I always had the impression that the examination room and the operating room were one and the same. That certainly seemed to be the case when McCoy was treating Peter Preston in TWOK. And the rooms were similarly doubled up on TOS. Nevertheless, it's a cool layout/extrapolation. I really like this idea! As someone who used to work in a specialty pharmacy, I wish I'd thought of it. Neat extrapolation. That definitely wasn't the case in the TMP novelization written by Gene Roddenberry, though. On page 96 of my paperback, McCoy asks Chapel if she's bothered by him taking over, as she's just been demoted to assistant to the ship's doctor. Chapel replies, "And I have never been so pleased and relieved over anything in my life." So... yeah. That's a human reaction to suddenly having your job taken away from you. I like it! Roddenberry also says in Chapter 11 of the novelization that Chapel was a PhD in biomedical research when she first signed on to the Enterprise seven years before as its head nurse (pg. 94). And she was certified as a ship's doctor "two years ago" (pg. 96). Those are in my head canon, too.
Even in the movie, McCoy certainly acts like he's king of Sickbay. "I'm gonna need a top nurse..." "As ship's doctor, I'm now discussing the subject of command fitness."
My wife the med-surg nurse leaned over to look and she thinks that you need a prep room and a recovery room that are separate from the OR and the ICU.
Thanks Christopher! Coming from you is such a compliment — you have such a good pulse on the characters in you stories (I still have to read EX Machina — I really want to read that now. I do think there would have been some period of time that McCoy and Chapel both served together on the Enterprise. TMP implied most of the starships were out far from Earth so it might have been some time before a posting opened and she could get to that ship. And I think Kirk’s intention was for McCoy to be his CMO, so once the Vejur crisis ended, they would have switched the positions during the shakedown. So in the timeframe of that story, McCoy probably would be CMO with Chapel serving under him. You’re welcome! Thank your for everything you’re doing here - this is one of my few highlights during this Covid-19 lockdown. Now is this what was intended by the writers? Who knows! The development process for TMP was so messy. For phase II, certainly the intention was for McCoy to be the CMO. But as they kept reworking the backstories of the characters for TMP, and with the push and pull between Livingston and Roddenberry with each script revision - I couldn’t begin to guess what the ultimate intention was - or if there even was a clear idea. Maybe Roddenberry, Livingston and Wise each had different their own different idea. I think for most of these films, they basically start from: “Shatner is the captain, Nimoy is the science guy and Kelly is the doctor” and the backstory or actual rank/position of their characters is essentially just extended set dressing created to justify the story. So things like the captains cabin on the enterprise refit - while technically probably was never inhabited by Kirk during the movies - on the stage 9 blueprints the one crew quarter set is labeled “Kirk’s Cabin”
Oh wow I forgot about that second quote. Hmm.. was that just in the extended version? I remember part of the conversation in Kirks quarters was cut in the theatrical version. As for his line in the Transporter room - I think in McCoys mind he was going to be CMO - but the ink probably wasn’t even dry on his reactivation so the actual position assignment wouldn’t need to go in effect until a few days later - after the vejur incident was resolved. There is also a third possibility - neither McCoy nor Chapel were CMO. The actual CMO might have been too far away to get to the Enterprise in time for the Vejur emergency. @JohnnyQuest037 - Heh, I forgot about that little “gem” in the novelization. That always struck me as extremely disrespectful to the character. Especially considering it his wife’s character. I am really happy with how she’s depicted in film (and in TVH) - they treated her like a capable professional - much more so than she was depicted in TOS. *edit - sorry for the double post. Was trying to do all this on my phone and the multi-quoting kind of got away from me.*
That certainly makes sense except GR has a scene with McCoy and Chapel. It's explicit that he's replacing her and she's delighted. If only Kirk and Decker had gotten on so well. (I'm always amused that the one of the only TOS episode that is checked specifically - twice? - is For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky! McCoy's medallion is Fabrini and the new sickbay uses Fabrini tech from McCoy's studies. I suppose Doomsday Machine and Amok Time are inferred.) EDIT: I see @JonnyQuest037 already covered this. Mind you it makes less sense that Vonda M. put her in TWOK and TSFS. Of course TOS made it clear that there is more than one MD on board at a time. Chris, I thought you got it pretty well in Ex Machina. Chapel is fine with it and she has good reason for it. Other people, maybe not so much.
"Well, hey, I worked hard to go from a nurse to a CMO in only a few years so of course I'm relieved to step aside... "Fucker." The exact text for anyone interested: The central section of the seventh deck level includes the office of the ship's Surgeon, the entire sick bay complex, and all labs and related functions falling under the jurisdiction of the medical department. The outer section is a "protective shell" complex of water and other bulk storage. At the very center of the seventh deck, and extending down to the eighth deck, is the core of the ship's main computer system, its memory banks and primary controls. —The Making of star Trek, p175
Eh, let's face it, there was never very much to Chapel's character outside of her mooning over Mr. Spock. I think that passage in the TMP novelization is either some of GR's ingrained sexism coming to the fore, him hurriedly pushing Chapel offstage to put McCoy back into his established position ASAP, or both. Not much point in being the Chief Medical Officer if there aren't other medical officers aboard! This would've been a much more believable attitude for Chapel to have. I also can't help but see Janice Rand's look at Kirk after the transporter accident as anything but a "Fuck you" glare now. Kirk has a lot of nerve to say, "It wasn't your fault, Rand" after he shoved her aside to take over the transporter controls. I keep wanting her to say, "No shit, Sherlock -- It was yours!"
