stunned
Doc's General Guide
for siblings, cousins, comrades, and citizens:
You know what? Just for that: I'm not going to edit out any ascerbic commentary this time!
Causes
Dipwittery, probably.
Typical scenario:
Someone forgot to check their corners. Probably walked right into a stun field, or blast, or something.
Or maybe, just maybe, the patient got so focused on doing one particular activity that they pushed themselves two parsecs beyond their actual personal capacity.
And by "just maybe" up there, what I mean is in fact,
Gee golly whiz, is it Natunda again already?
A person who has been stunned -- and I might even include some modes of purely emotional "stun" here, because that does happen in the nervous system as much as the other sorts -- has experienced some sort of moderate disruption to a critical portion of their nervous system. In some cases, this disruption may confine itself to an extremity; or it may affect the whole patient, but only for a handful of seconds. In other cases, the disruption may affect all voluntary biological processes, possibly even impinging momentarily on involuntary processes -- in which case, see Doc's General Guide on "Incapacitation" for siblings, cousins, comrades, and citizens to decide best treatment.
Note that the proximate cause may range widely:
- environmental factors, such as
- abrupt temperature variation of immediate surroundings or atmospheric pressure spikes/drops
- sensory processing extremes, often sudden extremely bright light flashes or sound waves
- physical blunt force trauma to the core of the body (which may also come from intense sonic bursts) (or from sudden deceleration trauma) (or from being a Drop Marine as a basic consequence of that life choice)
- neurochemical influence, ranging from blood sugar drops in a human circulatory system to minute ingestion of magnesium chloride in a Mon Calamari patient
- various types of "mystic mob" woo. Dr. Tam and I have a whole separate dissertation on this topic, let me tell you! The peer reviewed edition is behind a paywall. If you want to read the unfiltered draft, drop either one of us a note.
- extreme aerobic or anaerobic exertion without proper pre-exercise warm up of the skeletomuscular system
- the specific extended physical trauma to a patient that comes in the instant of being wounded
- good ol' energy-based attacks:
- electric discharge,
- blaster fire,
- throwing oneself face-first into a tractor beam and expecting heavy armor to shrug it off
(hey there's the Drop Marine pathology again!), - stun grenades,
- ion beams
- mental traumas ranging from
- unexpected plot twists on Jenny Sparks Rewrites History to
- "Your time has come to defend your doctoral dissertation!"
(Frellramit, Rukus, take a damned BREATH so you don't fall over!)
to
- halfway through the biannual family reunion in Barkamstid on Sybay, discover that two of the cousins have been keeping secret their recent wedding to a Tapani citizen and are only now busted because Paperboy is processing their official name change forms to match payroll records to their just-as-newly-listed CLAN NAME to
- certain specific meters on the sensor suite observing two of my high-priority patients have suddenly both gone the same sort of wonky
- and the expert opinion I get on these patients amounts to
Hey, you two, if you're gonna have in-depth conversations about your mutual hobbies, you need to tell your medic that this is how you're passing the time!
- and the expert opinion I get on these patients amounts to
Symptoms
The symptoms of stun are going to vary not only from species to species, from patient to patient; in fact it will sometimes vary from case to case. I can give some general guidelines, but this is where familiarity with the patient in question is critical to a rapid yet accurate determination.
Is the individual behaving abnormally compared to their known character,
with specific inclusion of slow response time to some stimuli?
Pragmatically speaking, we cannot limit our medical support to close acquaintances.
Ideal analysis
Whatever situation puts a stunned patient in front of us, the parameters are going to limit what symptoms we have the time or the access to identify. Try for these first.
- Check circulatory system pressure. In most species, the bioelectrical disruption associated with stun might initially cause all systems to clench for an instant. By the time medical examination can occur, however, the measurable pressure of the circulatory system has likely dropped to a notably low level.
- Observe breathing pattern. Stunned patients may be taking faster, shallower, less efficient breaths. Stunned patients with advanced training in operating through shocks to the biological processes may be forcing themselves to take precisely even, full breaths.
- Observe active sensory activity. Do Cathar ears and whiskers react to movement outside the patient's peripheral vision? Does a Jedi Knight notice Brutto getting crabby when I won't sign a quartermaster authorization for eight more stimpacks? For most of my likely patients, Clone Trooper or Human or Twi'lek or whatever, I like to drop a preheated towel over one shoulder if I can, and see how they react.
Out in the field I am more likely to skip this parameter for the time being. - Observe minor motions. Is the patient either unusually motionless, or unusually fidgety? Are tremors present in extremities? Do lekku of Twi'lek or Togruta display extreme asymmetry?
- In the middle of a dangerous situation where triage is necessary: Use the Voice of Command (with associated power words) to order the suspected patient to "get behind adequate cover right now frellrammit!". If the response is missing entirely -- or, even more indicative, is a non-sequitur -- jump to the temporary diagnosis of "stun" and treat as necessary.
Combat analysis
Treatment
Treatment for stun is going to predicate heavily upon the cause.
Start by treating any immediate symptoms that may seem dangerous:
- Get the patient out of urgent threat in order to prevent more severe injury. (Move away from recurring sonic disruption, or pop up an energy shield to create temporary shelter against falling debris, or shoo away the ysalamir by chucking a handful of snap peas into an empty boot, or turn a rebreather up to its third-highest pressure setting and stuff its business end into the patient's airhole.)
