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How plausible is a medical tricorder? in c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
[–] 17 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

Am actual doctor. I think we're both closer to and further away from a Tricorder than you think.

Point of care ultrasound has been booming for the last 1-2 decades. There are now cell-phone sized wireless probes you can easily put in your pocket and do multiple diagnostic scans on the heart, lung, belly, etc with the caveat that you have to be adept at both obtaining and interpreting ultrasound images which certainly takes a lot of process.

There are devices about as big as 2-3 cell phones (think label maker or portable speaker sized) which can reliably run a whole panel of common blood tests including electrolytes, a blood gas, and hemoglobin on a 1-2mL blood sample in <5min. We also have dedicated point of care A1C devices, PT/INR devices, and probably some more I don't know about.

I don't think we'll ever have handheld xray/CT solely due to the significant radiation risk the operator would experience, even if the technology could be miniaturized.

I don't think handheld MRI will ever happen either. The power requirement alone for the magnet strength needed is immense, not to mention the dangers of the magnetic field in some random unsecured area and the length of normal scans makes a handheld device impractical.

I don't think we'll ever have "bloodless" comprehensive blood testing. There's only so much you can do with spectroscopy, and some things like electrolytes are in dramatically different concentrations between the cells and the blood so scanning through skin would likely dramatically alter readings.

TLDR we are actively miniaturizing some medical technologies. There are physics limitations in "handheld-izing " most non-ultrasound diagnostic imaging, and while we've certainly made great progress in point of care labs, I don't think we're going to get a device that can measure those things without a blood sample.

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    Help with a player that likes the idea of being a caster, but not the mechanics (lemmy.world)
     

    cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11298431

    I've been a DM for about 3 years, and have predominantly run one-shots and short campaigns in DnD5e and PF2e. I have a player who persistently builds primary caster based characters, but then won't do anything in combat but "I stab it with my dagger." They rarely use cantrips, and basically won't cast a leveled spell unless I suggest it immediately before their turn. They seem to enjoy playing despite the fact that they're far too squishy to be a front-line melee character and don't utilize most of their class features. I've talked with them explicitly about how their play style seems to be discordant with the kind of play they want to do, and that maybe next time they should try a paladin/champion or a fighter/rougue subclass with some minor casting. They agreed at the time that sounded like a good idea, but low and behold showed up to the next one-shot with a primary caster, and over 3 hours of play and 3 combats never cast a single spell, including a cantrip.

    I enjoy playing with this persons as a whole. They are engaged in the fiction, and are particularly engaged during exploration activities. They tell me they also find combat quite fun, and they are requesting I run a mega dungeon in the near future.

    As a general rule, I like to let people play how they have the most fun, but issues have arisen with this play style. Namely, all of my TPKs have been associated with this player charging a squishy character directly up to a significantly stronger villain and continuing to stab it with a dagger until they went down, significantly hindering the party in the action economy and resulting in a TPK. I feel I have to intentionally weaken all of my encounters to keep the party feasible in the face of such mechanically poor combat choices.

    What else can I do to help drive this individual towards melee builds, and/or help encourage them to change their play style to better suite the caster classes they choose?