Healers are the doctors of the magical world. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, all Healers are trained at St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies, which is located in London. They are trained via apprenticeships and journeymanships under the observation of more senior Healers.
Healer candidates must have top exam scores. In order to enter the program, the applicant must sit five NEWTs and receive at least an E on each of them.
Healers begin as Apprentices, move on to become Journeymen, and then either become a Master Healer in their area of expertise or choose to take their education down another path.
NEWT Requirements:
Required: Healing Arts, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration. Either Herbology (For those interested in Poisons or Apothecary) or Defense Against the Dark Arts (For those interested in Trauma, Mediwizardry, or Mind Healing.)
Remedial courses may be taken during apprenticeship for those who wish to change their specialization if they took the wrong course.
Read on about Apprentices, Journeymen, Master healers, other positions, and the many available specialties.
Apprentices
Apprenticeship lasts for three full years before the BOREDs can be taken. The first year is spent almost entirely in classes, much like Medical School. These classes vary from anatomy, to genetics, to disease, to patient skills or ethics. Second and third years begin taking rotations, but always under the watchful eyes of Journeymen or Masters. Third year is when remedial Herbology or Defence is taken if you took the wrong NEWTs for your speciality of interest.
Every apprentice must take certain rotations: General, Magical Bugs, Trauma, Spell Damage, and Artifact Accidents. However, there are some rotations that can be selected based on the apprentice's interest, these are: Creature-Induced Injuries, Pediatrics/Obstetrics, Potions and Plant Poisoning, Divining, and Mind Healing. Each apprentice will have a different schedule, and there is no set formula. Everyone gets a generalist grounding, but there is leeway to follow your interests and decide what you want to study as a Journeyman after you take your BOREDs.
Apprentice Healer Trainees at St Mungo's Hospital wear white robes, with bands of Healer chartreuse on the left arm to indicate their years of training. For example, a first year Apprentice will have a single band to indicate they are in their first year of training. The crest of the crossed Bone and Wand of St Mungos is embroidered on the right shoulder.
Apprentices are always welcome to emit NPC Journeymen or Masters to supervise their work.
Journeymen
Journeymen have passed their BOREDs, and usually have chosen a speciality, though they may instead commit to being generalists. The culmination of the Journeymanship for all specialties except Nurse, Midwife, Mediwizard, and Apothecary is to sit the PLANKs. The aforementioned specialties have their own training (see "news adult healers other").
Journeymen both oversee apprentices who are on rotation in their area and have their own patients, though they too are supervised by Masters. All Journeymen will have a PC or NPC Master Healer that they report to, finding a PC Master in your speciality is an excellent way to foster RP, and any given Master can have up to three Journeymen report to them.
The minimum number of years spent as a Journeyman is two. The breakdown, by speciality, is as follows:
2 Years: Generalist, Pediatrics, Divining
3 Years: Trauma, Mind Healing, Obstetrics, Internists, Poison Specialists.
Journeymen wear robes of a deeper, darker green than the chartreuse of the Master. They have chartreuse bands on their sleeves to indicate their years of training. The crest of the crossed Bone and Wand of St Mungos is embroidered on the right shoulder.
Journeymen may emit NPC Masters to supervise their work.
Master
Master Healers are either fully trained within a speciality or as generalists. They are able to practice without supervision, and can do so in Mungos, a smaller institution, or in private practice. Many Masters choose to remain at Mungos to train Apprentices and Journeyman, while others choose to pursue research interests.
Master healers wear chartreuse robes. They also have a badge indicating rank, and specialization. The crest of the crossed Bone and Wand of St Mungos is embroidered on the right shoulder.
Other Occupations
Upon reaching the rank of Journeyman, a Healer may choose not to pursue their Mastery, and instead study to become Nurses, Mediwizards, Apothecaries, or Midwives. These areas generally have a shorter Journeyman period and sit special examinations immediately following their BOREDs to determine what training is necessary for them.
Nurse - A practitioner who has finished three years of Apprenticeship, one year of additional training, and shows competency in tending the most common ailments, knowing when to refer to a larger center. Their year of training is spent in specialized, hands-on training to fill in any gaps shown on the Nursing test.
