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"If you pursue this power, yes, you will become an unparalleled surgeon. But are you prepared for the pain it will bring you? ...Can you imagine how heavy your hands would be with the Healing Touch?" -Robert Hoffman, Under the Knife
HealingTouchCrop

The Healing Touch (超執刀 / choushittou) is a mystical power that is believed to have originated from the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, and all users of this skill are believed to descend from him, as mentioned in Under the Knife & Second Opinion.

It allows the user to perform superhuman feats while doing surgery, as well as giving the user amazing medical knowledge.

Two types of Healing Touch can trigger, in addition to the subtypes with differing abilities detailed below. The first is an instinctive one, subconsciously initiated by doctors in an emergency situation. While it has no side effects and can last as long as the emergency situation persists, the doctor has no control over its use, and often users know exactly what to do in said present moment. This type is first observed shortly after Derek Stiles discovers his ability, but also kicks in near the end of a Savato operation.

The second kind is manually activated, usually with the doctor increasing their focus to trigger it, and is displayed in-game via drawing a star. However, in doing so, this type of Healing Touch can be incredibly draining for the user, causing them to faint or black out for a period of time. As such to prevent over-exhaustion, most doctors restrict themselves to manually using the Healing Touch once per operation.

The Healing Touch can be used for events other than operating, such as it being useable when Derek was dismantling a bomb, and stopping Adel from killing him with a scalpel.

This ability becomes available after a certain point in the storyline, usually also after the game guides the player through a tutorial mission on how to activate it. The Healing Touch can only be used once per operation and per doctor, and is triggered by drawing a star on screen. The Healing Touch has a fixed duration of around thirty seconds (real time), except in Under the Knife and Second Opinion, where the duration varies depending on how well the star is drawn.

The Healing Touch is prevalent in all games, with varying rarities: In Under the Knife & Second Opinion the ability is rare and descendants of Asclepius can use it. Under the Knife 2's remains untouched but can be artificially replicated to an extent. In New Blood however it is common and can be learned from others or self-taught, the ability differing according to the person's skillset and finally in Trauma Team, the ability is practically nonexistent.

Types

Slow Time

Slow Time allows the user to think and move with superhuman speed and precision, along with allocating a considerable amount of mental focus and concentration to that same direction causing the user to see the illusion that time has slowed down. To bystanders, it would look like the user is moving extremely fast.

The user is able to move twice as fast in DS games and four times as fast on Wii games, every in-game second will last four/two real life seconds while Slow Time is active. The user can use the ability twice at once (by combining the instinctive and manually triggered Healing Touch), causing time to stop completely. This only happens when treating Savato.

This ability not only allows the player to better manage the operation, but it can be used to shave off extra seconds for a better time bonus and allow the player to attain the special time bonus with a greater margin for error. It is best utilized when the untreated wounds can worsen over time, like hemorrhages causing large blood pools to form or burns worsening. Slowing down time can allow the player to quickly treat all the wounds before they have a chance to complicate.

Users of Slow Time

Dialog-sodsc (1)
Derek Stiles
Dialog-sorh
Robert Hoffman
Dialog-mv (1)
Markus Vaughn
Dialog-utk2at (1)
Adel Tulba
(Fraudulent)
Portraitutk2hoa
HOA Personell
(Fraudulent)

Distraction Block

The ability appears to be a variant of Slow Time as seen from his replay video of his operation from the Wish Come True TV show. Unlike the other abilities, Distraction Block is the only Healing Touch that is not playable in-game.

Users of Distraction Block

Portraitnblb
Leonardo Bello

Anesthesia

Essentially locks the patient's vitals at the number they were at when the ability is activated, preventing them from rising or falling - only extreme circumstances like cardiac arrest are an exception. Any attempts to use the stabilizer will be negated, but it does mean that the player can focus entirely on treating the patient without worrying about the vitals.

When the ability ends, vitals will raise by 10. So if you activate it at vital 30, vitals will raise to 40. This can give a struggling player some reprieve if there are still untreated wounds left on expiration.

This variant is best activated when the player is anticipating a large (possibly fatal) plummet in vitals - for example, against Cardia's desperation attack. This also saves time otherwise spent keeping vitals raised. Note that this doesn't prevent your chain from breaking when complications form.

