Isolation Ward

The isolation ward is a specialized part of a hospital, Infirmary, or Sickbay that operates under quarantine protocols for the safety of patients and the population as a whole. The patients housed and treated inside isolation wards typically fall into two categories: those with injuries and immunodeficiency ailments that must be shielded from a variety of environmental factors (protective isolation); and those having infectious agents that have the potential of spreading...particularly into epidemic/pandemic proportions (source isolation). Communicable diseases are a deadly threat aboard the confined spaces of a ship or space station.

These wards have certain levels of isolation, each with specific guidelines in regards to treatment programs, exposure times, biohazard protection, sterility, and the like. These protocols can be as simple as having clean hands and keeping the patient behind a closed door to completely sealed and sterile rooms where medical personnel are required to wear full, self-contained biosuits. Decontamination is a day-to-day necessity. In isolation wards, it is not only the patients that are intensely monitored, but also their environments. Rooms have dedicated replicator/recyclers so that very little is ever brought in from the outside. Soiled linens, uneaten food, used medical supplies and the like are immediately treated as hazardous waste and converted into harmless inert carbon particles in the replicators. As in Hazardous Materials Labs, isolation wards can be flooded in an emergency with a variety of gases and/or radiation designed to neutralize lethal agents that have escaped quarantine.

Medical personnel assigned to isolation wards typically have advanced training in dealing with biohazard emergencies, epidemiology, pathology, and immunology/exo-immunology. They are also trained to recognize and treat various psychological problems that most humanoids exhibit from being isolated, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and the like.