#medbay posting

[earthstellar]

famously, healthcare workers typically do not have time for food

this leads to bizarre things, for example: I just had "lunch" at 11 AM, which consisted of a dill herring sandwich and a chocolate pudding, both consumed simultaneously within about 5 minutes

what I'm saying is: you know Ratchet and the other medics eat the fucking weirdest energon types and additive combinations imaginable

maybe zinc is like, a tangy flavour for them, almost to the point of being sour, and most bots don't use it as a fuel additive too often

but medics want to save the more palatable, more easy-on-the-fuel-tanks blends and additives for their patients

and zinc might have some benefits for medical staff; maybe it provides a little energy boost, at the cost of requiring a shorter time in between refuellings or something --

--or perhaps the opposite and it congeals energon slightly, resulting in slower fuel processing at the cost of requiring fuel line cleaning (to prevent energon accumulation within the fuel lines) slightly more often, but that's something medics could likely carry out for each other

so medics always have the most zinc-loaded bullshit fuel imaginable, like nobody else would be able to consume it, it's so fucking sour by energon standards

but medics chug that shit back fast in between other tasks

maybe Drift is visiting Ratchet in the medbay towards the end of his shift, and Rodimus tags along because of course he does, and because they decided to race each other to the medbay, Rodimus needs a little fuel top-up

so he just grabs a cube that isn't sealed (the sealed cubes are for patients and may have medications mixed in with them, and Rodimus doesn't feel like playing accidental sedation roulette today lol), and he slams it back

only to start choking while First Aid pops in to let him know Ratchet will be ready to go in a minute (and also to laugh at the sputtering Rodimus a little, serves him right for taking a medic's energon, lol)

IDK my bizarre "lunch" just made me think about how fucked Cybertronian medic's schedules must be and how equally bizarre their refuelling habits probably are, lmao

[earthstellar]

“We all keep graveyards in our heads.” - One of the docs I work with 

You can’t save everybody.  In fact, there are days when, I think, you can’t save anyone. 

[everwalldigan]

You know what would be really funny. If Jason had the most normal/conventional food taste out of his siblings (still very far from regular people’s “normal”), he’s stuck in the manor because of an injury and therefore has to witness the culinary WAR CRIMES his siblings consume for sustenance. Since there’s no Alfred to stop them anymore, they have been running rampant.

Jason: What. The fuck. Is that.

Damian, pouring out a green sludge into two cups: father and I’s breakfast smoothie, or did you hit your head hard enough to forget the concept of a smoothie?

Jason, scooting his chair away clutching his water bottle to his chest: yeah I dont know what nuclear reactive, Gotham harbour concoction you so flagrantly bestow the title of “smoothie” on but keep that shit FAR away from me

Tim: *sits down next to Jason, cracks open a can of energy drink and pours it into a glass, pouring milk on top until it reaches the brim*

Jason, with tears in his eyes looking at Dick for help:

Dick: *shrugs, shoving a fistful of dry cheerios into his mouth*

Jason: *turns his horrified gaze to Cass*

Cass: *grins at him toothily with two heaping plates of a full English breakfast sitting in front of her. He has no idea where she got it from. She is using a set of utensils for each plate.*

Jason: *stands up calmly* maybe I should stop looking for the unstable bomb I lost in the manor the other week *walks out of the kitchen, a few moments later a shrill scream is heard*

[earthstellar]

Medical Staff Superstitions and Cybertronian Medics

I was just thinking: What superstitions might Cybertronian medical staff have?

For some real world examples:

-Deaths come in threes

-Tying the corners of a bed's sheets "keeps the soul in" (helps prevents a patient from worsening/dying)

-Preparing for certain procedures ahead of time wards off certain incidents from happening (crash cart, some surgical setup, etc.)

-Full moon means a busy shift

-Some staff can be "unlucky"; For example, if a certain doc/nurse is working that shift, you can expect X to happen

-Nobody should ever say the word "quiet", or things are about to get real, real loud (busy)

Superstitions in healthcare vary from region to region, and from speciality to specialty.

For example, in a maternity/birthing ward, a well-prepared birth plan means everyone should prepare for emergency c-section or post partum haemorrhage.

