Uniforms for the Medical staff on a HMS ship

Jonathan_S wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:[

If real life military and VA personnel are any guide, they wear standard uniform when not in a work (hospital) environment and white coats or "scrubs" when in a work environment. During combat or exercise conditions, they would wear protective gear (skin suits, haxmay suits, etc) with appropriate modifications to allow fine manipulations during treatment/surgery.

I wonder how much of a hindrance a skinsuit would be when attempting to provide emergency aid, or even surgery. I assume there as to be some loss of dexterity compared to just surgical gloves (or bare hands)

When manning the aid station in preparation for battle do you prioritize the lives of the medical staff, by putting them in skinsuits like the rest of the crew; or do you prioritize aid to the injured having them in scrubs so their hands aren't even slightly encumbered in their medical work?

Wasn't it said that the Manty suits were so good you could thread a needle while wearing one? Supposedly the 1905 Peep suits weren't so good, and heaven help you if the 1904 Grayson Doc had to wear one of their space suits during a procedure.

Theemile wrote:

Jonathan_S wrote:When manning the aid station in preparation for battle do you prioritize the lives of the medical staff, by putting them in skinsuits like the rest of the crew; or do you prioritize aid to the injured having them in scrubs so their hands aren't even slightly encumbered in their medical work?

Wasn't it said that the Manty suits were so good you could thread a needle while wearing one?

Extrapolating from a flight attendant's safety briefing: "If you pass out trying to put your child's mask on, you're both going to die," I'd say the priority would be to make sure medical staff remain able to render aid to others.

Jonathan_S wrote:I wonder how much of a hindrance a skinsuit would be when attempting to provide emergency aid, or even surgery. I assume there as to be some loss of dexterity compared to just surgical gloves (or bare hands)

When manning the aid station in preparation for battle do you prioritize the lives of the medical staff, by putting them in skinsuits like the rest of the crew; or do you prioritize aid to the injured having them in scrubs so their hands aren't even slightly encumbered in their medical work?

I would expect skinsuits would be like mopp gear (chemical weapons protection) in the real life military. MOPP0 is carrying the gear with you. MOPP1 is wearing overshirt and pants. MOPP2 adds boots and MOPP3 adds mask, leaving only the hands free. MOPP4 is fully suited. Based on the characters in the books, the last thing on is the helmet. Docs could put helmets and gloves on last if gloves interfere with surgery. I don't think so, as a previous poster said I to seem to remember being able to thread a needle in a skinsuit.

Kizarvexis wrote:

Jonathan_S wrote:I wonder how much of a hindrance a skinsuit would be when attempting to provide emergency aid, or even surgery. I assume there as to be some loss of dexterity compared to just surgical gloves (or bare hands)

When manning the aid station in preparation for battle do you prioritize the lives of the medical staff, by putting them in skinsuits like the rest of the crew; or do you prioritize aid to the injured having them in scrubs so their hands aren't even slightly encumbered in their medical work?

I would expect skinsuits would be like mopp gear (chemical weapons protection) in the real life military. MOPP0 is carrying the gear with you. MOPP1 is wearing overshirt and pants. MOPP2 adds boots and MOPP3 adds mask, leaving only the hands free. MOPP4 is fully suited. Based on the characters in the books, the last thing on is the helmet. Docs could put helmets and gloves on last if gloves interfere with surgery. I don't think so, as a previous poster said I to seem to remember being able to thread a needle in a skinsuit.

Now that you mention it the "threading a needle" sounds familiar. But it's also doesn't require the kind of haptic feedback or microfine manipulation that, say, feeling along an intestine for a puncture might. Even sewing a suture probably required more dexterity that threading a needle.

Threading a needle requires careful positioning, but one you get the thread positioned the actual motion can be relatively gross.

Now I could certainly still be wrong, its possible that the gloves add minimal thickness and manage to provide almost complete haptic feedback with no appreciable impact on dexterity. But I'd be somewhat surprised if that was the case; ability to thread a needle or no.