Midwife - These practitioners have finished three years of Apprenticeship, taken the Nursing exam and then studied for an additional year under a full Midwife. They are competent in the care of pregnant witches, delivery of babies, and fertility charms. Particularly complicated births are usually referred up to a Healer, for example: Giant lineage.
Mediwizard - Mediwizards are practitioners who have completed the three years of Apprenticeship, taken the Nursing Exam, and then gone on to study field healing (the equivalent of Emergency Medical Technicians) for an additional year under the care of a fully trained Mediwizard. They are trained in stabilizing a patient who is suffering shock from magical and non-magical sources, resuscitating them, and transporting them to the nearest Trauma Healer. They are skilled in splinting, bandaging, and negotiating muggle-thick areas to avoid notice while saving their patient's life.
Apothecary - Having finished an Apprenticeship and shown no interest whatsoever in human interactions, or barring that, a strong affinity for Potions, Healers may take up the mortar and pestle. They spend two years training in Mungos, then take a test, and then may go out and open their own shop. An apothecary, unlike a Potions Specialist is permitted to speak with patients and diagnose them for simple conditions and dispense a range of medical remedies made for the patient, without the permission of a Healer because of the three years of training they have for Potions. Potions masters are not trained in medical magic at all, therefore their scope is much more limited, and generally will not dispense such potions without a written prescription.
Specialties
Journeymen may choose a speciality. They do not generally practice outside of this area, but there are some overlaps. Each speciality has its own Department within the Hospital, and is responsible for training Apprentices and Journeymen. Upon declaring a specialty, the Journeymen is given a brass Badge that reflects this alliance, and upon achieving Mastery receive one that is fashioned of pure silver.
Mind Healing - This area is concerned with the reversal of psychological and spiritual damage rendered magically or otherwise. They spend long hours with their patients and use a combination of potions, mood-altering charms, dream analysis, and illusion to help their patients deal with their trauma. They also study behavioral problems and the work to rehabilitate of the more disturbed members of their society.
Trauma - These are the Healers who sit on the sidelines at all of the Quidditch Games and wait for someone to fall. They also travel with the AMR squad, and work with the MLE closely. In addition, they travel with and receive patients from Mediwizards, specially trained Nurses who respond to emergency calls. They are experts at stabilizing patients who are in shock, treating magical infections, countering life-threatening curses, handling major injuries caused by Magical Creatures, mending bones, and are the closest to surgeons for mending severed flesh and damaged internal organs. They often work in the Emergency Room.
Poison Specialist - In addition to understanding Apothecary work, these Healers are able to recognize the use of a poison and produce the antidote, if available. Sometimes, if one is not available, they may attempt to concoct one. They are also adept at reversing damage caused by potions.
Obstetrician - These specialists understand fertility charms, anti-fertility charms, and are highly competent in the management and care of pregnant witches and the delivery of babies. They have additional competency in caring for unusual pregnancies, and are trained to perform C-section by magic, although this is a closely kept secret. These are the only Healers besides Trauma specialists who actually will rend flesh and only as a last resort. There are no real surgeons, but Trauma specialists and Obstetricians come the closest.
Pediatrician - These Healers are adept at the Care of the Underage Wizard or Witch. They tend to be experts in magical infections such as Dragon Pox and are also versed in developmental problems.
Internist - These Healers are like Generalists, but stayed on for an additional year to achieve Mastery, they are therefore able to handle more complicated problems. They are competent at caring for most illnesses caused by Artifacts, Creatures, Contagious Pathogens, and Spell Damage (although those that affect the mind are better cared for by Mind Healers.) Additionally, they maintain a competence in common potion and poison related complaints, and general maladies that may not be strictly magical.
Diviner - Master Diviners are Healers who have spent their Mastery levels of training learning the use of Divination and Scrying techniques to diagnose magical maladies. They are masters of a wide base of knowledge, and are the people who Healers turn to when they are befuddled. These Master Healers also have competency in the postmortem examination, which they perform without then use of a scalpel if at all possible. These Healers are competent at some treatments, but for the most part prefer to defer the care of the patient to the Internist or other specialist once they have the glory of Knowing It All.