One of my friends who is a nurse in Mexico said that a picture of an upside-down cat or upside-down dog pinned on the wall helps prevent poor outcomes! (This is apparently often done with pictures of staff member's pets, lmao.)

I'm sure that Ratchet wouldn't (at least knowingly) lean into any superstitions that might exist in Cybertronian healthcare, but I feel like other medics might.

Perhaps it varies regionally across Cybertron, too-- Tetrahexian medics may have different beliefs compared to Praxian medics, and so on.

I can see First Aid, with his collection of Autobot badges, potentially putting one upside-down on his work station. It would probably drive Ratchet up the wall, but Velocity might ask questions about it and share some Camien medical superstitions!

IDK It's just fun to think about.

Ratchet might even engage in some superstitions unconsciously, just out of habit from centuries of working with other medics in Iacon etc. who would probably get upset if the superstitions weren't taken into consideration, lmao.

First Aid might call this out in front of Drift, who would then be aaaaabsolutely fascinated, lmao.

I'm at work right now so I might elaborate a bit on this later, just thinkin' out loud lol

[arcticclimes]

There's been an incident on Terror.

[earthstellar]

this is accurate, and could easily extend to people doing non-uni based STEM training etc. as well tbh 

also pro-tip fpr those who drink: you’re gonna wanna try the Jagermeister Winterkrauter edition, serve it over a cinnamon stick, just trust me on this. drink responsibly lmao 

Patron Saint of all drunk STEM university students 🙏

[agentark]

everything we know about Red vs Blue means that there's a canonically supported reality in which every bit of the rvb timeline that happens post-Freelancer saga is actually just simulations Epsilon is running in WASH's head as he unravels

[askthemedbay]

If First Aid is a cassetticon, who is his carrier/boom box mech?

While he doesn’t have speakers like Soundwave, he’s still got a nice docking space, if I do say so myself!

(OOC: Below the cut are some sketches I did while figuring out how I wanted to design them for my au, I love getting asks like this lol!!)

[earthstellar]

healthcare event day: new lanyards, new enemies -- Pharma would love this shit

had to go to a healthcare conference

they were giving out lavender gin and brie crackers, like astonishingly good snacks and booze (probably because a lot of consultants were present lmao)

everyone got drunk and the hepatologists got mad about it

anyway two docs got in a verbal fight in the hallway which got pretty loud (all I know is that it was an argument about a research project)

you can't tell me Ratchet and Pharma wouldn't be the two docs fighting at the professional event lmao

also they really gave everyone a lot of gin, the tonic seemed to be optional. like straight up shots. you'd think they wouldn't do this at a healthcare thing but I think the organisers were just excited about hosting something in London so they went overboard LOL

I can imagine some event in Iacon going roughly the same way, they want to schmooze with the big city medics so they accidentally-on-purpose get everyone wasted on unreasonably good engex in order to make sure everyone has a good time (this does not work, it only results in pettiness and/or arguing, lmao)

like usually they'll have Prosecco or something served moderately, but this was fucking shots of gin. which is hilarious.

maybe it's because it's Saturday so they felt bad about having everyone show up on a weekend, I have no idea. almost all of us work every weekend anyway lol.

nothing is funnier than watching med professionals get increasingly drunk and somewhat agitated with one another over the course of several hours while still having to pretend to be more or less professional

like you can't cause too much of a scene in the lecture hall, but as soon as everyone's mingling in the reception area, everyone groups into their various specialities and starts WILDLY SHIT TALKING

Pharma would be a shit-talker. Ratchet would be consistently agitated the entire time, and would get into arguments over health service logistics and solutions to staff retention problems, among other things.

First Aid would be the one trying to make sure that nobody from their institution embarrasses themselves too badly in front of anyone from any of the other institutions, in between trying to network with said other institutions.

Ambulon would be three shots of engex deep by the second speaker, but still taking some pretty good notes the whole time while actively avoiding having to speak with anyone else.

