By Kathryn Watson
The Department of Defense (DOD)-funded Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USU) in Maryland is using some of its resources to train students for a zombie outbreak, according to the DOD.
Students in the university’s family nurse practitioner doctorate of nursing practice program have to take an online population health course that forces them to apply models of public health care in different scenarios — including a zombie pandemic.
The goal is to teach students about population health planning and intervention, according to Catherine Ling, an assistant professor and family nurse practitioner at the graduate nursing school.
The zombie coursework keeps the material interesting, and makes the lessons from the rest of the coursework more memorable, Ling said in a DOD news release. (RELATED: Most Outrageous, Stupid College Courses)
Students watch video clips of different zombie scenarios and observe how the fake virus incites fear and an anti-zombie movement among the survivors. Operating in a fictitious DOD division, students use what they’ve learned about enacting a quarantine and administering vaccines to respond to the pandemic according to DOD guidelines.