Pentagon’s ‘zombie pandemic training’ teaches military nurses how to quarantine civilians, administer vaccines on massive scale
by: Isabelle Z.
NaturalNews.com
Sunday, July 10, 2016
You never know when the zombie apocalypse might strike, so it’s a good thing that the Pentagon is training military nurses how to respond in such a situation.
At the Uniformed Services University of the Healthcare Sciences, military nursing students are required to take a population health course to earn a family nurse practitioner doctorate. The online population health course in this program has students working through a number of creative scenarios, one of which is a zombie pandemic.
In the imaginary scenario, students must use their knowledge to quarantine people, administer vaccines and make use of international resources in accordance with actual Department of Defense guidelines. The DoD says that the program serves as a creative way to keep students engaged and make the material more memorable.
In the course, students are shown video clips outlining different zombie apocalypse scenarios. In one, a fictitious president delivers a “State of the Zombie Pandemic” address, while others show the impact that the zombie virus has had on the imaginary population, right down to realistic anti-zombie posters strewn about the streets.
While some people might find the idea of training nurses to administer vaccines on a wide-scale unsettling, educators believe it’s a crucial skill right now.
Catherine Ling, assistant professor and family nurse practitioner for the PhD and DNP programs at USU’s Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, says that the global increase in antibiotic resistance is one reason this skill is necessary. She also points to pandemics like Zika and Ebola as examples of situations for which this type of training is useful.
Ling says that the course allows students to use “the other side of their brain,” fostering critical thinking and problem-solving skills, while allowing them to think creatively.
Students react positively to program
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