads which indicate their general state of health. Not only is this useful for locating higher priority wounded patients in a crowd, but the [[HUD#Medical_HUD_Icons|red cross icon]] affixed to the displayed bar will change if the patient is detected as having a Disease or Virus, if they can be defibrillated, or if they are carrying an [[Xenomorph|unwanted passenger]].

'''NOTE: CRYOGENIC TREATMENT WILL ''NOT'' HEAL ALL RACES. PRETERNIS WILL BE UNAFFECTED BY IT, AND SLIMEPEOPLE WILL BE HARMED BY THE FREEZING TEMPERATURE!'''

==Emergency Triage==

If your patient is in critical condition, you have to work fast. Immediately apply epinephrine to prevent the patient from dying to Suffocation, then place medical gauze on any bleeding wounds, and take them to Medical if you aren't there already. Depending on the severity of their critical state, it is up to your discretion whether the Sleeper Pods or Cryogenics is where they need to go, though Cryogenics is recommended in these situations. If neither the Sleepers nor Cryogenics are available due to a power outage or something of that nature, you have to use what you have on-hand. If you have another person with you, have them begin CPR while you use your First Aid Kit to apply mesh or sutures to stabilize the individual.

If all these factors are met, then the patient will be brought back from death! However, this does not mean that death is no longer a concern. Instead, your patient will likely still be deep in critical condition, as a successful revival only removes a small amount of each damage type. They must quickly receive medical attention to be kept alive. Additionally, while the individual is dead, scan them with your Health Analyzer or your PDA to check how they died. If they have poison in their body, they will still have them there post revival, as chemicals remain in bodies after death, but do not metabolize.

==Medibots and You==

Medibots are a product of [[Robotics]], and can make your job much easier if applied correctly.

* Sutures and mesh have 15 uses, but only heal 10 damage each use.

* The sleepers in medbay will show any chemical in the patient’s body, not just the chemicals you can inject them with.

Being a [[Traitor]] Medical Doctor provides a fascinating opportunity. When people are injured, they are taken to Medical to be "doctored" by you and other people. Once there, they are under your control - you can then shoot them up with poisons, give them debilitating brain injuries, literally take their brain out and trash it, or go for malpractice to simply end them. You can hide victims by putting little notes on Morgue trays saying "This man has been borged" or "This man has been cloned" and no one will bat an eye at why they are naked, and why they are there, and often the [[chaplain]] will cremate them, or the [[chef]] will take some meat.

==To Conclude==

You are a Doctor. Your job is to help people - sometimes forcibly - and dealing with the fallout from the numerous violent calamities that inevitably descend on the station. You serve both as go-between for the station at large and the more specialized Medical departments. Medical is a challenging and thankless place to work. People will only acknowledge your existence when they have need of your services, and even then they will shove their way past you to put themselves in a Sleeper Pod and demand attention. Additionally, individuals will often seek Medical's supplies, such as soap, space cleaner bottles, and syringe guns. You're a likely target in an attack on the station, as wiping out the ability to heal and clone significantly cripples the station. People will often grab supplies from the Medical vending machines and leave without a word, only stopping to yell profanities at you when you try and stop them. It can be discouraging and crushing work, especially when a rush of injured people all pour in at once and do nothing but scream at you to help them first, or when a viral outbreak occurs and your department is swamped by rioting plagued people. But being a Medical Doctor can be full of rewards, such as seeing someone who came in the doors nearly dead walk out unassisted in perfect health thanks to your intervention, or getting a heartfelt thank you from the [[Botanist]] after you stitch his legs back on.