Nurses, Physicians Educated On Unique Aspects Of Military Medicine

Main Category: Aid / Disasters
Also Included In: Tropical Diseases;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 22 Sep 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) prepares nurses and physicians to face the unique challenges of battlefield medicine in locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Faculty members deploy to combat zones, conduct research on threats such as anthrax, and provide humanitarian support in response to events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Located on the grounds of the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) and across from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., USU is the nation's federal school of medicine and graduate school of nursing. Students are active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service, who are being educated to deal with wartime casualties, national disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and other public health emergencies.

The university specializes in military and public health medicine which is more than practicing medicine in the military or public health service, and differs significantly from civilian medicine. Military/public health medicine focuses on keeping the people healthy and especially in the military, involves disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment by medical personnel who are integral to the operations they support.

Military physicians must understand and treat syndromes and injuries that are often rare or unknown among non-military populations. Military medicine requires a solid background in tropical medicine and hygiene, parasitology, epidemiologic methods and preventive medicine. Knowledge in areas of military medical intelligence, the psychological stresses of combat and trauma, and the medical effects of extreme environments whether in tropical or desert conditions, aerospace or undersea, is essential to properly advising a military commander on how to best keep troops fit.

For those in the public health service, medical practice relies on much of the same expertise. In addition, the public health service is growing in its capacity to provide health interventions during and following natural disasters and benefits from the same training and knowledge base as the other uniformed services. Simply put, the focus is practicing "good medicine in bad places."

Our programs are unique, related directly to force health protection, tropical diseases, disaster medicine, military and public health medical readiness and adaptation to extreme environments. USU prepares outstanding scientists and health care practitioners for careers in service to the nation.

The university's nationally recognized military and civilian faculty conduct cutting edge research in the biomedical sciences and in areas specific to the Department of Defense's health care mission such as combat casualty care, infectious diseases and radiation biology.

USU is also a partner in the planning and establishment of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), a 21st century academic health institution. This new institution will provide quality health care, education, and research across all the services; closely collaborate with the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Public Health Service writ large; and set a new standard for inter-governmental collaboration. USU will be the academic core of this new entity with WRNMMC as a premier teaching hospital and clinical care center serving the nation and our uniformed beneficiaries.

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU)
4301 Jones Bridge Rd.
Bethesda, MD 20814-4799
United States
http://www.usuhs.mil