Paramedic

MEDICAL STAFF
Emergency Medical Technician	Access: Medbay, Morgue, EVA, Maintenance, External Airlocks Qualifications: Must be least 18 years of age with an EMT certification. Employers: Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, Nanotrasen, The Private Military Contracting Group Supervisors: Chief Medical Officer Duties: Recover and safely deliver injured crew to Medbay, work against the clock. Guides: Guide to Medicine

The First Responder plays an extremely important role on board the ship. Primarily tasked with reaching injured crew members far from medbay, every second counts and every action or inaction means the difference between life and death. First Responders are trained in the medical field, but are not doctors thus they cannot perform surgeries or advanced diagnoses. They're trained in detecting and fixing, most of the time partially, symptoms found on the field, and assist in triage when necessary.

To reiterate: the First Responder is not a doctor or, at least, should not be doing tasks that a MD is present and suited for; if you have wheeled the patient into the medbay and doctors are present then you should leave the work of fixing the patient to them. If no doctors are available at that moment then feel free to keep the patient stable until one does arrive, and help out if a doctor asks it of you.

Getting Set Up

A large part of the emergency response life is having all bases covered and prepared before an actual call because once you get it, there is little to no time to fetch any missing medicine. A good med tech must be able to stabilize a patient on the field, and reduce any damage to his body, whatever the type. A good First Responder must also be able to reach all corners of the ship as soon as possible, regardless of its condition. This is why it is advised that the following (most of which is typically found in NanoMed vendors) is always on hand:

• A Medical HUD to check records and patient physical condition on the go.
• A pair of Latex Gloves to prevent spreading infection. Nitrile works too.
• A Sterile Mask to avoid catching something.
• A health analyzer
• Advanced Trauma Kits to treat brute damage and open wounds.
• Advanced Burn Kits to treat burns and prevent infections.
• A Rescue Hardsuit. This is your primary means of EVA travel. It comes equipped with many modules, of which can be the difference between life and death for you or your patients.
• A Medical Voidsuit, since there are two FR slots and only one rescue hardsuit, have one of these at the ready in case you are working alongside a buddy, or for whatever reason your Hardsuit is unavailable. It is wise to store your Voidsuit in medical, to save the trip to EVA; or incase the trip is impossible.
• A Splint to secure fractures before moving a patient.
• Inaprovaline bottles to prevent further deterioration of a critical patient. Inaprovaline does many amazing things, including slowing down all bleeding.
• Dylovene bottles or pills, to treat the liver if it's been damaged by toxins.
• Dermaline bottles or pills, to treat burn damage.
• Dexalin inhalers, to treat hypoxia.
• A Roller bed to quickly transport patients unable to walk.
• A body bag to transport dead patients to the medbay.
• A stasis bag to transport critical patients, or ones bleeding arterially, to the medbay.
• An effective painkiller like Mortaphenyl. Patients in extreme pain are likely to faint, or even cause pain shock, leading to their heart stopping. Both situations result in the patient being unable to communicate with you, which is detrimental to the diagnostic process. You have mortaphenyl pills in your locker.
• Coagzolug is an important chemical for slowing down bleeding. You have Coagzolug autoinjectors in the lockers of your Quarters. Always carry one on your person!

Responding to an Emergency

Now that you're all prepped and ready, it's only a waiting game until your first emergency arises. Whether by monitoring suit sensors or a radio call, you'll hopefully have a name and a place, and maybe even a glance at what the issue is. Rush to the place as soon as you can, making sure you're equipped with your voidsuit or hardsuit if the area is atmospherically tumultuous. Once on scene you will need to stabilize your patient before moving him/her to medbay, depending on the state he is in.

Non-Critical Patient

If the call you've responded to is non-critical (the patient is fully conscious, not bleeding internally, not vomiting, brain activity 100%, etc.) then all you need to do is diagnose the specific problem and administer the necessary medicine on the field. It is advised, however, to bring the patient back to the medbay for a more thorough check. Nonetheless, you will find yourself performing several of the steps found in the next section but with much less urgency, which means less medicine used on the patient which can be treated in the medbay.

Critical Patients

Dealing with critical patients is a bit more tricky. More likely than not you'll find critical patients (brain activity below 100%) are unconscious, or otherwise unable to communicate. This will make finding the exact cause of the problem a bit harder in the field, which would require you transport the patient to the medical bay post-haste. But before that, a series of steps are required to make sure your patient doesn't die on the way. The steps are listed in order of importance.

• Administer Inaprovaline to the critical patient, to make sure his situation doesn't worsen.
• If the patient is bleeding, apply the trauma kit to the affected area as soon as possible to stop the bleeding.
• If the patient is bleeding internally, use your Coagzolug autoinjector.
• If the patient is suffocating due to bad atmosphere, inject Dexalin and setup their internals if the trip back involves a lot of depressurized areas.
• Treat any remaining burn, brute or toxin damage with the application of advanced kits or pills, to further improve the state of the patient.
• Administer Mortaphenyl if the patient is suffering from pain-causing symptoms, like fractures, burns or brute damage. Patients in shock are less communicative, which will hamper your efforts.
• Finally, unless your patient's condition would make running to medbay right this instant a life or death endeavor, splint any fractures before strapping your patient to the roller bed and rolling away.

While transporting the patient, make sure to ask him/her how he's feeling. Don't let the effort went into stabilizing the patient go to waste, throwing away the advantage of having a perfectly responsive patient.

On arrival, make sure you brief any doctor that will handle your patient on what you did, and whatever his symptoms were. Remember that ICly, doctors shouldn't give out treatment lightly, and failing to inform the doctor taking over of past steps might have him repeat the treatment, which might lead to an overdose.

What to Do When Out of Emergencies

First Responders, being non-doctors trained in the medical field, can assume other roles around the medbay to make MD's lives easier and improve overall efficiency of the medical bay.

• Help move patients from one branch of the medbay to another.
• Monitor the reception area, monitor suit sensors.
• Handle triage, stabilizing patients who were left waiting.
• Check up on patients who were given a bed.

Traitoring

As a FR, you get all the perks Medical Doctors get when traitoring, from deliberate malpractice to using your medicines of good for plots of evil. But one added perk is that, as a FR, you're usually the only medically trained person to first reach a dying patient outside the medbay walls. That can be used to your advantage: frantically dragging off a bleeding body is part of your job, and in no way suspicious.

Roleplay Tips

• Remember that FRs are not MDs. Keep that in mind, and use it to give an interesting edge to your character. Think like an EMT would, not a doctor. Asking questions a doctor would consider 'silly' is perfectly fine for you.
• FRs are trained on urgency, speed and that every second counts, unlike the MDs who had to spend over a decade studying to start practicing. That contract between your coworkers and you can be used to enhance RP.