It helps to have Carl's Sim's Guides open on his "Get to Work: Doctor" Guide. There's an old one from 2015 and a more recent one. He's got tips and all the illness symptoms, I always have it handy because I can never remember what illness has stripes and which has spots!
@LadyAofPineapple Being Focused is a great tip. Coincidentally I've just been been testing this week for another question and found it's really effective to have the citrus baths plus pitch black tea one after the other while burning Sharpening Saffron incense before work if you have Spa Day. Stacking the Focusing actions seem to give them lasting focus and if there are other Focusing things around to boost that during the Work Day, like the music it has a cumulative effect on the Sim.
I recommend Moodlet Solvers too if you've got enough reward points or ordering fruit and keeping it in the inventory for instant snacking. My Garden Centre has the Tree of Emotions from Jungle Adventure and those fruits are handy for Active work days. You can buy them at the Crumplebottom's Cottage Living stalls too.
And remember the Pause button is your friend!
But, what I'd really like is a "Tell Lazy Colleague to Shift It" interaction. Like @LadyAofPineapple many of the unplayed staff are my Sims too and yet they forget everything I worked so hard to teach them and instead choose to be as useful as a chocolate teapot. On console we can't use mods or gameplay cheats so instead...I choose yelling at the screen!
I am currently playing a doctor and experiencing some pretty annoying issues. There are plenty of staff, front desk is manned, there is a nurse (no orderly, but ok nurse will do). The problem for me is not that they don't DO anything, but that the nurse is constantly blocking me from interacting with patients.
He/she is always standing there talking to patients, doing a bit of diagnosing, giving them food. Which is all well and good, but at the same time, no beds are made. The queue in front of the desk is getting long, because no patient is being admitted and put on a bed. They get fed up and leave. And to be honest, I feel like leaving too.
My doctor is a vampire,and I've used her many powers to get that nurse the *bleep* away from patients, I've called them over to another room, I've reset them....you name it. I just want my sim to do her job un-interrupted! She is at level 9. I really would like to at least get that last level before throwing in the towel and quitting the career.
And yes, I use the Better hospital staff by Simvasion, but if this is the result, I'd rather just remove it. I'd rather there were no other staff at all, to be honest. I'm doing all the work anyway.
@simsplayer818"Useful as a chocolate teapot" I definitely need to add that to my repertoire, lol.❤️
Everyone else: I've been working on a cheat sheet of sorts, and I'll share it here if I can!
Also to note, sometimes you have to move on to another patient after testing your first sim and not getting a "guaranteed" and watch the first one in the background for a tell-tale "animation" sign, or sudden rash, because then you will know which option to pick. I went from a 50--75% success rate to about 85-100%. (Usually closer to 95-98% if I had to guess.)
For children, they will never have a condition that needs surgery, so if you have little Timmy coming in with Tiger stripes, you know even before the giggling starts that he has Gas & Giggles. You will still likely need to do a few basic exams on him in the bed before the option to diagnose comes up, but trust me, this is way faster and honestly, doesn't take away from the playability of the career imho, because it's still a time based, skill event and like someone else mentioned, you have to take care of beds and repairs (if you edit the lot to add "Kindly Gnomes" lot trait I think that helps. Or if you just happen to get an orderly with handiness skill, SOMETIMES they will help you out, lol).
Anyway, I hope this helps because I'm actually having a lot more fun with it now!
PLEASE if you notice anything different in your gameplay, please let me know and I will update this! I probably will also do a sample of sims and put percentages after these as well in an update, because I'm a bit of a nerd, hahaha.
~~~I ADDED A DOWNLOADABLE VERSION BECAUSE THE FIRST ONE IS BLURRY FOR NO REASON~~~ edited to replace it and it seemed to help? idk
@simsplayer818 wrote:It helps to have Carl's Sim's Guides open on his "Get to Work: Doctor" Guide. There's an old one from 2015 and a more recent one. He's got tips and all the illness symptoms, I always have it handy because I can never remember what illness has stripes and which has spots!
I tried looking up guides, and got a general idea, but they weren't very "readable" to my brain, so I did a chart (see post above). Hope it helps at least one other person!
@LadyAofPineapple Being Focused is a great tip. Coincidentally I've just been been testing this week for another question and found it's really effective to have the citrus baths plus pitch black tea one after the other while burning Sharpening Saffron incense before work if you have Spa Day. Stacking the Focusing actions seem to give them lasting focus and if there are other Focusing things around to boost that during the Work Day, like the music it has a cumulative effect on the Sim. These are cool ideas to try!
I recommend Moodlet Solvers too if you've got enough reward points - Very Handy indeed! Playing chess before work, or gardening, or repairing home objects just before your shift also helps. As does editing the hospital lot to include the little glass squares of elements or whatever (i forget what they are called) but they have "enable focused" as well. Not to mention the rocket ship model decor or the "plans" which also have the ability to enable a focused vibe. Those little cubes though are super handy to keep near the children while they are doing homework, lol.
But, what I'd really like is a "Tell Lazy Colleague to Shift It" interaction. Like @LadyAofPineapple many of the unplayed staff are my Sims too and yet they forget everything I worked so hard to teach them and instead choose to be as useful as a chocolate teapot. On console we can't use mods or gameplay cheats so instead...I choose yelling at the screen! OMGOSH YES WHY ARE MY AMBITIOUS SIMS SO LAZY hahaha
@LadyAofPineappleWow, your guide is a really great idea and looks like a lot of work went into it. It's definitely loads easier to follow and having it all on one page is more user friendly.
I've been thinking more and more lately that I might start using some cheats and give up on collecting my console achievements so next time I play this career it might be a good time to start. I keep deciding to do it and then changing my mind lol.
The gnomes are a great tip, I already use them on my retail and community lots to fix anything that breaks. (Even though if there is one thing I cannot stand... it's a floppy hat covered, fishing rod holding, wellie wearing monstrosity called a gnome. Grrr I detest the little horrors!)
The new Practice Makes Perfect Trait is really useful for Focused careers too. I know some players are finding the associated constant focus a bit too full on, but I find it definitely has it's benefits. The Speed Cleaner reward trait is useful too, even though doctors and nurses shouldn't be cleaning up the trash 🤦.
I just added a cute Sim in the medical career as a background character for Lovestruck dating. I used the Connections reward trait to promote him at the start so I didn't have to go to work with him to get him promoted, which is a shame. But I might take another look at the career and see if it's any better, especially if I do finally use cheats.
I'd actually really like to be able to extend the work day. It would also be in keeping with real life medical staff that work longer hours. The day is just too short to get anything done, well to get everything done really lol because it's a lot.
@simsplayer818I'm so glad you like the chart! I hope it helps you. I did try to make it inclusive and easy to read, but if anyone needs changes, I will try to make some adjustments.
Also, I edited my post above for clarity, because I meant the lot trait for the gnomes, not the creepy dolls themselves....but now I'm wondering, do you need the gnomes added to the lot for the trait to work? Cuz I've been doing it wrong all this time if yes, hahaha
PS Can you not extend the workday using the round timer button? On PC, if you click on it anytime before the timer ends, it will extend the work day once, for about 2 hours (iirc). If you wait until it runs out, it just ends the day and sends you home, with no overtime. I just assumed it would work similarly on console, since it isn't a cheat.
