Medica

Concept Name By Patrick Rothfuss, Innerworkings and Written by James Woodwright Edits by Flubb2

Architectural Style

The Medica has its headquarters in a building that resembles a cathedral. The architectural style of the building is English Gothic. The building's resemblance to a cathedral is not intended to have any religious connotations.

Purpose

The purpose of the Medica is to provide health care for these: cuts and bruises, sprains, burns, broken bones and even maternity. Their methods of providing medicine are herbal and often when not using potions, revolve around things that are applied to the body. For example if warmth is required on the upper chest, they will create a herbal or other mixture on the patient's bare chest that will create a warming sensation. Where as if the patient requires warmth everywhere a potion of warmth will be created in front of the patient using a Wooden Matrix as well as a pestle and mortar, distiller and drinking vessels normally made of copper or brass.
For internal treatments, these are treated through the use of potions or other oral adminstered treatments.

Paying For The Service

At the end of the service, the patient or the patients guild pay for the health care. When the University is set up it may be the person's trade department that pays for the healthcare. especially if the injury was inflicted when doing their trade. If the patient does not make it: the ingredients and food and drink they ate as well as bed time will be charged to the next of kin, guild for trade department.

Areas

The Medica has two floors, a ground floor and a first floor. The corridor leading from the nave to the cloister only exists on the ground floor.

Bottom Floor

The bottom floor is for non members, be them visitors or patients. Tourists are not allowed admittance unless requiring the services.

Cloister

Located on the left side as a person goes in, a cloister is a covered walkway, along the inside is a maple tree which is tapped for its sap for medicinal purposes around the courtyard plants are grown, often attended by the members of the Medica. Plants that are grown here are either plants that can take all weathers or ones that are not regularly needed or have substitutes if they are. Some of the plants will be near walls to provide shelter to the plants that require shelter.
Admittance to the cloister is only permitted by those who are members, those with Brass Bracelets or those visiting those who do.

Wards

The Medica doesn't have dedicated wards, rather it has one big sleeping area for patients, the nave of the cathedral. The wards are made of four columns; the two outer ones are for sleeping patients while the inner two have chairs in which a patient can recline. Each section (a pair of desks and chairs) is sectioned off by screens, but does have a gap for people to walk between the two. A patient can start in either of the two but can end up in the other, for example a patient who complains of a sore back and tiredness will start out in a reclining chair for his sore back treatment but might end up in a bed for the process to finish, as it may have drowsing effects.
Each of the bed and chair areas are furnished with a desk, tipping scale with weights and wooden matrix. The desk itself will have drawers for ingredients and a still for water, each place has a tray of these ingredients which have been dried. At each place the Medica member will always be on the left and visitor(s) on the right.

Kitchens

The Kitchen staff are not members of the Medica, but rather their own thing. With the guidance of the Medica they make meals for the Medica Members, Patients and themselves.

Greenhouse

The Green House Is located next to the Kitchens and grows medicinal ingredients that they need on a regular basis or would not thrive in the Cloister. This is one of the few areas and rooms on the upper floors where potted plants can be found in the room.

Ingredients Room

In contrast to the other rooms in the Medica, the ingredients room is distinct within the nave. It comprises a section that resembles a cage at the top and houses a wooden counter below. Accessed from the corridor, this space serves as a collection point for Medica members to obtain additional ingredients or, if on the upper floor, to deposit freshly dried plants, with each transaction meticulously recorded. The division from the rest of the nave is marked by two walls: a wooden counter at the base and what appears to be cage-like bars ascending from the counters up to the ceiling. However, this cage-like structure terminates before reaching the ceiling, having a top that resembles a cage. Within this cage, there is a gap through which wooden trays of ingredients are passed to Medica members for use in treating patients.

Fountain

The Fountain is used as a way to wash off remedies, the current of the fountain's water means that the remedy is removed with ease and the patient, if impatient, can make the process go faster by rubbing the area. The patient then washes their hands to be sure no residue is left. After this payment is discussed, if it hasn't been already.

Top Floor

The top floor is for members and those who are authorised to go upstairs.

