Medical Bay (aka Sick Bay) details

[snrdg121408]

Evening all,

Which book gives text details on medical facilities like the medical bay? Scouts in a couple of ship designs shows a 4 dton Medical bay but I have not been able to get more details. Mercenary has some text, but not enough to tell me what is in the medical bay. Can one of you kind souls help me out please?

 

[AndrewW]

Evening all,

Which book gives text details on medical facilities like the medical bay? Scouts in a couple of ship designs shows a 4 dton Medical bay but I have not been able to get more details. Mercenary has some text, but not enough to tell me what is in the medical bay. Can one of you kind souls help me out please?

None, that area hasn't been defined other then the labelling on the deck plans.

 

[Golan2072]

My house-rules:

Ships boldly going into the unknown or visiting the frontier should be prepared for medical emergencies; as fully-fledged hospitals are uncommon in these distant parts, many ships carry their own medical facilities with them. There are three general types of shipboard Medlabs: Standard, Dedicated and Shipboard Hospitals.

Standard Medlabs are subsumed in the stateroom tonnage and cost. Assume 0.25 tons of medical equipment available per stateroom – small ships have medical equipment lockers and a folding stretcher or two, while larger ships have actual infirmaries. Regardless of size, Standard Medlabs have paramedic-level or ambulance-level equipment. While they allow rudimentary surgery and long-term care to be administered, they incur a -2 DM to these tasks due to the limited equipment available. Furthermore, the Referee may decide that certain medical procedures would be too complex for such basic facilities to perform. Standard Medlabs do not provide any additional life support beyond what the ship's staterooms already provide.

Each Dedicated Medlab unit displaces 8 tons and cost MCr1.5 and provide facilities – including dedicated life support and intensive care – for up to two patients; each additional patient capacity adds 2 tons and MCr0.25. Its equipment and facilities are on par with those of a small clinic or a tiny hospital, allowing most medical tasks to be carried out without additional difficulty. Each Dedicated Medlab unit requires one medic per four patients (or a fraction thereof), and in many cases a ship would carry as many Dedicated Medlabs as it has medics in its crew listing.

A Shipboard Hospital displaces 16 tons, costs MCr5 and houses up to two patients with complete life support facilities; each additional patient capacity adds 2 tons and MCr0.5. It is a fully-fledged hospital, complete with laboratories and extensive imaging systems, allowing complex medical procedures such as cybernetic implantation and giving a +2 DM to all medical tasks. A Shipboard Hospital requires one doctor per 8 patients (or a fraction thereof) and one nurse per 4 patients (or a fraction thereof).

 

[The Chef]

i use the lab details from highguard and just asign it to medical instead.

Chef

 

[Rikki Tikki Traveller]

I really like Omer's ideas here. I have been using something similar in my own designs.

Here is how I broke down what could be done by facility (See page 74 of the TMB under Injury and Recovery):

Standard Medlab: First Aid, Treating Poison etc. No long term care.

Dedicated Medlab: As Standard Medlab plus, treat disease and Long Term Care (see Medic skill for details). Also allows Surgery and Medical Care and treating of disease.

Shipboard Hospital: as Dedicated Medlab plus Augmentation care and the bonuses mentioned by Omer. Limb rejeneration is also possible if the TL allows it.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello AndrewW,

Thank you for the reply and I had a feeling the answer was going to be
only shown in the deck plans. :roll: Hopefully someone will write
something up soon.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello Golan2072,

Thank you for the reply and the house rules. I like the dedicated medlab and hospital modules as described. However, I'm not sure about the standard medlab in each stateroom.

My own thoughts are modelled on the Medical modules found in GT: Starships (text pp. 65-66 and table on p. 128 adjusted for Mongoose of course.

Again thank you for the reply and help provided on the project I'm still wotking on.

 

[snrdg121408]

Afternoon Chef,

The basic lab module does fit the bill, however at 4-dtons most small
spacecraft or starships would have to do without medical facilities. In
the submarines I was assigned to there was small space where the "Doc",
aka corpsman, had sickbay. The space was at most 6' long x 4.5' wide x
6' high or about 0.3 dtons.

