The original Star Trek aired from 1966 to 1969, and while its future looks a little dated today, its health care was ahead of its time. "Bones" McCoy was quick to tell Capt. James T. Kirk that he was "just a country doctor," but he still used high-speed imaging to diagnose the intergalactic maladies that landed those poor crewmen in sick bay at a time when, here on earth, X-rays were only used to tell you that a bone was broken. Now we diagnose our patients with ultrasound, CAT scans, PET scans and MRIs. They may not be handheld devices like Dr. McCoy's tricorder, but I read online that was just a painted salt shaker.

In space, no one can hear you scream. Probably because they don't have any needles there. Star Trek's Nurse Chapel used to deliver intramuscular injections using what appeared to be an air gun instead of a syringe. At the time that may have seemed farfetched, but now millions are vaccinated with a device that uses a CO2 propellant to force a fine mist of medication beneath the skin. If this was our method for administering all injectable drugs, patient satisfaction would rise pretty quickly, don't you think? Especially among those tattooed patients who still flinch at the sight of a needle.

On the subject of Nurse Chapel: Can you imagine wearing her skimpy uniform into surgery? Maybe they keep their ORs warmer in the future. That's something to look forward to. Come to think of it, a transporter would be worth the wait, too. Think of all the steps we could save between the OR and the storage room during those "we don't have that thing we need" cases.

Tell me what circulator wouldn't benefit from a warp drive propulsion system during nights on call when they're driving to the hospital for a stat C-section? They're faster than the speed of light. Or, once you're in the surgical suite, imagine having access to a handy-dandy phaser during one of Planet MD's flare-ups. Let's see: Set phaser for stun, temper tantrum over. If I can stand to touch this person with an ungloved hand, there's always the Vulcan nerve pinch. But if those are too risky, could I just have the ability to perform Mr. Spock's mind meld? I would love to get those harboring Klingon behavior to see things my way.

Star Trek isn't the only point of departure for sci-fi medical studies, though. Fantastic Voyage also came out in 1966. When you think you're having a rough day on the job or dealing with a difficult patient, thank your lucky stars you're not being shrunk down to microscopic size and injected inside the patient to hunt down a blood clot.

Or how about The Incredible Hulk? Do we or do we not know people who, when under extreme stress, experience transformations and destroy everything in their path, only to claim amnesia of any aberration later? And I've often felt that the Invasion of the Body Snatchers has been going on for years. I know lots of pod people. As a travel nurse for the past 4 years, I've had dozens of co-workers who were strangely similar to co-workers I'd had on previous assignments. Come to think of it, I'm not always sure I actually feel like myself. All I know for certain is I'm pumped for what 2010 may bring in the OR, and I'm willing to go where no OR nurse has gone before.