v0.31:Health care

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v50.12 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31.25 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Hospitals are a Template:L designated via the Template:L. Hospitals use any beds, tables, traction benches, and boxes/bags that are within these zones. You may also alter how much Template:L, Template:L, Template:Ls, Template:Les, Template:L for casts, Template:Ls, and Template:L hospitals use.

Doctors are dwarves assigned to any of the five medical labors; dressing wounds, diagnosis, surgery, setting bones, and suturing. All doctors in the fortress operate under the instruction of the Chief Medical Dwarf, one of the new appointed Template:Ls, and presumably only perform medicine on a dwarf after treatment has been prescribed by a diagnostician.

All beds within a hospital zone are automatically Hospital beds, where injured dwarves will go to recuperate. Tired healthy dwarves will occasionally camp there too if the hospital is close, even if they have their own bed.

Medical Skills

There are five doctor skills - how critical they are is unclear at the moment, but from Toady's pre-release comments we can assume they are moderately important to the healing process.

(And if you choose "Template:L", one of the 7 dwarves has Adequate (+2) Template:L in all 5 of these skills - which says something. "What?" is not perfectly clear either, but something.)

Skill (& Profession)

• Template:L (Diagnostician) This skill is used at the start of the treatment of every wounded; used a lot and also needed by your chief medical

• Template:L (Wound Dresser) This is also used pretty often; any wound seems to need it

• Template:L (Suturer) Fairly common; most open wounds (from cutting) seem to need it?
• Template:L (Surgeon) Somewhat less common; amongst others, wounds to organs seem to require it
• Template:L (Bone Doctor) This is obviously needed for broken bones, but perhaps not for all?

Non-doctor labors

"Non"-doctors have 2 Template:Ls that contribute to healthcare:

• Feed Patients/Prisoners
• Recover Wounded

Note that these are not Template:Ls - they do not cause experience gain, but merely are activities that can be turned on/off for each dwarf. By default, all dwarfs start with these labors designated.

Setting up a Hospital

First, hit the 'i' key, and set up a hospital zone for the area you plan on having your hospital in. Next place enough beds in that zone to ensure you can keep all wounded dwarves in the hospital plus a few spare that will be occupied by lazy couchsurfers. After this is done, build containers (b-h); bags and/or chests. These are essential since it is where hospital supplies are stashed. You will need several containers (3+) to store all items listed on the i-H menu like thread, cloth and buckets. Note that it's fine to store, say, a wooden crutch in a silk bag. From that menu you are also able to change the maximum amount of supplies in your hospital as well as seeing how many are currently stored in the hospital's chests. This may be a bit buggy as more cloth and thread are often stored than you order. You may want to build tables and a Traction Bench(see below), as both are listed on the i-Hospital screen if present, presumably intended to be used for surgeries and bone setting^[Verify]. Turn on the various healthcare labors on some doctor dwarves, and you should be pretty much set.

Healthcare will also require a source of water to clean wounds. While they are capable of taking a bucket and gathering it from the nearest source, note that swamp water from a murky pool will vastly increase your chance of infection (though Template:L can offset this to a degree.) It is unknown at the moment whether dwarves will intelligently choose a clean water source when both clean and dirty water are available.

Dwaves will also use soap to clean wounds. In all 0.31 versions so far^v0.31.03, soap production is only possible by going through the manager screen.

Dwarves will prefer to store and use the most expensive thread and cloth. Yes, that includes adamantine strands.

Traction bench / Broken bones

Casts: Not to be confused with castes

A traction bench is used by a Template:L in a Template:L to immobilize a dwarf that has sustained complex or overlapping fractures.

It is constructed in the Template:L, and requires a Template:L, a Template:L, and a Template:L to construct.

Crutches are represented with the symbol

┬

.

A dwarf that needs to use a crutch/crutches will gain experience in the Crutch Walking skill, which Toady has stated will reduce the speed penalty for having to use crutches. Presumably, at legendary, they will move just as fast as without crutches. Testing remains to be seen whether using crutches causes any other penalties that this skill might reduce.

Plaster powder is produced at a Template:L or Template:L from Template:L, Template:L, Template:L, or Template:L and an empty Template:L by a dwarf with the furnace operator skill enabled. They can also be bought at embark for 3P per unit - each unit comes with a free Template:L.

See Also:

• Template:L
• Template:L

Bugs

^v0.31.03

• When a patient is diagnosed and treated, some wounds may heal before treatment occurs. If this happens, the surgery/suturing/etc jobs will never complete, and the patient will never be deemed healed. You now have a permanent invalid. Listed as fixed in version ^{v0.31.04 Bug:168}.
  • People have reported that this can be fixed by re-injuring the dwarf, e.g. by causing a Template:L. This will cause a new diagnosis to be made and may free the invalid.
  • If you remove the bed the dwarf is resting in, he will notice that he is ok and leave the hospital.
• People have reported mixed results with surgery. Sometimes it never completes, sometimes it just takes really long and several attempts.
• Traction bench is broken.
• Bone setting is broken.
• People have reported mixed results with bandaging wounds. Listed as fixed in ^{v0.31.04 Bug:474}.
• Gypsum powder is not stored at the hospital.
• Dwarves with healthcare jobs will take supplies from normal stockpiles instead of the hospital to do their work.
• The hospital often stores more materials than are assigned.
• The quality and value of a finished traction bench doesn't account for all of the inputs used to make it.
• Dwarves without a depot will steal items from the caravan and store them in hospital.^[Verify]

Some of the bugs should be fixed in 31.04. Check the bug tracker for details!