Medical Tricorder

The medical tricorder is a specialized version of the standard Star Fleet tricorder. It is equipped with sensors and analysis software tailored for medical diagnostic purposes. They are usually the first tool a Star Fleet doctor utilizes when assessing a patient's condition. Medical tricorders can function aboard ship in sickbay as well as on away missions.

Medical tricorders used throughout the years have been essentially similar in design to that of the standard tricorder, with the same available features and interface. The major difference is the addition of a deployable hand scanner. While some standard tricorders also have removable scanners, the medical tricorder's is much more advanced and can provide detailed scans of an entire individual, or give focus to a single area.

They can also be used to perform quick multivariate analyses, such as the comparison of several different blood samples.

It is not necessary to use the scanner for the tricorder to function. The scanner can be separated from the tricorder, either to feed data to another source or not be attached to the tricorder at all.

While the suite of sensors installed on medical tricorders is advanced, it is generally no substitute for the advanced and specialized equipment in a sickbay facility, such as a biobed. Although very accurate on the living, it is taught in the first year of Star Fleet Medical School that medical tricorders are not as accurate on the dead.

This information taken from http://memory-alpha.org/