- If you detect low circulatory pressure and/or observe tremor in extremities, manhandle patient into a resting position before they fall over. Check immediately for more significant injuries, external or internal. Examine dilation of eyes or gill slits. Ask questions that will serve for a distraction and a memory test as well as an overall functionality test. Answers may be useful or nonsense at first; the point is to get the patient communicating, which mostly requires a coordination of biological processes.
- Frellrammit, I'm a medic! Not a History-Hallucinating Space Wizard! Turn on your helmetcam so that the trained medical professional who eventually takes over this case can make necessary observations based on Actual Happenings rather than what you and the patient vaguely remember afterward. Your memory will not be precisely accurate once the adrenaline wears off. Neither will the patient's.
If we don't need this data for further treatment, we can delete it later.
Also note that your buy'ce records data which your Mark One Sensory Organs do not process. You may depolarize your visor if there's no risk of flashbangs or other sudden lighting hazards, and you need the patient to be able to see your face. Your bucket will continue to record data unless you do something spectacularly stupid. - Attempt to get some fluids and electrolytes into the patient. Nag as necessary.
- Ask the patient what just happened. Do not be alarmed if short-term memory fog is present. Many species reduce ability to record clear memories during traumatic experiences; also, memory gaps easily occur when the neurological system has experienced disruptions.
- If the patient was stunned and is not our Chaplain, add a second serving of fluid and electrolytes. Offer the mildest available painkiller appropriate for their species. Consider offering a carbohydrate-dense ration, but do not insist on it -- some individuals experience digestive disruptions for up to a standard hour after weapon stun.
- Should the patient in question happen to be
then upon diagnosing stun, immediately and without middle steps, put him on a gurney! Strip away chest coverings quickly, without consideration for recovery, and attach a medpac!
DO NOT entertain thoughts of treating this patient with a mere stimpac, although that may be one stage of the treatment determined by the medpac's integrated computer.
If you have had an opportunity to diagnose any one of these three individuals as experiencing medical "stun", in fact something much more significant is happening to him. Something life-threatening.
Revise his listed condition to mortally wounded. Rush him to the nearest settlement medcenter or shipboard medbay. Alert their emergency intake service that a "Class Thirteen Thirty-Seven case is inbound". I guarantee you that someone in that emergency clinic has seen the show and will break out the bacta.
- Should the patient in question happen to be mystic mob (including but not limited to Vanya or Davish),
demand an explanation for why they allowed themselves to encounter a stun condition in the first place. Did they yet again forget to take a full sleep shift? Did they neglect to duck? Is Senator Skywalker going to require an in-person report at her desk by midday tomorrow?
Also require that this patient describe the time and content of their most recent caloric intake. Compare to chemicals present in digestive and circulatory system according to a bio scan. Do not bother to verbalize any disparities you discover, just take them into account as measurements for memory gap or other biological complications.
The more cheerful and fact-compliant their explanation is, the more likely they are going to recover after consuming some electrolytes. However, they require a carbohydrate-dense and possibly protein-dense ration and they may need up to fifteen minutes of quiet time.
- Should the patient in question happen to be a Head of State such as
The Mand’aloror, Force forbid,
then you are in combat!
Whether it is obvious in your surroundings or not!
- Close ranks.
- Do not transfer responsibility for this patient to anyone but me, their personal doctor, or Jedi Master Yoda.
- Set blasters to "disintegrate".
If no immediate danger presents from the circumstance, move on to more complicated or time-consuming treatments.
Further instruction for special cases:
Prognosis
One of life's most common trinaries: Either
- the patient will recover in time; or
- the patient will get worse (even with proper care) until the true base cause is exposed, identified, and treated; or
- the patient will continue to deteriorate until deceased.
Do what you can. Move on to the next concern. Make notes when you get a chance. Learn from it -- hope the patient also learned something in the process -- but don't dwell on it.
Sequela
Most patients experience stun rarely in their lives. That is part of why it has such a measurable effect on the biology in the first place! The individual is not accustomed to this kind of biological processes disruption. Their body does not have ready a method for compensation.
Most patients.
The other cases tend to fall into a handful of categories. You will encounter the obstinate --
Is that all you got, cupcake?!
-- adrenaline addicts --
You know what would make this assignment hilarious, vode?
-- the desperately determined--
Would it help if I got out and pushed?!
-- and career warriors.
Sometimes one patient will overlap more than one category.
Even if the patient does not seem to believe it, the simple truth is that multiple biosystem disruptions in a short time frame will have a cumulative effect on the whole. A patient known to encounter stun situations often is likely being examined by you, the medical aid on the spot, because they have suffered multiple forms of disruption within a very short window. This can easily lead to more severe, debilitating, or slow-recovering injury than the patient anticipates. Treat the stun as above -- but observe further at intervals for the possibility of a wounded condition.
Prevention
I don't know.Maybejust maybetryvery hardto keep your situational awareness upget some rest, engage in some basic nutritionand, I 'unnolearn how to dodge?!
Meta: the Stun game mechanics
Stunned characters suffer a penalty of -1d to skill and attribute rolls for the rest of the round and for the next round. A stun no longer penalizes a character after the second round, but it is still "affecting" him for half an hour unless the character rests for one minute.
If a character is being "affected" from a number of stuns equal to the number before the "D" for the character's Strength, the character is knocked unconscious for 2D minutes. A character making an Easy first aid total can revive an unconscious character.
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