In the examination room, it shows a mini transporter unit. Could this be seen on screen, or was it added for the plans?
I have a practical concern here. The sets as designed intended what you have as examination rooms as an EOR as in the original, hence the direct access to the ward (and not all wards are ICU, unless you think in this century they only keep Intensive Care patients in sickbay). So from a practical standpoint, why would anyone put the OR between two doctor's offices instead of adjacent to the ward? Because with this layout to get an incapacitated patient in or out you need to turn the futuregurney 90 degrees, which means that sterile passage has to be 8' wide with no K-beams or clunk. Any thoughts on a proper medical lab? I always hated the way the sets built for Star Trek II (TV) made the lab this dinky foyer to McCoy's office. I suppose a proper one—with proper isolation for dealing with diseases—could be across the corridor along with the pharmacy and Dr. Bob Hartley's psychiatric couch, of course. Don't be afraid to look at some of the TV concepts as possible a basis for new rooms. For instance, what Minor drew for McCoy's office and lab split the space differently (and I think the resulting set was a bit smaller).
Well, we don't ever get a look at the entirety of that left wall. We do, however, see a hooded viewer and what appear to be two control panels: Thanks to this very small behind the scenes trading card image, we can see them a little more: These panels and viewer certainly correspond to the Enterprise Flight Manual sheet containting the medical transporter controls: So, we know that the transporter controls are there. But was there ever a slot in the wall containting a small transporter unit as indicated by MSGTTE and other fan-made schematics? Perhaps much like the ones we see in the TMP bridge weapons station? I personally don't think there was a transporter slot built into the set. If so, it would most likely be just below the rightmost panel on that wall, and that small trading card image would indicate there's nothing there below that panel. It could also be to the left of the panels and hooded viewer, out of frame, which is more likely. I could place one there perhaps. Unless anyone has any better reference for this wall, we will have to rely on conjecture. I agree with you, that having an operating room there is rather clunky. Especially since that sterile passageway has a raised floor running down the middle of it: (This was because this corridor was built as connecting to the transporter room set, as that most of that set was up a step from the stage floor) I could, of course, omit this raised floor, but my drive for screen accuracy is saying to keep it in. OR, I could do what @Maurice is suggesting and NOT have an operating room sandwiched between the two offices, therefore making the raised floor less an obstruction since it wouldn't need to be used for gurney-ing patients. And, given that the examination rooms could double as operating rooms (as they quite obviously do as evidenced by TWOK), it would make having a third and very similar room there a little redundant instead of, say, a proper medical lab. Last night I was looking at various pieces of medical equipment around the TNG set and thought it would be nice to have TMP-era analogs to those devices, but was at a loss of where to put them. Creating a medical lab there between the offices would give me that space, actually. I'll keep going with this and brainstorm on what this lab could look like. Thanks for the suggestion! Oh, and good point about having two intensive care wards. I could have the ward on the right be the intensive care ward, and the one on the left be...well...what would the proper medical term be for a ward for non-intensive care patients?
On possible solution is to make one half the ICU and examination area, with the other sickbay half being Pre/Post op with a surgical room instead of an exam room. Then you can take the current operation room and make it an extended, enclosed lab.
@Donny Referencing my wife again, a ward similar to an ICU might be called a medical-surgical unit or a telemetry unit, depending on the nature of the care. I do know that her hospital has entire floors designated with the med-surg moniker,. If one has been admitted to the hospital for illness or is recovering from surgery, those are the floors one ends up on. Hence the name.
I tried looking it up, but couldn't find a single answer. Outpatient ward? General ward? Recovery ward?
The step might not be a major obstacle to gurneys, since the gurneys wouldn't have wheels and would float in mid-air.
Having 2 wards to increase the number of patients is a good move - but according to the numbering of beds seen in TWOK there are at least 28 beds on board ship! http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/twokhd/twokhd0543.jpg
Which makes some amount of sense, since the set is roughly a quarter-circle. 7 beds times 4 sections is 28.
The way I imagined it back in 2014 was that the first number denotes the ward (Wards 1 and 2) and each ward had 7 beds (the number to the right of the frame in the TWOK screencap you posted is the last bed of that ward, which is 27, not 28, and I added an off-screen bed to the left of 22, making that one 21). So Ward 1 had beds 11-17, and Ward 2 had beds 21-27. Kind of like the room numbers on each floor of an apartment or hotel. Just my way of making it make sense without having to put 27 beds in the space.
Certainly not the biggest stretch I've ever heard in Trek fandom! It also means that the number of injured crewmen is a more believable figure. As see in the screencap the Sickbay facilities are overwhelmed, with patients having to sit on the floor as well as the beds. Assuming the other ward is full (and has 7 beds), that makes at least 16 patients (plus poor Peter Preston), all with fairly severe injuries. Although most trainees fled fairly rapidly when Kahn attacked, I think there could have been 16 trainees who didn't get out of the way in time. 30 seems less likely. Finally, I must admit I'd forgotten that (unlike your recreation) the original set had 7 bays but only 6 beds (although a theoretical extra one round the corner is not impossible). So, number 27 really is the maximum number we could have seen on screen