40d:Health care

Dwarves with the health care labor enabled (default) will rescue wounded fellow dwarves from the battlefield (any location on the map really), and place them in a bed. The trigger seems to be "can't move himself" as both unconscious dwarves and those with wounded legs are rescued. It can take quite some time till a dwarf gets assigned to the job, possibly implying that the task is still a bit buggy (one would expect it to be high priority). It is suspected that activating/deactivating the injured dwarf may re-query the task.

It is unknown whether nearby enemies suppress the rescue task.

Also, injured dwarves displaying the rest status won't eat or drink themselves. Instead they will be given food and water by a dwarf with health care enabled. For giving water, a bucket stored on a furniture stockpile, and obviously a water source, is required. If the dwarf is not supplied by his comrades, he will starve and die.

While most dwarves will get happy thoughts from helping the injured, some dwarves "dislike helping others" and even get unhappy thoughts from helping (but will still do so).

Sometimes an injured dwarf will cancel his resting and try to stand; since he is on the same tile as a bed, nobody will save them; but since he isn't resting and can't do anything on his own, he will simply starve to death because nobody will help him. This can be remedied by removing the bed from underneath them, and another dwarf will come save them. (The system will be overhauled in the next patch.)

Whilst hospital 'rooms' can not currently be defined, Toady has stated that beds which are not in any defined room are considered hospital beds. Dwarves will recover faster when sleeping on them.

As injured dwarves require watering and feeding, hospital beds are best placed near a water source; preferably a well.