Velocity would be extremely nervous but ultimately would raise some good questions during the Q&A session. She would also immediately utilise any stickers in the swag bag to decorate her datapad, but then panic because now she has to shove all the blank sticker papers into her bag since there's no trash receptacle around, which makes it rustle really loudly.

anyway I'm going to take a nap now, I ate a whole fucking block of brie at this thing

[earthstellar]

I love that they have the Ambus Test in IDW 1, specifically to help address this problem, but it’s also very interesting that it doesn’t actually work and may not have been intended to have ever actually worked, uh oh I feel a post coming on 

I still have issues with how Swerve fucked with 10 and wrote “I failed the Ambus Test” on him, as it has some nasty parallels to real world ableism against those who are non-verbal or otherwise express themselves primarily non-verbally. 

But the Ambus Test is specifically noted in universe to be poorly designed and not as widely applicable or accommodating/flexible as it needs to be. 

While 10 did indeed fail the Ambus Test, it is mentioned that Ravage would have also failed the Ambus Test by default, owing to his beast alt-mode-- Implying that it’s not just ableism as an inherent flaw of the test, but also blatant alt-mode (and therefore class/caste) discrimination. 

Swerve may not have fully grasped this or been fully aware of the issues with the Ambus Test, and likely genuinely believed 10 was not sentient, although I have issues with how this is portrayed if this is the case. He often comes across as mean to 10, and it could be argued that 10 performs tasks that may clearly hint at greater, sentient intelligence-- As we later see with Ratchet, when he finds 10′s artworks and sculptures/figures, although to be fair, Swerve was seemingly unaware of these artworks and he is not a medical professional; He may have simply seen no reason to question the results of the Ambus Test, seeing it as a kind of end-all-be-all regardless of anything else. (Poor 10!) 

The end result with the Ambus Test is that it fails entirely; It is burdened with flawed Functionist thinking, and cannot be relied upon to provide legitimate/accurate results. Any screening carried out with this test is doomed to be suspect at best. 

However, we still see people relying on it post-Revolution/post-war to try to identify mechanical sentience. 

Unfortunately, this is a real problem with many actual cognition tests, for various reasons, and it is an ongoing effort in multiple medical fields of research to identify and remove/resolve these kinds of biases and discriminatory/restrictive elements in real tests. 

But the concept at its core is interesting: There is absolutely a need to have a cognitive test for complex machines, in a species made up of sentient machines. 

The fact that the Ambus Test is still in use despite what seem to be glaring flaws is very interesting, too. Why is this the case? We don’t know; If it is named after Dominus Ambus (this is not actually confirmed in universe if I recall correctly, although I could be wrong), then it could be due to the reputation of the creator of the test. 

Sadly, this is also a problem in real life; Some tests that should honestly have been retired by now are still in use because they are institutionally grandfathered in, and revisions that were often intended to occur are never done for various reasons or are done poorly owing to direct influence from the original, thus leading to faulty screenings etc. continuing with outdated methodology etc. 

Notoriously, a lot of people (including professionals) have serious issues with the DSM (USA) and ICD (UK/WHO) diagnostic manuals/definitions for reasons along these lines, among other concerns. 

While these concerns are legitimate and serious, the process of making any revisions is ungodly arduous and lengthy, and there is a significant amount of influence in these types of diagnostic manuals, thus making the implementation of any potential improvements or possible corrections an extremely difficult thing to do. Not to mention the extensive proof of research etc. necessary to even suggest any potential changes or updates, which can be both good and bad.  

So it may very well be the case that the Ambus Test might be knowingly identified as faulty at least by medical bots for the most part in-universe (possibly hinted at by Ratchet’s attitude towards 10 although this is never outright stated in canon), but owing to the war and ongoing difficulty in re-establishing whatever panels/research systems/etc. would be necessary to revise the Ambus Test in a post-war Cybertronian medical system, it remains a faulty test in active use/application anyway. Even though this may obviously lead to harm being caused, or incorrect evaluation. :( 

I would be interested to know if Rung would accept the results of an Ambus Test, or if he may have had any preferred screening methods/processes/diagnostics... 

tl;dr I think the Ambus Test as we see it in IDW 1 is possibly genuinely intended to be a jab at outdated medical screening tests, particularly those used in psych and psych adjacent screenings of various types, which continue to be used despite their blatant inability to identify well (or correctly, or at all) what is actually being screened for-- In addition to being a jab at how people are often wrongly assumed to have X capability or X intelligence based purely on class, background, etc. in the real world. 

