Be careful not to follow the hospital paradigm too closely. The Enterprise is a ship with limited room and other functions to support. Space is a premium (pun intended).
Without revisiting the whole “is Starfleet military?” debate - I think in many ways, sick bay in the Enterprise has more in common with the sick bay of a modern aircraft carrier. One thing that stuck me in picture is just how cramped everything seemed. Beds were stuck along the wall bunk style. Equipment stuck wherever there’s room. Lots of storage cabinets everywhere.
Starships are depicted as being more spacious than our navel ships so things need not be as “tight” But there are clues to that tell us how restrictive space is. The corridors in TMP are much more narrow and cramped than they were in TOS. The transporter room - while technically larger, has much more restrictive floorspace. And bedspace wasn’t so limited in sickbay that patients were lying on the floor in TWOK. The exam room doubled as an OR. This was a ship that had all sorts of new technology and equipment crowbarred into its older spaceframe.
The bed numbers need not indicate the literal amount of beds. Bed 28 might represent bed 8 of ward 2. Ward 1 might only have 2 beds for all we know. Labs could be across the corridor in another room.
*edit - @Donny - looks like you beat me to it... by about 6 years!
Without revisiting the whole “is Starfleet military?” debate - I think in many ways, sick bay in the Enterprise has more in common with the sick bay of a modern aircraft carrier. One thing that stuck me in picture is just how cramped everything seemed. Beds were stuck along the wall bunk style. Equipment stuck wherever there’s room. Lots of storage cabinets everywhere.
Starships are depicted as being more spacious than our navel ships so things need not be as “tight” But there are clues to that tell us how restrictive space is. The corridors in TMP are much more narrow and cramped than they were in TOS. The transporter room - while technically larger, has much more restrictive floorspace. And bedspace wasn’t so limited in sickbay that patients were lying on the floor in TWOK. The exam room doubled as an OR. This was a ship that had all sorts of new technology and equipment crowbarred into its older spaceframe.
The bed numbers need not indicate the literal amount of beds. Bed 28 might represent bed 8 of ward 2. Ward 1 might only have 2 beds for all we know. Labs could be across the corridor in another room.
*edit - @Donny - looks like you beat me to it... by about 6 years!
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