Thanks for the reply and solution.

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello Rikki Tikki Traveller,

Thank you very much for a reference page, which seemed to have
disappeared when I was looking for such information. I like both of
the suggested additional medical facilities in addition to the medical
shown on the ship readouts in Scouts.

GT: Staships doesn't include a specific module identified as hospital.
Here is the basic modules.

Emergency Aid Stations 0.5 dtons, cost variable by TL, and supports
2 patients.
TL 7 2 bunks and a stretcher
TL 8 2 bunks with emergency support units (ESU), and a stretcher
TL 9 + 1 automed, 1 diagnostic unit, 1 ESU, and a stretcher

Sick Bays 2 dtons with variable cost by TL, and supports 2 or 3 patients
depending on TL
TL 7 2 bunks, 1 operating table and a stretcher
TL 8 2 bunks with emergency support units (ESU), and 1 operating table
TL 9 to 10 2 automeds, 1 operating table, and 1 diagnostic unit
TL 11 to 13 3 automeds, 1 operating table, and 1 diagnostic unit

Military Sick Bays 3 dtons with variable cost by TL, & supports 4 patients,
Additionally the module has separate life support equipment, includes 2
6-person airlocks, radiation shielding and emergency power systems.
TL 7 2 bunks, 1 operating table and a stretcher
TL 8 2 bunks with emergency support units (ESU), and 1 operating table
TL 9 to 10 2 automeds, 1 operating table, and 1 diagnostic unit
TL 11 to 13 3 automeds, 1 operating table, and 1 diagnostic unit

Evacuation Bays are 4 dtons and appear to be similar to the Medical bay in Mongoose.

Thanks again for the reply and page number.

 

[BP]

...Here is how I broke down what could be done by facility (See page 74 of the TMB under Injury and Recovery):...

Funny, I did a similar thing, but started with pg 92 under Medical Supplies!

From this I would add a Cryoberth to the Standard Medlab (MediLab might be more consistent with the Medikit - though I personally prefer MedLab or Sickbay) - since its not designed for major surgery. Though no tonnage is listed, I went with 1/4 ton (E-Berth/4) and would actually make them the patient bed(s) - so in the event of sudden degrading conditions it could be quickly activated.

This could also facilitate (on different setting) using Medicinal Slow (thus avoiding the need for longer term convalescence).

With an Autodoc it might also handle emergency surgeries (appendectomy, spleenectomy, etc) - though with Medic-2 I would not trust it with the touchy stuffs!

I put this at the size of a stateroom - 4 tons with medical stores and equipment being highly compact (they actually are in most hospitals nowadays) and mostly built into cryoberth beds...

 

[snrdg121408]

Hello BP,

The gremlins have been out in force since the information on page 92
was missing when I started the thread. Thanks for another page to
look at.

 

[alex_greene]

Amongst the equipment available one should also include:-

- A medical computer, typically a hand computer with a dedicated Intellect and Medic skill, backed by a Library file specifically geared towards matters of medicine and pharmacy (possibly veterinarian medicine and dentistry, too). If there is no qualified medic available (e.g. if all the medics are dead themselves), this is probably the closest one can get to real medical assistance at a pinch;

- The means to sterilise the tools, the furniture and the interior of the room, such as antiseptics, disinfectants and an autoclave;

- Lots of sets of clean, disposable scrubs, masks, surgical caps, gloves and so on;

- A refrigerated cabinet to store perishable medicines;

- A sharps bin for used syringes;

- An organics bin for extracted teeth, amputated body parts, bloody swabs and scrubs etc.

 

[BP]

Amongst the equipment available one should also include:-

If we upgrade for nominal TL-12 starship

- A medical computer, ...
Autodoc

- The means to sterilise the tools, the furniture and the interior of the room, such as antiseptics, disinfectants and an autoclave;
Irradiation; thermal sterilization.

