Star Army medical personnel, commonly referred to doctors (officers) and medics (enlisted), are responsible for the physical well-being of Star Army personnel and for treating medical emergencies and other medical issues. The occupational color for medical personnel is teal and medic-qualified personnel have a “red diamond” patch.
Remember: Most injuries are on away missions and there's usually no automated medical tables in shuttles.
The medical occupation was previously combined with the science occupation; because of this, medics previously wore green. At that time, the symbol for medics was the traditional Nepleslian red cross. Some older medical equipment (made prior to YE 31) may still bear green coloration and red cross markings.
To be a doctor (officer), one must graduate with a medical degree. Most Star Army doctors attend the 4 year program at Star Army Academy. To be a medic (enlisted), there are no eligibility requirements as training will be offered in the medical specialization after basic training.
None.
The CMO is responsible for healthcare for the crew on the ship and any authorized guests, and runs the medical lab, commands the medical staff, and advises the captain on medical issues. They are staff officers, not line officers, which means they don't have command authority. The CMO can declare personnel fit or unfit for duty, or deceased, based on their physical and mental health.
CMO has access to:
Exchange officers get access to the above in most cases. The Star Army does withhold select information from foreign exchange personnel (“NOFORN”).
CMO does not have direct access to sensitive SAINT reports, as these are for intelligence and operations staff. Any mission planning they're involved with is from an advisory role.
These are the characters currently listed as Star Army medical personnel.
Here are a few examples of medics in action:
By now, Blueberry had set up a blue holographic projection of Mikael's body above him, which showed the foreign objects in red. Using it to keep track of them all, she opened a TA-13 field surgery kit and began removing the shrapnel from his body one bit at a time using tweezers and (when necessary) a laser scalpel. Next, she sewed the wounds closed using the suture kit. After she was done with that, she put an IV in his wrist giving him Nekovalkyrja blood, which would heal his wounds from the inside and also replace blood he'd lost. Finally, she gently rubbed soothing burn cream onto his burns from the exploding grenade.
…
The blue-haired warrant officer wearing green (science) panels on her uniform was running the medical lab for the time being. This was Ittô Juni Blueberry, the ship's sensor specialist who had once been a sprite created as a medic-scientist before the two occupations were split. Her old training was now proving invaluable since everyone else with medical training (Sune and Konoka) were now injured.
“Sune, I will get to your leg in little bit,” Blueberry told Jalen-Heisho, leaving the freshly-patched-up Mikael to attend to the badly damaged Konoka.
“I have not seen the Chusa. Help me get her undressed,” Blueberry ordered Takeyu, already working on getting the medic's shirts off so she could see and get to the wounds. After they had her naked, Blueberry immediately hooked up an IV tube to give Konoka fresh blood and fluids, as well as an injection from a medical scanner. A holographic image of all the wounds and shrapnel appeared over Konoka's body. The warrant officer immediately went to work removing the shrapnel and patching up the holes with stitches and liquid bandage.
As Blueberry continued working she spoke to Jalen. “Ittô Heisho, I hate to have to ask you this, but are you able to stand on your good leg and work on Ittô Hei Tasaku Yarani? He has similarly severe wounds as Konoka including one that punctured his eye and brain. He needs your expert treatment.”
“Wipe your feet before exiting,” Blueberry reminded Takeyu. The floor was covered in blood.
The doctor grabbed the medical scanner and some basic trauma supplies on his way down. Munkata-Hei's description of the wounds had not been very clear. But he still didn't like what it sounded like. His long stride carried him the few paces neccessary to reach the pair in a heartbeat.
As he knelt by Vas-Hei, Minoru spared a glance in Munkata-Hei's direction. She looked alright beyond a few minor bruises and cuts. The main worry for her was shock now.
“It's going to be alright now Munkata-Hei. We'll get you both back to base and patched up in no time. Juni, can you take Munkata-Hei into the shuttle? Sit her down and give her a glass of water.”
Right now he had bigger problems to worry about. Vas-Hei was quickly fading, he didn't need a vital-sign monitor to figure that out. He muttered to himself as he cast his eye over the various wounds.
“Third degree burns on the right arm near the shoulder. Congruous with NSP damage.” Ironically looking like the least of his worries that.
“Patient unresponsive to stimuli.”
Before anything else he tilted Vas-Hei's head back, exposing the neck and straightening out the airway, to ease the passage of air. The doctor also arranged the Oral airway kit he brought with him, threading the tubes carefully down the throat while he fitted the mask over his mouth, turning the system on and sending purified oxygen directly to the lungs. Taking a hypo-spray injector, he loaded it up with a heavy duty non-narcotic general analgesia, injecting it into Vas-Hei's uninjured shoulder. There was a major artery close to the skin there, and that would quickly carry the pain killer throughout the entire body.
“Patient has suffered severe head trauma…”
He took off the man's sunglasses and held open the eyelids. If the pupils were of different sixes then that would mean possible sever brain damage. As it was, he was greeted only by the cold stare of metal implants.
“Unable to approximate severity of head trauma.”
He took out the medical scanner kit, loading the injector up with scanner nanomachines before injecting them into the jugular. The artery would carry the nanomachines much more efficiently to the brain, without having to divert through the heart or swim against the blood flow. He gave the control pad a few taps to send the scanners to image the brain while he slapped a booster patch onto the man's skin.
He moved on to the chest wound. One breath. Two. He watched as even against the splint the affected portion of chest swelled when Vas-Hei exhaled and subsided during inhalation.
“Paradoxical motion confirmed. Flail chest.”
And now he was really worried. A portion of the rib-cage wall had broken and was now floating without support. The paradoxical motion he was seeing was the lung itself pressing outwards. With almost undue haste he unstrapped the knife on his flight suit and cut apart the splint. He couldn't fault Munkata-Hei's motives for it, but splinting flail chest only caused the lung to brush up harder against the edges of broken bone. He had to consider that Vas-Hei's lungs were lacerated.
He needed a ventilator and a chest tube. Something to help him regulate the thoracic pressure now. Unfortunately he hadn't found anything of the sort in the Medical kit inside the shuttle. He glanced at the control pad for the medical scanner as they imaged Vas-Hei's brain for him. There was inter-cranial pressure build up. And he could see the distinctive marks of lesions forming on the brain itself. This was just getting better and better. Quickly he diverted some of the nanomachines to check on Vas-Hei's lung. He needed to see if there were any lacerations. He looked up at Ira, his face a cold, surgical mask.
“Ramirez, help me get him on the gurney and then prep the shuttle. We need him in an intensive care unit. Now.”
Wes created this article on 2010/11/14 6:01.