I just got off a long weekend shift so I am brain fried at the moment lmao, but I hope this is coherent!! 

I know they are overdone, but personally i'm a big fan of "fish out of water" scenarios with aliens and that's why nothing will be as funny to me as transformers confusing cars for people when they first arrive on earth

[trans-leek-cookie]

listen I'm not gonna be a Curly apologist he did Fucked Up as captain but I genuinely recommend ppl watch a playthru that goes thru the game in chronological order. It kinda helps clear up the events and gaps between them, bc even tho u See the times, you still experience it out of order.

The stuff Anya says definitely sets off alarm bells but it doesn't seem like he Fully Understands what she means, and I'm going to be 100% honest I think she was trying to repress it herself. This isn't to say that she is AT ALL "at fault" for what happened after and she should've gotten help even if she wasn't ready to fully discuss the issue but I genuinely think she herself was still coming to terms with things, so she didn't necessarily process the full impact before talking to Curly, and a lot of what happens occurs after they're laid off- like this delves into personal interpretation but I genuinely think Anya only registered Jimmy as a serious danger after his outburst towards Curly. Ofc my interpretation is limited bc of the limited pov in game and not having gone through what she has, but it personally reads more akin to coercion over time than a singular Obviously Violent incident (like. Not to say that Sexual Assault isnt violent in nature, just that coercion often specifically works to obfuscate the fact it is a form of violence.) The layoff is a Massive catalyst for her bc of Jimmy, in that she now has a very clear understanding of his capacity for aggression.

To extrapolate a little from the "Dead Pixel" conversation, she starts by saying she Likes The Screen (even though it's fake). While Curly has his quotes about the pixel "not ruining the illusion" which. Y'know is Symbolic Of His Flaws. She doesn't say the pixel ruins it, just that she can't get it out of her mind.

If we take the pixel to represent her Or jimmy, either way the way she talks about it kind of downplays things, like it's a Minor Thing that's Slightly Upsetting, but she's still okay with the big picture. Idk I could be 100% wrong but that is my take

Besides that, Anya tells curly she's pregnant 2 days before the crash, and it isn't until she outright states it that he starts Putting The Pieces Together. I want to note, he says "I'd do anything" and "this doesn't have to go on our performance evals" 1. Before he knows shes pregnant 2. Under the assumption she might attempt suicide, and I doubt he even thought about her using the gun on anyone else before she brings that up. He says literally before the line where she tells him she's pregnant that "being laid off isnt a reason to hurt [herself]". Like I've seen ppl talk about the performance evaluation thing like it's about her and jimmy, but I think he's referring to (his belief) that she might attempt suicide or similar which might genuinely be a consistent thing he's seen her struggle with, given she's able to go through with it. Also just to note: assuming their society is like ours (hellish) reassuring her he won't blab Abt her mental health is like. Genuine reassurance- lots of mentally ill ppl will Not Open Up bc it could have long term consequences (like. For example. On employment) ANYWAYS I hope it doesn't come off like "Curly never failed Anya" but rather "Curly approached this specific situation without the context of why Anya is panicking and (possibly validly) assuming she's dealing with a very different issue"

Also let me say again the time frame is 2 days. We don't Really see what happens, but we know Anya tells Jimmy without Curly knowing. I genuinely believe he maybe didn't do a Great Job in those two days (the fact he says Anya should've talked to Him before telling Jimmy is uhhh. Mm. 1. Your job to create an environment where she comes to you my man 2. Weird to tell her what she should do with HER OWN PERSONAL INFORMATION) but like.

I get a lot of ppl want immediate consequences but consider that they can't really get rid of Jimmy (co pilot. Which is. Y'know it's Own Problems) but also like. Curly knows Jimmy, and we know that Jimmy tends to lash out. Curly should probably Not Confront Jimmy Unless He Knows Exactly How To Keep Him From Hurting Anya. Like I'm not an expert but this is something genuinely important- when confronting an abuser you NEED to take into account the impact it can have on their victim, and sometimes for the victims safety you need to wait until you have a Solid Plan. It sucks but it's important.