- Lots of sets of clean, disposable scrubs, masks, surgical caps, gloves and so on;
Instant-a-form 'gloves'; respiratory filter; non-contact, self sterilizing medibed enclosure (also hyperbaric) - ala isolation chamber style...

- A refrigerated cabinet to store perishable medicines;
Cryogenic storage; pressgas

- A sharps bin for used syringes;
Needleless injectors

- An organics bin for extracted teeth, amputated body parts, bloody swabs and scrubs etc.
Incinerator

 

[BP]

snrdg121408,

You're welcome - I've been looking up everything since my CT cobwebs cause me to become easily misled...

I've held off buying PDFs - thumbing through the books I feel I learn more from exposure - plus get used to the seemingly random layout of associated data (some of which now makes more sense after prolonged reference).

So for medical related - I reference in Core - pgs 6, 36-37, 56, 65, 73, 74-75, 89, 92-97, 113, 142, 143, 154-157, 165, 170, 173, 176, 180.

These are all places I know to quickly go to (not by page number, but by 'feel' - I looked at the pages as I hoped around and then put them in order) - to cover skill levels, tech, injuries & recovery times, psionic injuries and suppression, radiation exposure, world legal issues (banned drugs), advance medical at research bases...
and the thing is - I'm sure I missed a few.

 

[Golan2072]

Hello Golan2072,

Thank you for the reply and the house rules. I like the dedicated medlab and hospital modules as described.

Thanks

However, I'm not sure about the standard medlab in each stateroom.

The way I see it, the "stateroom" tonnage included in the ship design includes more than the staterooms themselves (which are about 2 tons each) but also life support gear, corridor space and common areas which are dependent on the number of passengers (but not necessarily placed near the stateroom area). So a ship has by default a small galley as well as a standard "medlab" which, in smaller ships, is nothing more than a paramedic's bag tucked away in a central place in the ship, and on larger ships, a small room with some beds and ambulance-level gear.

 

[alex_greene]

I was thinking about this, and three inspirations dawned on me:-

(1) the medical facilities aboard the Russian supertanker in that otherwise dreadful movie The Day AFter Tomorrow;

(2) the facilities aboard the Nostromo in Alien (1979);

(3) Das Boot.

Perhaps Starbug in Red Dwarf, as well, but I'm going after serious inspirations here. No images of Dave Lister drinking wine out of specimen bottles here, no sir.

 

[Golan2072]

You should probably also add the Serenity's (from Firefly/Serenity) "medlab" (very primitive - probably subsumed in the stateroom tonnage) to the list.

I don't remember how the medical facilities from Das Boot and the Day after Tomorrow looked like, but the Nostromo either had a Standard Medlab (circa 2 tons assuming 8 staterooms on that ship) or a small Dedicated Medlab.

 

[alex_greene]

These were prime examples of making the most of a limited space, in tyhe supertanker's case where there was only a small room with a fridge full of perishable drugs next to a room full of survival gear.

Small vessels tend not to have so much room to hand, so they only carry what they think they'll need. Often as not, that never seems enough - which is why so many free traders end up at auction, their previous crews having been killed by some weird alien bug with which they did not have the facilities to deal.

 

[snrdg121408]

Howdy alex_greene,

Good suggestions on the medical equipment to include and they are a close match for the medical facilities list in GT: Starships. Thanks for the continued help

 

[alex_greene]

I try to think like somebody would if they were cut off from the nearest hospital facilities, usually by a couple of light years but as often as not the "proper facilities" could be one universe away.

And despite the temptation to go for the highest tech available, a cryoberth is useless if the power source and backup are dead. Put a patient inside one of those, and you'll end up with the same effect as when your freezer gets cut off and the roast chicken goes off. Only it won't be a chicken; it'll be a player's cherished character.

So the most practical solution is to go with what works, and what requires the most efficient balance of cost, space, mass and power requirements.

And as often as not, that means med tech with a cutoff maximum TL of between 8 and 9. Metal scalpels don't need batteries. Laser scalpels do.