Accommodation

These accommodations are for the members themselves and have a rolling schedule, meaning some members may be up doing a night shift while other members are in bed. Each member has their own bed so there is no risk of double sleepers.
There are 12 extra beds for the Healers and 20 for the Medics and 1 for the guild master of the Medica. All members of the medic sleep in the same rooms regardless of rank. Once the University was set up memebers who have a University Medallion and are new to the Medica and don't have a bed allocated can use their accommodation at the University.

Meeting Rooms

The meeting room which is above the kitchen is separated into two. The first is for meeting members to relax and to talk as well as do research or read. The other half only accessible by the first is a formal meeting room.

Preparation Room

Where the Kitchens are for food preparation, this room is for ingredient preparation. Here plants are dried on racks which are hung from the columns in the room. And other ingredients are prepared such as Crystallised Honey.
This room is above the kitchens and as like that room both have columns each have six coloumns. For the preperation from the colomns are lines with wooden resting paltforms these hold the racks that dry plants, these plants are hung in a way so that plants begining with A are nearer the top and those begining with Z are nearer the bottom. For convenences a system has been set up so that the rack are easier to get to. Also with this system plants that are from the cloister are on the left as you go in.
Plants are identifed by books in the room that identifiy what the plant will look like in both form before and after drying. The plants that are dried are the ones that are measured for wooden trays.

Members

The Medica has 21 members, 1 Guildmaster and 20 other members. Their ranks are indeterminate apart from the time they had spent as members at the Medica. When the University is set up, members from the University retain their University Rank, but this does not have an effect on the Medica until the established members of the Medica pass away.
This doesn't include healers who have on person common herbs and other ingredents as well as common potions on hand when able to treat patients who are unable to travel to Draurough.

Qualification

Before the University, the starting requisite for joining the medica is knowledge with plants and their preparation. After the University was established membership was based on the member of the University getting a University Medallion. Once a member gets a Medallion the Medica has the rights to test them further, this will me in areas they are needed, for example in tending to plants or working in the preparation room.

A Typical Day at the Medica

Admittance of Patients

A patient comes into a the Medica if it is not obvious, the Medica member will say their line, "Are you here for yourself or are you here to visit?" Upon the answer they are led over to a chair or a bed depending on their illness being treated. If the illness requires them to stay the night they are given a Brass Bracelet. If this is not required then, they are given their treatment, pay and leave. During their stay their record of their stay is made with the bed they are in.

Discharge of Patients

The discharge of the patient happens the same way as above but is the Brass Bracelet that is removed.

Admittance to Visitors

With the line of, "Are you here for yourself or are you here to visit?" the visitor would reply by visiting and the person's name, the person's bed will be found and the visitor will lead to the patient.

Members

A member who has no patients to attend to and has started their day in bed. Will start off by having a light breakfast. They will then either be told to tend to the cloister and harvest plants if required or may perform duties in the Preparation Room. Such as making Crystallised Honey or weighing ingredients for trays, these trays will go to the Ingredients room. After which they may go down and top up their daily information, for example lavender might have been used a lot on the day so more might need to be prepared to keep stocks up.
If the member has a charge then after their breakfast they bring the breakfast to the patient, allowing them to eat with company they ask how they are doing or if their symptoms are declining etc. If they have multiple charges they will make an effort to eat a meal with each of them. They might go back to their desk and take stock etc. If their charge is asleep they will sit with them reading their medicine book or do stock check and top up the distiller.

Type
Medical (Healthcare)
Appears In
The Artistocracy Chronicles Books 1 - 4
Suggested Filming Locations
Interior and Exterior - Lincoln Cathedral.
Cloister (External and Internal) - Salisbury Cathedral.

Capital

Draurough

Related Professions

• Brownsmith
• Healer
• Medic

Controlled Territories

• Medica: Annex

Manufactured Items

• Crystallised Honey

Related Items

• Brass Bracelet
• Crystallised Honey
• University Medallion
• Wooden Matrix

Related Ethnicities

• Crayan

Paying For Services and End of Life Care

The system for paying for yourself goes:

• Themselves
• The guild the person is a member of. (If the University is set up the trade department)
• Next of Kin
• The Chapel or much later the Temple, under The Tiger of Charity.

Those who are for end of life care will get the bill after the patient passes away, so in this case the top bullet is null void.

Chapel and/or Temple Payment

In Religious Payments, the Tiger of Charity, whose domain is charity, will pay for those who cannot pay for their medical bill. Donations made at the statue of the Tiger of Charity are put aside.