And theres discussion to be had about Curly kinda going along with Jimmy saying "well what if we all died" and like. I do believe he Didn't Realize What Jimmy Said. Like he was just processing/trying to keep the situation under control (and failing because he underestimated how willing Jimmy was to hurt everyone including himself).

Like he's definitely an enabler but I would say his problems are mostly before he understands the gravity of the situation, in that he's friends with Jimmy and assumes the best of a man with abusive tendencies, and fails to create an environment that can keep Anya and the others safe. Like, he definitely doesn't handle in game events perfectly (psych evaluation for one- he does do it instead of Anya which is actually helpful, but he still treats it like. Weirdly.)

Idk I have a lot of thoughts about this game and I don't necessarily want to defend Curly but more like. Anya's situation is very delicate (and light on details) so sometimes the way ppl talk Abt it feels like they aren't actually focused on what she wants and what it means to prioritize her safety y'know?

Edit bc I just now figured out kinda how I want to word it: curly is an enabler and making things worse bc he doesn't put a stop to Jimmy's BS, but in the specific scenario we see in game I think he's trying to use his Skillset of like, people pleasing not for Jimmy's sake but for the crews (like "if I nod my head and say I sympathize he won't lash out and hurt them") which like. There are situations which that is unfortunately the safest option (on an individual level yes, but sometimes it's also necessary to prevent abusers lashing out in response toward ppl who are more vulnerable) but it was the Wrong Choice.

It's like. I think Curly was trying and had good intentions, and understood that he needed to protect the crew, but he didn't have the toolset/experience to realize he can't Just go along with things and that he needs to be able to set hard limits, even for ppl he likes and trusts. Like he failed but the failure was "for want of a nail", where it began way before what we see (for want of an understanding of power dynamics I guess.) Again, don't think this makes curly more forgivable or whatever, I just think he's a good example of trying to make the right choices when you never realized you'd have to make these kinds of decisions and therefore are unprepared and/or unaware

Second edit: personally I don't think you can really incapacitate jimmy without there being serious risk (again he's the copilot) but curly should've given Anya the gun when she told him Abt the pregnancy

[agoddamn]

I am once more posting about how character refusing medical treatment for no raisin is possibly my most beloathed trope

There are so many very legitimate reasons a fictional character might not get treatment!

Allergies

Negative interaction with a medication character is already on

Negative reaction to the medication in general

Character is nonhuman/alien/mutant/etc and standard medical treatment won't work

Not registering injury due to shock/nerve damage

Not registering injury due to pre-existing chronic condition that made things suddenly, unexpectedly much worse

Not registering severity of injury because internal bleeding can (and often does!) look a lot like bad bruising

Hospital is haunted

Injury greatly exceeds current medical resources (ie it's a spinal fracture and all they have is a My Little Pony first aid kit)

Character believes that death is imminent

Character has something illegal/taboo/valuable attached to their body (from illegal body-mods in a sci-fi universe to curse in a fantasy universe)

C'mon, guys, I get it! I also love when characters get the ever-loving blue-eyed shit beat out of them! Just, give 'em some actual reason to suffer. A basic pretext. Please.

[builtlikeastickofcelery]

MOVIE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:]

next: https://www.tumblr.com/builtlikeastickofcelery/711648534638772224/part-2-poor-little-guys-a-bit-confused-huh?source=share

[earthstellar]

Thank you for tagging me-- This post is a classic! :)

The self-sacrificial attitude is a problem in the NHS as well; There are multiple formal rules and guidelines which essentially boil down to "patient safety and decision making capability are priorities to maintain: otherwise monitor each other for exhaustion and please don't fuck yourselves up too badly" lmao sigh

My dad was an Army Medic and his entire back, chest, shoulders, and upper arms are permanently scarred with shrapnel wounds from various occasions where he would use himself as a meat shield while treating patients or the field or preparing them for CASEVAC etc., and he has permanent nerve and spinal damage from jumping out of helicopters too early etc. in an effort to evacuate casualties as fast as possible.

I think the vast majority of healthcare workers are prone to these self-sacrificial behaviours or that kind of mindset in general, really.

Case in point, working in healthcare during a pandemic. I can use myself as an example, but this applies to literally everyone who worked through especially the early days of COVID.

