help me find specific medical scenes! please!!

[berko]

greetings. I am a doctor and TNG fan putting together a series of lectures on the future of technology, specifically Human Computer Interactions, and medicine. I am looking to show how in the Star Trek universe technology didnt interfere with the doctor patient relationship, especially when the doctor is charting, revieweing patient data, etc... I know I have seen this on episodes but I cant find it.

I am less interested in specific technologies than I am in how the technologies that are used dont interfere with doctor patient interaction.

If anyone could give me a few pointers that would be great! Otherwise I will start watching the entire series on netflix. For the second time (I did it a year ago before starting this lecture series).

Thanks!

 

[Methos]

well the instances that come to mind are mostly in Voy... the Holographic Doctor having instant recall of all patient records, procedures and can operate with absolute surety without emotions clouding judgement...

I'm sure there are plenty of times in TNG where this has happened as well, one episode where Crusher falls in love with the Trill and Riker has it implanted comes to mind with some fun scenes... i'd have to rack my memory for good ones regarding the technology though

M

 

[Mojochi]

Well, looking for specifics on tech being used without much note being paid to it by either doctor or patient, are hard to recollect, because most scenes in Star Trek often focus on either the miraculous technology, or the unique physiology of the fantasy patient. So, the ones I'm recommending are rather pedestrian moments, actually

For example, in The Pegasus, Riker breaks a rib, batleth fighting with Worf, & is despondent about his absent mindedness & moreso about the current situation & his past actions regarding it. Beverly is able to mend the broken bone with her particular whatchamacallit, whilst simultaneously dispensing a little bedside manner, a little jibing about his proneness to injury & eventually some consoling to attempt to change his mood about what she observes is him upset about getting hurt, even though his unease is relative to a bigger problem. He should probably go see Counselor Troi.... instead of going to the bloody holodeck

Another would be at the end of Starship Mine, while Crusher is mending a wound on Picard's face, which is difficult, because he continues to move his head, trying to see & speak with others in the room, & she has to gingerly reprimand him some

In Cause & Effect, Geordi complains of dizziness, & loss of balance (Several times due to a time loop) So there are several slightly varying scenes with her examining his sensor imputs, while discussing with him the experience, symptoms & patient history. Good example, that

The entire opening to "Brothers", Beverly is treating a critically ill boy, who has been quarantined. There's probably a good scene or two in there

& you should probably give "Ethics" a look over. I'm not recalling anything which could be suitable to you, but there most likely is

If I think of any more, I'll drop by again

 

[Mojochi]

You know, "Bloodlines" might have a scene or two with Crusher examining Patient data, trying to determine DNA patterns & such with Picard, & the young man they think is his son

The thing is, for dramatic purpose, the patient is usually somewhat out of commission, when the doctor is examining data, so it's rare that there's much patient interaction, while she is studying like that. It's usually interaction with other crew, like the captain

 

[Tora Ziyal]

& you should probably give "Ethics" a look over. I'm not recalling anything which could be suitable to you, but there most likely is

"Ethics" is the first episode that came to my mind. I don't remember whether there are the specific interactions you're looking for, but the medical ethics and cultural stuff is excellent.

 

[zephramc]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but in Cause and Effect (S5) the crew experiences the same event over and over. In the episode, Dr. Crusher's game of poker is interrupted when she's called to Sickbay to examine Geordi, who experienced dizzyness and collapsed. During the first few time loops (shown onscreen at least), I believe she just scans him with a tricorder and says she can't find anything and it may be related to his VISOR or something to that effect. I recall that she asks La Forge if he's had similar incidents in the past and at the time I believe he answers no.

As the episode (and time loops) progress, Dr. Crusher begins to get the sense that something else may be going on and when examining Geordi, and asking the previous incidents question, decides to run other types of scans, in which they discover LaForge's VISOR is picking up temporal echos, or whatever technobabble they used.

I guess in regard to this episode, the technology was present, but it was Crusher and La Forge's interaction and the Doctors intuition that helped lead the crew to discover they were stuck inside a temporal loop.

 

[Holdfast]

I am less interested in specific technologies than I am in how the technologies that are used dont interfere with doctor patient interaction.

As a fellow doc, I think some of the key technologies are the way everything is seamlessly documented, recorded and accessed. You know how it is in real life: documentation/filing is often haphazard, confusing, scatty/illegible and generally difficult to access in a hurry.

In Star Trek, any data recorded is instantly added to the medical record and can be pulled up from any terminal in sickbay and cross-referenced instantly. The integrity of the information is perfect, combined with instant access. This frees up a massive amount of clinician time, which can instead be used for genuine clinical interaction and/or to be able to manage a larger caseload.

Difficult to think of key episodes for all the above myself, but maybe others can give episode instances of the following examples:

1) Crusher scans someone with a handheld tricorder, and gets an instant measurement of what she's looking for without having to go to a computer terminal or run a lab test
2) Crusher cross-references a test result with Starfleet Medical Records to look for similar cases (?Naked Now)
3) Crusher monitors the progress of an illness in real-time using an imaging scanner (?Shades of Grey)
4) Crusher can access past medical records instantly, even from another starship or from Starfleet Command.

 

[Mojochi]

Remembered one right up your alley. The opening four minute teaser of "Genesis" is spent in Sickbay, with Barclay in heightened hypochondriac mode, & Crusher handles him & a few other patients at once. There's patient interaction over data & diagnoses in that one... & comedy

 

[jonas55]

You know, "Bloodlines" might have a scene or two with Crusher examining Patient data, trying to determine DNA patterns & such with Picard, & the young man they think is his son

The thing is, for dramatic purpose, the patient is usually somewhat out of commission, when the doctor is examining data, so it's rare that there's much patient interaction, while she is studying like that. It's usually interaction with other crew, like the captain

thank you!

 

[berko]

wow, thank you all for these great responses!! Its a great start, and a great excuse for me to watch all these episodes over again.

I just need to find a few right moments so I can make the point of how much our current technology interferes with us and that in the future that hopefully will not be the case.

Thanks again!!!!

 

[You_Will_Fail]

In Trek, the technology is so advanced that a multitude of ailments can be diagnosed by a single doctor. So the patient doesn't have to go from department to department and deal with all kinds of different people and technicians. Most of the time they'd only have to deal with one doctor who is able to diagnose almost everything.....whereas in our universe, you may have to get x-rays/catscans/blood-tests etc all possibly administered by different people.

So I think when medicine becomes very advanced, we're going to see less need for shuffling patients around different parts of the hospital and less loss of information in between. You'll simply have a doctor who can deal with almost all your issues.

Generally technology plays a more important role in Trek medicine than it does in ours due to its ability to diagnose so quickly - less waiting about for that phone call telling you your test results etc. The pinnacle of medical technology in Trek comes with the Emergency Medical Hologram in Voyager - a walking database equipped with unparalleled knowledge and medical precision, undoubtedly the best doctor you could actually hope for. He's only meant to be used for emergencies but after the ship's medical crew dies, he's the only doctor and learns to develop a bedside manner and its importance - after he programs himself to experience what its like to have the flu (VOY: Tattoo)

So it seems like the technology as shown in Trek increases the comfort of patients not only in how advanced it is at healing.....but also in how universal it is in allowing just a single doctor to do so many things. You can get all kinds of illness but all you'd really need is one doctor who's able to guide you through both diagnosis and treatment.

Oh and yes, clips where doctors show good beside manner/good relationships with their patients.
The beginning of "Genesis" in season 7 is definitely a nice scene showing Beverly's closeness to all her patients.....the beginning of "Latent Image" (VOY) also has the doctor performing checkups on all his patients cheerfully.