However your other point is a good one. With helmet open and gloves accessible but not pulled on, an SBA or Doctor would be relatively survivable if a sudden depressurization happened. You'd need to get the helmet locked down quickly, but the gloves could take a bit longer. The skinsuit shouldn't be losing air through the wrists, and your hands can probably stand up to vacuum for a couple minutes without real or lasting damage. So once you got the helmet on you'd have time to glove up.

The 'threading the needle' reference was in either OBS, or tHotQ. Also references in uhm, FoD to how while Navy skinnies allow threading a needle, Marine skinnies emphasize effectiveness, and comfort comes a cold second


But.... we've also seen it in OBS, tHotQ and at least HoE that Fritz Montoya would be working, and at least one occasion where the rating he was operating on died on the table. And he simply turned away while SBA's took the corpse off, and slapped the next patient on. While Montoya turned away he stripped off the old gloves, and donned new ones, before turning back to start operating again.

The evidence is rather inconclusive as to whether Naval medical types suit up during action or not. It's probable they wear at least the core suit, with helmet and gloves anchored to the suit itself. Even the bridge (both command and flag bridges), don't immediately don the helmet, with the faceplate pushed up until the shooting actually starts.

So, as Kiza pointed out, doctors probably run something close to Mopp3. Since the helmet has both a helmet, and a rotatable faceplate, they probably leave the plate open until/unless Sickbay opens upto vacuum.

John Prigent wrote:Are there any civilian medicos on a Manticoran military ship?
Cheers
John

SWM wrote:All of the answers so far are about military doctors. What about civilians?

Military ship? I didn't say anything about a military ship. I meant civilian doctors in civilian jobs on civilian planets. Because that's what I think the original poster was asking about. What do civilian doctors wear? I know what military doctors wear--the same thing that other military officers wear.

SWM wrote:

John Prigent wrote:Are there any civilian medicos on a Manticoran military ship?
Cheers
John

Military ship? I didn't say anything about a military ship. I meant civilian doctors in civilian jobs on civilian planets. Because that's what I think the original poster was asking about. What do civilian doctors wear? I know what military doctors wear--the same thing that other military officers wear.

I'm sure it would be like it is in real life. Traditions, like lab coats, would continue on. Hospitals or large practices would individually settle on a dress code for their employees. Independent doctors would follow traditions or not for their culture as they saw fit. Medical associations and government organizations for the policing of health care would set standards of equipment used for things like surgery or the wearing of gloves when physically examining patients.

I believe the original poster was talking about medical personnel in the military when performing their medical duties and how that would differ from the rest of the military, but that is my opinion.

Kizarvexis wrote:

SWM wrote:Military ship? I didn't say anything about a military ship. I meant civilian doctors in civilian jobs on civilian planets. Because that's what I think the original poster was asking about. What do civilian doctors wear? I know what military doctors wear--the same thing that other military officers wear.

I'm sure it would be like it is in real life. Traditions, like lab coats, would continue on. Hospitals or large practices would individually settle on a dress code for their employees. Independent doctors would follow traditions or not for their culture as they saw fit. Medical associations and government organizations for the policing of health care would set standards of equipment used for things like surgery or the wearing of gloves when physically examining patients.

I believe the original poster was talking about medical personnel in the military when performing their medical duties and how that would differ from the rest of the military, but that is my opinion.

The thread title the OP used "Uniforms for the Medical staff on a HMS ship" supports your opinion

Even civilian ships wouldn't be 'HMS'.

In House of Steel the detail of the uniform and skinsuit depends on the branch. What is the branch color for Medical? (And is there a list of the branch colors somewhere? All that's shown or in the book is orange for Electronics branch, and IIRC there is no list of the colors of the other branches).

Top wrote:In House of Steel the detail of the uniform and skinsuit depends on the branch. What is the branch color for Medical? (And is there a list of the branch colors somewhere? All that's shown or in the book is orange for Electronics branch, and IIRC there is no list of the colors of the other branches).

The Jayne's books list the RMN department colors as :

Command/Flag - White
Admin - Grey/Silver
Tactical - Red
Engineering - Orange
Astrogation - Blue
Communication - Yellow/Gold
Logistics - Brown
Flight Ops - Purple
Medical - Light Green