Even though I'm disabled (relevant here are my POTS and asthma), I still applied and was hired to work at the Nightingale Hospital, which was London's first large scale COVID "field hospital" which was converted from an event centre into essentially intended to be a large assessment and treatment centre for early pandemic cases.

My thinking was that since I may die from COVID anyway, I might as well die on my feet trying to help others.

Now, that whole experience was a Situation, but I was also cleared to work at 2 other hospitals and was getting further training at a third all around that same time.

Somehow I did not perish in those early days of COVID (double masking hell yeah), but I was pretty sure I'd be most okay with dying from the plague if I caught my death while trying to help. At least I'd die trying to do good. I felt sadder thinking about my parents, if I were to die.

This was all while also working at my main job, which at the time was medical secretary and patient advisor at a specialist clinic.

If that sounds dramatic, it very much was at the time, but keep in mind it was early pandemic and as a disabled person I was essentially told I would die from the plague, so I fully did not expect to live all that much longer anyway.

Every day I woke up, I stressed that it would be the day I caught COVID and would certainly die, as a disabled and more vulnerable person. I minimised my time outside/exposed unless I was training etc., and I'm still pretty much going to have to shelter forever because the plague isn't gonna go away, but at the time I was told I'd die so I figured I might as well do something good while I could.

I still chose to work in healthcare services during the early, terrifying days of a fucking pandemic.

And I was certainly not the only disabled healthcare worker during that time!

So please don't think this is just about me lmao, I'm not that full of myself LOL-- What I'm describing here was a fairly common experience for most if not all disabled healthcare staff.

My point is just that a lot of healthcare workers can be so self-sacrificial that on top of everything else, even when caring for others might actively kill us outright and we are clearly aware and informed of this, we all still showed up for work.

I don't know what that says about me, but since my dad was a MEDEVAC guy, I'm pretty sure it might be genetic in my case, lmao

But anyway, this is why they have to make both formal rules and informal systems for trying to prevent us from literally dying while trying to help people.

Because otherwise, a lot of us would.

[wickedcooldog]

@haterempiresoldier

(Previous) "..Well, it's a good thing I'm not exactly target material either, then." He boldly stated before adding: "..To my knowledge, at least." Even if he was right, though, he still needed to make sure neither him nor Larry became future targets. And that meant trying to maintain their status as just acquaintances to Teddy for the time being if being close to him meant the likelihood that the two would be targeted would increase. It didn't matter how long it took until all remained well. Nor did it matter if it meant the two wouldn't be able to consider Teddy a proper friend. They had to make sure they weren't next on the chopping block by the hands of those piece-of-shit cultists. Before Norman could think more about what he and his partner were going to do moving forward, though, Cathy went on about wanting to murder Freddy's alleged attacker. "I would love to see that happen eventually." He smirked in support of her. "Serves them right for attacking one of my best friends.." As soon as he said that, he had finished writing his text message to Larry. He pressed the send button on his text messaging app and held onto his phone in case the already anxious janitor responded. "..Speaking of," He now turned to Cathy. "How's Freddy doing now? Is he going to be okay?"

Cathy could tell what Norman was thinking. She couldn’t blame him. Really, how many people would knowing hang around a guy with a target on his back? She’d be tempted to do the same if her husband wasn’t linked to him by birth. And nobody would make her let go of her husband.

...Well, it was easy to think she would. Yet this whole Glornist ordeal made her realize that she cared more about her brother-in-law than she liked to admit. That and he wasn’t nearly as asocial as he seemed.

Cathy took a deep breath and mentally pushed that matter aside. She didn’t want to be mad at her friend for something he may or may not be thinking. Not that she had the energy to spare.

Besides, hearing Norman call Freddy one of her best friends warmed her heart.

“I’ll make Teddy film it. It’s the least he can do.”

Then Norman turned to Cathy and she let out a loud exhale at his question. “Probably. But he’ll be stuck there until, like, for at least a few weeks...”

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

If I swapped Knocout's and Soundwave's jobs... would it be more chaotic, disastrous... or better?

Soundwave with his cassettes as a little medic team and Knockout as the second in command that listens to all the gossip in the Nemesis 😅😋