Users of Anesthesia

Dialog-vb (1)
Valerie Blaylock

Unnamed

This variant functions as a stabilizer, causing the patient's vitals to raise by 10 for each "OK," "Good," or "Great" rating, and by 25 for each "Cool."

Can be used twice at once, causing time to stop completely, like Slow Time. This is only used when treating Mutated Savato. A user with this variant and another with Slow Time can combine their Healing Touches to result in the same effect.

This ability is best used to combat sharply plummeting vitals - for example, when several tumors and polyps are present and doing quick vital damage over time. It is best utilized when there are multiple easily-acquired OK's on the scene to maximize its effects in the shortest time possible.

Users

Dialog-nwd (1)
Naomi Kimishima

Strategy

Despite its usefulness, a general tip for getting good at the game is to try and complete the missions without using the Healing Touch, unless necessitated by the story. In fact, in Under the Knife, manually activating the Healing Touch outside of Savato missions or the Healing Touch tutorial will automatically grant a C Rank regardless of any other bonuses achieved. This strict treatment has been eased in subsequent games where they do not penalize you for using it outside of missing any "No Healing Touch" special bonuses. In fact, certain operations on Hard have such tight time requirements that the Healing Touch is mandated to even get a S rank.

According to the 2005 Caduceus Guidebook, the player is able to draw other shapes other than the typical star to invoke the Healing Touch.

UtK Guidebook

Under the Knife Official Guidebook (Star Shapes)

To What Extent is a ☆ Recognized as a ☆!?
In order to invoke the Healing Touch you draw a ☆. But in truth, you don't even have to draw a ☆! Some examples of alternate shapes that can activate the Healing Touch are shown on the right, such as the W-☆, which is an upside-down M, or even the Greek letter Σ would work. The first and most important step to using the Healing Touch is to draw a shape in a single stroke. Moreover, the shape must have three 90 degree angles (roughly). In other words, four-sided shapes like a rhombus and trapezoid, for example, would not work, despite having sharp corners. That said, please don't forget the closer to the ☆ shape, the longer the Healing Touch will last for. The first shape shown on the top is called "Butterfly". The second is "W". The third is "Umbrella".

If the Healing Touch is active and a story-related conversation happens, the Healing Touch duration will not drain until the player regains control of the operation. You can enable Skip so that conversations have minimal interruptions, reducing time wasted.

If cardiac arrest is imminent, do not use the Healing Touch - regardless of type, it is largely unhelpful with the procedures for correcting the flatline, and would waste a good portion of its duration. This waste is especially prevalent if the player is expected not to try and treat the patient while the EKG is behaving abnormally.

Trivia

  • The dialogue preceding, succeeding, and during certain levels are written as if the player had used the Healing Touch. This creates some interesting discrepancy between story and gameplay if the player had not used the Healing Touch.
    • A prevalent example is operation 2-4 of Under the Knife or Second Opinion, which can be completed without using the Healing Touch, but Derek faints afterwards regardless and the story strongly suggests it was used.
  • Since the users of the Healing Touch are believed to be descended from Asclepius, this makes it likely that parents of Healing Touch users can use it as well (Derek's parents). This could also mean the children of Healing Touch users will inherit the ability as well.
    • Because of Healing Touch in Under the Knife/Second Opinion & New Blood's conflicting presentation plot-wise, there is little way to know whether other users of the ability are descendants of Asclepius or if they acquired it through training. This may have created a partial contradiction on how the ability is acquired, though it has always been ambiguous as to whether or not the legend of Asclepius is true, and many of its users are seen training to use the ability more effectively.
    vde Trauma Center Series
Games Under the KnifeSecond OpinionUnder the Knife 2New BloodTrauma Team
Universe
General LocationsOrganizations (Caduceus InternationalDelphi)Healing TouchSurgical ToolsDiseasesGame OverEpisodes
Media
Music Under the Knife SoundtrackSecond Opinion SoundtrackUnder the Knife 2 SoundtrackNew Blood SoundtrackTrauma Team Soundtrack
Physical Caduceus GuidebookCaduceus Z GuidebookCaduceus 2 GuidebookCaduceus New Blood GuidebookHOSPITAL. Guidebook
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