SFMED- Reference Books
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General Interest
The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to The Future By Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda and Debbie Mirek.
The ultimate resource guide. Whether you pick it up in softcover or on CD-ROM as the Omnipedia, get it if you can afford it. An invaluable tool for reference, to look up words and just about any bit of information at any level of familiarity. Defines everything from who was Captain Kirk to what jumja is. Beg, borrow, or steal this book. No kidding.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual By Rick Sternback and Michael Okuda.
You might think, after a brief look-through, that this book would be better suited for engineers. Au contraire! There is a section devoted to the Sickbay, with about four pages devoted to staffing and equipment. "Why should I buy a book with only four pages of info...and nothing for counseling?" Because the book gives you a feel for how complicated and wonderful a starship is. Even though the info is forty years out of date (remember, ASR takes place 40 years in the future), the book never fails to inspire me.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual By Herman Zimmerman, Rick Sternbach, and Doug Drexler.
As with the ST:TNG Tech Manual, there is a brief over view of Infirmary operations on the Station…of course, that Infirmary is Cardassian in design, but it represents the basic layout common among most Station based medical facilities. One of the interesting things regarding this book are the cutaways used provide an interesting view of Starfleet Medical technology. Once again, this is technology that is 40 years old...but new designs have their beginnings in the old. Once again, there are only 4 pages…with nothing regarding counseling, but since when did DS9 need a counselor.
Of Interest to Chief Medical Officers
Emergency Doctor By Lewis Ziegler and Lewis R. Goldfrank, MD.
All Starfleet Doctors have a primary specialty in emergency medicine, or have high supplemental training in dealing with medical situations that only arise under threat force conditions. This book gives you an idea of what kinds of cases an MD might face. This book is ten years out of date, so you might find it at a used bookstore or through Amazon.com.
Nurses: The Human Touch By Michael Brown, RN.
Doctors generally are at the top of the control chain: they have little patient contact (someone has to cure all those exotic diseases) but the most decision-making power. Yeoman and other general medical assistants have the most patient contact but little power. Nurses are somewhere in the middle. The stories they tell are stories not only of medical practice, but the triumphs and disappointments found in the patient care field. A good book.
How We Die By Sherwin B. Nuland.
Another wonderful book that balances the technical side of what the body does, and how it fails us in various ways, but also of the choices made by each dying patient. A good mix of philosophy from Dr. Nuland, and a wonderful approach.
Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody By Charles Panati.
The companion to his Origins book. Of course, this book deals with the ends of things, including human beings. There is a rather morbid discussion of what happens when we get older in Chapter 7, "Engineered Endings". Also lots of morbid stuff about executions and plagues, as well as the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the rich and famous. As Spock would say, "Fascinating".
The alt.tv.er Summaries and Reviews
All right, so you don't have to even like ER -- I don't dislike it, but hardly watch it. However, the medical summaries -- where the medical science of the show is critiqued -- is always fascinating. Worth a look.
Brady's Intermediate Emergency Care (NREMT-I), 2nd edition By Bryan E. Bledsoe, Richard A. Cherry, Robert S. Porter.
An excellent resource for those interested in first and intermediate emergency medical care. The manual goes in depth into the various steps of patient care in those "Golden 10 minutes". It also in depth into the various emergency medical procedures that are in use in this century…basic concepts that apply in the 25th. The medical terms and various procedures found on this website are featured in the Brady Book.
The Medicine of ER By Alan Duncan Ross and Harlan Gibbs, MD.
The isolated cases don't impress me much, and much of the information you can get on the web. However, their chapter about how MDs are trained is quite useful.
Of Interest to Counselors
Your Erroneous Zones By Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
By now you're asking, "why don't you give us a real book on counseling instead of this pop psychology stuff?" Because a lot of our writers don't have three months to read the complicated stuff and need quick and easy answers. Like it or not, Dyer gives quick and easy answers. Be glad I didn't put up "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.
People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil By M. Scott Peck, MD
Star Trek and the genre of science fiction give ample space for the study of human evil. Peck studies evil throught the book, illustrating his general philosophy with specific studies. If you're a fan of things military, you'll want to avoid Chapter 6, "Mylai: An Examination of Group Evil".
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Version IV
The newest version of this extremely thick book is out, and it would probably cost you $50 to purchase (Maybe you can pick up Version III or Version III-R somewhere). However, there is a wealth of information to be found here. You can bet money your psychiatrist, psychologist, counselor or social worker has a copy of the DSM-IV on his desk. The book attempts to regularize the diagnosis of nearly every mental disorder. For example, suppose you wanted to diagnose "Depression". A list would be provided at the end of the entry, and if the patient exhibited say, 7 of 11 of the symptoms, depression would be a valid diagnosis. Wonderful book, and I wish I owned a copy.
What You Can Change, and What You Can't By Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph. D.
A very interesting self-improvement book with a lot of statistics and very little philosophy. Can alcoholism be cured ? What about depression? Seligman's book might give the imaginative author a hint of what medicine will be like in the 25th century.
In Search of Excellence By Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
The Star Trek Technical Manual states, "the greatest advance seen on Star Trek is not warp drive or transporter technology, but in management". This book is a how-to management book with lessons learned from the most successful of companies. Good reading, as Counselors are also expected to instruct in personnel management.
Not much, certainly. But this list, like the others at SFMED, will be growing. We'll see you soon!
- Staci Golladay
RADM Morigan Athyn (Bronson) Fawkes, MD
Commander, Starfleet Medical
(List compiled by Edward Bell)
