The US Pentagon's 'zombie pandemic' training revealed
Military nurses to be taught how to respond to population health emergencies with 'creative' training course
If the zombie apocalypse should ever break out, nurses at the Pentagon will be well-prepared to take on the undead. Military nursing students at the Uniformed Services University of the Healthcare Sciences are given ‘zombie pandemic’ training scenarios as a part of a population health course.
According to the US Department of Defense, the program aims to provide a creative way to engage students – but, the fictitious scenarios will teach them to carry out quarantine and administer vaccines on a massive scale, all while following actual DoD guidelines.
The zombie scenarios are built into an online population health course in USU’s family nurse practitioner doctorate of nursing practice program.
Taking a population health course is a degree requirement, and trains students to learn the principles of responding to and understanding the overall health of a group, whether it be as small as a community or as an large as an entire nation.
In this particular course, students work through a series of creative scenarios, including a zombie pandemic, to apply the theories and skills they’ve learned.
‘We use the narrative device of a zom-
The course is a part of the Uniformed Services University of the Healthcare Sciences's family nurse practitioner doctorate nursing program.
Students will be given creative scenarios, including a zombie pandemic, to apply theories and skills.
This aims to help them retain the material they've learned, so they can one day apply it in a real emergency.
Students in the course will act under the made-up bie pandemic in animations and assignments to help engage students in content,’ explained Catherine Ling, assis-
ZOMBIE RESPONSE COURSE
DoD division ‘HHIT,’ in which they will use their knowledge to enact quarantine, administer vaccines, and tap into international resources, all the while following real-life guidelines.
The course will contain videos of zombie-apocalypse situations, including a clip of the fictitious president delivering a ‘State of the Zombie Pandemic’ address, and scenes showing the impact of the zombie virus on the population. tant professor and family nurse practitioner for the DNP and PhD programs in USU’s Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing.
The course contains videos of different zombie-apocalypse situations, including a clip of the fictitious president delivering a ‘State of the Zombie Pandemic’ address, and scenes showing the impact of the zombie virus on the population, from widespread fear to ‘anti-zombie’ posters littering the streets.
This coursework aims to provide a creative and cohesive way for students to learn, helping them to remember the material so they can one day apply it in a real emergency.
Students in the online class act under the made-up DoD division ‘HHIT,’ in which they will use their knowledge to enact quarantine, administer vaccines, and tap into international resources, all the while following real-life guidelines.
Ling says this skill set is critical as antibiotic resistance increases worldwide, and infectious diseases and pandemics like Ebola and Zika continue to emerge.
The course provides a way for students to use ‘the other side of their brain,’ according to Ling, letting them think creatively while improving problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
And, students are acknowledging the benefits of the unique program as well.
‘The videos are very tastefully done,’ said Air force Capt. Marcie Hart, a fan of ‘The Walking Dead’ who has taken the course.
‘The ‘infected’ can be cured later in the scenario, so the characters are not using deadly force, and it is not overtly violent.
‘I thought it was a wonderful, fun twist to the course.’ ©Daily Mail, London