Vitals monitor

A vitals monitor is a miscellaneous building that can be attached to a hospital bed to improve medical outcomes. It cannot be attached to any other type of bed.

Acquisition

Vitals monitors can be constructed once the Vitals monitor research project has been completed. They require 50 Steel, 3 Components, 6,000 ticks (1.67 mins) of work, and a Construction skill of 8.

Summary

Example compact placement of 8 hospital beds around a vitals monitor

When placed adjacent to a hospital bed and provided with power, a vitals monitor improves the bed's

Medical Tend Quality Offset by +7%
Surgery Success Chance Factor by +5%
Immunity Gain Speed Factor by +2%

All 3 stats are applied additively to the bed. For example, a normal quality hospital bed, which has a 110% surgery success factor, would now have 115% surgery success factor. This bed stat is then multiplied by other impacts to surgery, such as doctor skill and cleanliness. Notably, this includes Surgery Success offset being scaled by the quality of the attached bed. For example, a legendary quality hospital bed would have its surgery success factor increased by +7%, instead of +5% due to the ×1.3 legendary quality multiplier.

Each hospital bed can benefit from at most one vitals monitor; placing additional monitors in range has no effect. Note: Do not confuse a "hospital bed" with any sleeping location designated as a "medical" bed. A vitals monitor only works for hospital beds - patients in any other type of bed or sleeping spot will not benefit.

The device covers all tiles immediately surrounding it (8 tiles). This makes it possible to link one vitals monitor to up to 8 beds, using a layout similar to the one shown. Unlike the end table, the vitals monitor can connect to any part of a medical bed and can connect through diagonals.

Analysis

The vitals monitor is very cheap - less expensive than a single hospital bed - and improves many medical-related stats. So, for most colonies, the main cost of the vitals monitor is the research required. It requires a dedicated 2500 point research project, plus Sterile Tiles, Hospital Bed, and Microelectronics as prerequistes, so it tends to be reserved for the mid- to late-game.

The increase in tend quality is always a good thing, boosting recovery speed from physical injury and disease alike.

It also increases the surgery success chance. However, success is capped at 98%, and the cap is relatively easy to reach. Modestly skilled surgeons in a clean hospital don't need an extra boost. Regardless, the vitals monitor can provide insurance against sub-optimal conditions, like a dirty hospital or injured doctor.

The increase of immunity gain speed helps pawns fight off against most potentially deadly diseases, like infection and plague. The bonus from a vitals monitor can save the life of pawns with lowered immunity speed. Even when you can comfortably handle a disease, a vitals monitor will reduce the time spent resting in bed.