Anna ♥'s List: Star Trek TOS and Movie-era Medicine

• Sickbay was the main medical center aboard Federation starships. Sickbay was presided over by the chief medical officer (CMO), a senior staff member. The CMO was supported by various doctors and nurses. The area was also used for certain analyses of new lifeforms a starship might encounter, and for developing treatments for unknown diseases or illnesses. When rendering aid to a stricken planet or spacecraft, the sickbay staff treated and cared for the wounded. On starbases, sickbay was typically called the infirmary.
• Three or four biobeds generally lined the walls of sickbay's intensive care unit, or ICU; these were for patients receiving medical care and were equipped with biofunction monitors. On Galaxy-class starships, private rooms were available for long-term patients. (TNG: "Ethics")
• Sickbays also had surgical beds, where major surgeries were performed and critical patients were treated. A large, sophisticated sensor cluster was usually installed directly above this bed. Working in conjunction with a medical tricorder, the sensor suite could give detailed information about a patient's condition. The bed was also designed to use a surgical support frame. This bed was often located in the center of the main sickbay room, although refit Constitution-class and Intrepid-class starships had separate spaces for their surgical beds, the former in a separate room, the latter in a small area that could be isolated by a force field. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; VOY: "Caretaker", "Phage") If necessary, surgery could be conducted in the intensive care ward if there was an overflow of patients or if another patient was present to donate blood. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; VOY: "Latent Image") Galaxy-class starships also had separate surgical rooms. (TNG: "Ethics")
• Sickbays typically had small laboratory facilities attached to the ICU. The chief medical officer or other associated personnel could monitor experiments or run tests here during their duty shift.
• Many starships also have separate, larger medlabs. Galaxy-class ships had at least four. (TNG: "Ethics"; Star Trek Nemesis)
• The chief medical officer's office was also located in or near sickbay. As with the captain's ready room, it was an area for the CMO to work in privacy or conduct meetings with patients, staff, and others. Its close location allowed the CMO to be present in sickbay almost immediately.
• A morgue facility was also part of sickbay. On Galaxy-class starships, there was a large separate morgue, (TNG: "Man of the People", "Suspicions") although autopsies were performed in the main sickbay.
• Sickbays were well stocked with a variety of medical equipment and supplies. Much of it was left out on tables or benches for use by the medical crew, but some items were stored in cargo crates.
• Due to its critical importance, the primary sickbay was usually located deep within the saucer section of most Federation starships. Sickbays were well-protected, and generally had a phaser locker for defense of the facility in the event the ship was boarded. (TNG: "Starship Mine", "Timescape")
• Sickbays could provide limited psychological services to a starship's crew. In the 23rd century, the ship's doctor often doubled as an informal counselor. (TOS: "The Cage")

• When a large scale disaster was encountered by a starship, cargo bays and shuttlebays could be used as triage centers and even morgues if necessary. Generally, this was only feasible on larger ships with a sizable medical staff. On Galaxy-class ships, a chief medical officer could order all Starfleet crewmembers and civilians with medical training to assist during a major crisis. (TNG: "Night Terrors", "Ethics") Galaxy-class starships also carried large quantities of backup medical supplies in the event of disaster. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike") 

  Designated environmental shelters could also be converted for medical use, such as Ten Forward on the Galaxy-class. (TNG: "Night Terrors", "Disaster") On the Intrepid-class USS Voyager, the mess hall often served as a backup to sickbay. (VOY: "Macrocosm", "Before and After", "Year of Hell", "Memorial") 
• On Constitution-class starships, sickbay was located on Deck 5. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror") It was maintained and operated by the Astro-Medical Department. There were at least four wards. (TOS: "The Naked Time") It was completely redesigned during the refit of the USS Enterprise, much to the chagrin of Dr. McCoy. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

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• The medical tricorder was a specialized version of the standard Starfleet tricorder. It was equipped with sensors and analysis software tailored for medical diagnostic purposes. They were usually the first tool a Starfleet doctor utilized when assessing a patient's condition. Medical tricorders could function aboard ship in sickbay as well as on away missions. (TOS: "The Man Trap")
• Medical tricorders used throughout the years have been essentially similar in design to that of the standard tricorder, with the same available features and interface. The major difference is the addition of a deployable hand scanner. While some standard tricorders also have removable scanners, the medical tricorder's is much more advanced and can provide detailed scans of an entire individual, or give focus to a single area.
• They could also be used to perform quick multivariate analysis, such as the comparison of several different blood samples. (TOS: "Plato's Stepchildren")
• It is not necessary to use the scanner for the tricorder to function. The scanner can be separated from the tricorder, either to feed data to another source (TNG: "Up The Long Ladder") or not be attached to the tricorder at all. (DS9: "Babel")
• While the suite of sensors installed on medical tricorders is advanced, it is generally no substitute for the advanced and specialized equipment in a sickbay facility. Although very accurate on the living, it is taught in the first year of Starfleet Medical School that medical tricorders are not as accurate on the dead.

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• A hypospray (colloquially, hypo) is a medical device used to inject liquids into the body. The system uses a noninvasive transport mechanism of compressed air to transfer the injectant from the device into the subdermal layer below the skin of the body, or artery. This is done without the use of a needle, ensuring that the skin is not punctured during use, thus reducing the risk of infection or pain at the site of injection. Various drugs can be used, inserted into the hypo in vials attached to the end of the instrument. 

  The 23rd century Federation hypospray resembled the intravenous needles of previous centuries, while the 24th century version of the device was more compact, employing an angled head and rounded tip to transfer the drug more easily. Controls at the injection head set the dosage to be injected. (TOS: "Amok Time"; TNG: "Haven") 

  The typical injection site used is the side of the neck, to the neck artery, but the hypospray can inject even through clothing. Unlike hypodermic needles, the hypospray can be used on multiple patients without worries of spreading blood-borne illnesses. (TNG: "Angel One") 

  A hypospray can also be used to collect air samples in order to test it or condense air and store it for later use. (VOY: "Parturition") 

• The spray applicator was a medical device standard in medkits from the 2260s to 2270s. It was capable of dispensing a wide variety of topical liquids, foams and gels. The spray applicator was routinely preloaded with a flesh-colored suspension of a coagulant, numbing anesthetic, and antibiotic.  

  It was used to treat Pavel Chekov's burns when he was injured by a sparking bridge console. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) 

• The autosuture was a medical device, descended from the 20th century suture, that was used as early as the 22nd century.
• The function of the autosuture is to seal closed and promote the healing of wounds from surgery or deep trauma by stimulating the patient's own anabolism. It is used where the dermal regenerator is inadequate.