I always assumed that because Kes only lived 9 years she was able to learn much faster then other species.
Except that they couldn't back him/replicate his program etc.. except for that one episode were the plot said they could.
In Eye of the Needle they said that his program had physical components that were part of sick bay, so that's why they couldn't transfer him tot he Romulan ship. His program is on a buffer in a hard drive in the wall. the shape/size and number of projections, despite requiring more processing power, doesn't stress his essence because the holoprojectors are not his body they are just part of the ship which he uses to create the illusion of having a body or bodies.
What we needed to see is the EMH hovering over one injured crew member while his 7 arms are snaked out all over sickbay attending to multiple other injured crew members (which he can see through his hands). Because he totally could do this.
Undoubtedly. The question is, though, should he? How many humanoid types would feel comfortable with what amounts to an Elder God (or at the very least, a Thermian) waving wandage in their faces? Again, we keep with what is comfortable & familiar so as to soothe the senses despite the enhanced abilities & efficiencies of modified types. Otherwise, why not just make the EMH take the form of sentient holographic gas? That would certainly be the most efficient diagnostic form.
With decades ahead of them the crew would have been cross training in multiple skills. Voyage wasn't big on being practical or sensible...
I didn't say he should be doing 7 pap smears at once. If you're INJURED you will feel comfortable being treated regardless of what form the medical personnel are in.
Latent Image dude. However when he sprouted a Cardassian out of his brain, that proved that the EMH was capable partitioning and then spawning new versions of himself if required.
The EMH should be able to sprout extra legs, hands, etc at a moments notice and operate simultaneously. That would have been cooooooooool. Or just pop out mini-EMHs....
Well that's more a fault of the writers (for whatever reasons) for not thinking that's the kind of thing that would happen. As well as having children so that they could be ready to crew the ship in 20 years time, to replace losses for whatever reason.
I get what Shik is saying. Though I would enjoy a multi-armed Doctor, for emergencies or checking my temperature, it could induce stress or mental anguish on fragile patients. Waking up from that phaser shot to a super fast multi-armed Doctor could be jarring. A hologram nurse Ogawa equivalent would have been warranted, especially after he got the mobile emitter and freed up space able to duplicate his program into.
Learning Curve. Tuvok's night classes should have grown to include the rest of the crew who just wanted to upskill.
You answered your own question with the word "fictional". Nothing unforeseen happens in a fictional world. If Robert Picardo isn't leaving the show, this isn't an issue. How many medical staff personnel is required to fly from DS9 to the Badlands and back?
She probably did, but seeing as how in TYoH 2-parter they'd all forgotten Kes existed and had experienced it for herself then they have only themselves to blame.
i agree with the several people that expressed confusion about why the heck there was only one doctor in the first place. Starfleet had THAT much faith in mostly un-field tested holographic medical technology? Considering Starfleet's propensity for having backup systems for their backup systems, that staffing choice makes zero sense.
Any catastrophe that one doctor couldn't handle, is likely to kill the entire crew ten minutes later. Depreciating returns y'know?
No assumption whatsoever. Can you imagine Kes running into sick bay every morning for months always with the same question... "Has someone died yet who I can pull to pieces for fun?"
It is still possible there was more than one Doctor, given that it was supposed to be a fortnight mission or so to the badlands. There might have been picking up more medical staff at the end of the mission. But if the ship was never meant to really leave Federation space it might have only been assigned a minimal medical staff as help would never be far away.
^I bet they altered that standard after Voyager's return. I'm sure some Admiral got an earful from Janeway on the topic.