Medicine

Medicine is a Fallout 3 skill that replaces the First Aid and Doctor skills from Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics. This skill was called Medic in Van Buren, the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

Fallout 3
The higher your Medicine skill, the more hit points you replenish when using a Stimpak and the more effective you are at using any other medicinal item such as Rad-X or Rad Away. The exact effect of the Medicine skill is determined by game settings. See the talk page for details. The skill is useful early on, as you'll find yourself using considerably fewer stimpaks than you otherwise would, saving money & stimpaks.

Items increasing Medicine skill
The Bobblehead - Medicine permanently increases your Medicine skill by 10 points. Items such as The Surgeon's Lab Coat can temporarily raise it.

Medicine in quests

 * 30 Medicine is required to properly examine the bodies of the West family for the Blood Ties quest in Arefu.
 * 40 Medicine is required to revive Timebomb in Bigtown, which is the only way to get his Lucky 8 Ball.
 * 50 Medicine is required to help a slave in The Mill inside The Pitt, although there is no reward for doing so.
 * 60 Medicine is required to revive Reilly in the Chop Shop in Underworld, which is one of two ways to revive her and start the Reilly's Rangers (quest).
 * The alternative way to revive Reilly is by passing a speech check with Doctor Barrows. The dialog will be available only after examining Reilly first.

Dialogue
In certain cases having an average-high Medicine skill can give you extra dialog option, such as talking to the Doctor of Megaton or speaking to Reilly of Reilly's Rangers after you resurrect her from her coma, saying she should relax for her health's best interest.