Medical Laboratories
Medical Laboratories (or simply, Med Labs) are specialized areas aboard a ship or station that serve two functions:
- To conduct tests in order to obtain detailed information on the health of a patient to assist in their diagnosis and treatment; and
- Allow qualified personnel places to conduct medical experimentations and simulations to develop unique treatments and procedures.
Given 24th Century technological advances, many tests and examinations can be readily carried out and completed with a typical medical tricorder or Biobed sensor cluster. Med labs are equipped with more specific instrumentation designed for a more complete diagnosis or to assist in experiments. They are designed with interchangability in mind and can easily be reconfigured to support more than one specific medical science. On most ships, med labs fall into two pathological catagories: anatomical and clinical. Anatomic deals with the disciplines of anatomy, exo-anatomy, histology, pathology, physiology, electron microscopy, and the like. Clinical pathology handles sciences such as hematology, genetics, microbiology (immunology, virology, mycology, etc.), reproductive biology, and medical chemistry (toxicology, enzymology, endocrinology).
Only space stations and dedicated medical vessels have labs devoted to individual branches of the medical sciences.
All Starfleet med labs are equipped to handle biohazard threats. They can be sealed and sterilized within moments (either manually or automatically by the ship/station's computer). They also have holo-emitters installed to allow Emergency Medical Holograms and Administrative Medical Holograms access to the labs.
See also Medical Lab Technician, Physician's Mate