Is the concept of a 'Federation Doctor' feasible?

[Ethros]

So what I'm talking about is, let's just look at today. Becoming a doctor isn't something that happens over a weekend, it takes years and years of study (and learning and practice whatnot) for someone to become a fully qualified doctor. Especially a big time bigwig hospital doctor.
And that's just for treating humans.

Yet for someone like Dr Crusher, a doctor on the flagship of the Federation, not only does she have to treat humans, but she must also have in-depth knowledge of how to treat Vulcans, Bolians, Klingons, Andorians, Tellarites, Bajorans, etc etc, and probably about 10 dozen other different alien species.


Basically, is that really feasible? Could a normal human really have that much concrete knowledge of so many different species' anatomies, illnesses, allergies, skeletal systems, brain patterns etc etc
Surely it would take hundreds of years to learn all that.


For someone like the EMH I'm sure this is fine, or maybe Dr. Bashir as he has his genetic mutation advantage. Dr Phlox could be a super intelligent alien I suppose. But for your normal humans like Beverly Crusher and Leonard McCoy I mean.



Yeah I know it’s a TV show, just saying

I have other thoughts too, but I'll open it to discussion for a bit first

 

[Ethros]

Basically would you just end up with this guy?

 

[Admiral Shran]

Given that children in Trek learn calculus before real-life children even have the cognitive abilities to process that information, I'll give this a pass.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, one of the reasons Chancellor Gorkon dies in TUC is because Bones admits he doesn't know enough about Klingon anatomy.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In all seriousness, couldn't techniques be borrowed for "humanoid" doctors that are currently used for veterinarians, to deal with multiple species?

I've always wondered if realistically, ships have more than one doctor, or at least several nurse practitioners (which makes you damn near a doctor), each with various specialties, the way veterinary medicine tends to be divided into several specialty areas.

The EMH may also be useful for instances where no one has the requisite specialty. But I suspect most of it is handled by a CMO, possibly another doctor (the original Enterprise had McCoy AND M'Benga, I believe) and a core of nurse practitioners. Under this scheme, I would assume Chapel and Ogawa were NP's and therefore almost full-fledged doctors themselves.

That said, I suspect other empires, that are less multi-species (or do not bother to medically treat all of their client worlds the same), do indeed have problems just like you said, where there is no training for that and no division of labor.

 

[That Weirdo In The Corner]

I think a federation Doctor is possible but not in the way shown, I think species would be a speciality, other races especially the humanoid ones could be given mid-level care via computer prompts.

 

[Admiral Shran]

I suspect most of it is handled by a CMO, possibly another doctor (the original Enterprise had McCoy AND M'Benga, I believe) and a core of nurse practitioners. Under this scheme, I would assume Chapel and Ogawa were NP's and therefore almost full-fledged doctors themselves.

I suspect the same thing. Not only did Kirk's Enterprise have McCoy and M'Benga, the Enterprise-D had Crusher/Pulaski and Selar.

I think large ships and installations would have a CMO who does a lot of hands-on medical care but also has vast administrative duties with many people underneath him or her - other MDs, Nurse Practitioners, RNs, LPNs, STNAs, etc...

As for NPs, we know that Chapel become an MD by the time of The Motion Picture, so it is highly possible that she was an NP during the series. And Ogawa was an MD in an alternate timeline (Future Imperfect, I believe) and Riker didn't blink at the change.

 

[Ethros]

Well, one of the reasons Chancellor Gorkon dies in TUC is because Bones admits he doesn't know enough about Klingon anatomy.

I always thought that was because they weren't allies yet, and they just didn't know the exact ins and outs of Klingon biology/anatomy yet

 

[T'Girl]

In the novel "Death's Angel," the Enterprise is carrying a variety of species Ambassadors, of whom Doctor McCoy knows little. So the ship's veterinarian is secretly "promoted" to M.D.

 

[Satyrquaze]

Not to take away from the much increased intellectual capacity humans seem to display and likely have by the 23rd century, I think theres something to be said for the vast databanks of the Enterprise's computers/medical records here.

Dr. McCoy or Crusher may not know exactly how to cure a Bolian virus or what-have-you, but they could easily look it up-- possibly having the ship's computer walk them through a critical xenobiological surgery on a rarely encountered species.

I seem to recall Dr. Crusher having some trouble treating the Romulan on her biobed in "The Enemy". She was (iirc) defaulting to what she knew of Vulcan physiology.

 

[Sandoval]

Well, one of the reasons Chancellor Gorkon dies in TUC is because Bones admits he doesn't know enough about Klingon anatomy.

The other reason being a phaser blast drilling through his chest.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Surely when a Doctor is assigned to a ship they take into consideration the major species that will be a part of the crew, the main areas the ship is to travel, and then select a candiate who is proefficient in working with those species...and good at improv. Federation Doctors have to play a few improv games like "Death by..." and "One word story" before getting an assignment.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think the majority of humanoid life-forms have similar physiologies, with any differences or incompatibilities so noted when they occur.

 

[Sci]

The difficulty providing medical treatment to multiple species may be why many Federation Starfleet starships tend to be dominated by one species or a few species, particularly in the TOS era, where it seemed that Constitution-class starships only had one full medical doctor.

With the TNG era, we know that Galaxy-class starships had multiple doctors on their staffs, so that makes the question of multiple species less of an issue. And of course, by the 2370s, medial staffs had access to Emergency Medical Holograms.

I would wonder what the role of medical computers might be in the 23rd and 24th centuries, when it comes to diagnosing and treating multiple species.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Everyone evolved from bald, androgynous people. We keep our bits in the same place, for the most part.

 

[Mr Silver]

I think that by the 24th century in Star Trek, multi-species anatomy was common to any medical education. Obviously you'll still have specialist practitioners amongst the civilian population but on Starships, Doctors are more generalised in their approach to practising medicine. We also have to look at the fact that computers play a large part in the treatment of patients with medical personnel often consulting with computers as they develop treatments.

In regards to McCoy in TUC, the Klingons were still pretty secretive during the 23rd century and it seemed likely that very few "outside" medical practitioners had the opportunity to examine a Klingon. The information on Klingon anatomy was probably quite scarce and even with what the Federation did have, it seemed unlikely that McCoy or anyone else could formulate a method of treatment to a critical patient when they had nothing for comparison or any understanding as to how a Klingon responds to injuries.

With what's been established, it seems that the KDF doesn't put a lot of investment into their medical facilities and it would appear that Klingons are expected to carry on with injuries or even fight to the death during battle. It seems that medical care is the reward for surviving within the Klingon Empire!

 

[Arpy]

Maybe Federation doctors are jacks of all trades that have studied lots of different species and are more like first responders - or aforementioned veterinarians. Increased intellectual capacity (calculus pre-high school? I wonder if they're all mentats in the future) and more importantly, if highly sophisticated diagnostic computers and treatment abilities (dermal regenerators, stasis fields, artificial cells, medical transporters) make it easier for less specialized physicians to handle wide varieties of life-forms. Maybe Crusher or McCoy's staff were more specialized in individual species or types of species than they themselves were.

 

[scotpens]

. . . I seem to recall Dr. Crusher having some trouble treating the Romulan on her biobed in "The Enemy". She was (iirc) defaulting to what she knew of Vulcan physiology.

Since the Romulans are a Vulcan offshoot and, according to TMOST, the two races are difficult to tell apart even with sensor readings, there can’t be much difference between Vulcan and Romulan physiology. What works for one will probably work for the other.

 

[The_Baroness]

Considering that most of what Trek doctors do is "wave tricorder doo-dad over patient, to find the problem then wave another doo-dad to fix 'em" I'd say you can get probably a doctorate in a fortnight.

 

[Satyrquaze]

. . . I seem to recall Dr. Crusher having some trouble treating the Romulan on her biobed in "The Enemy". She was (iirc) defaulting to what she knew of Vulcan physiology.

Since the Romulans are a Vulcan offshoot and, according to TMOST, the two races are difficult to tell apart even with sensor readings, there can’t be much difference between Vulcan and Romulan physiology. What works for one will probably work for the other.

but, in the episode, that didn't for the doctor.