An official website of the United States government.
Nine, new, 1.0 credit graduate distance learning courses and all supplementary materials required to complete the courses will be the direct products of this project. These courses will be available by Web or CD-rom to students enrolled in the first Distance Learning Graduate Program in Veterinary Homeland Security at Purdue University. Courses will be part of both a graduate certificate program and M.S. Area of Specialization in Veterinary Homeland Security. <P> Year 1: <BR>1. VCS 651 Biosecurity for Veterinary Responders (1.0 credit): A didactic course outlining biosecurity procedures for professionals responding to animal health emergencies. Topics include quarantine establishment, notification, personal protective equipment, general biosecurity, decontamination techniques, trace-out, collecting and mailing samples, and prevention of pathogen transmission by people and animals, <BR>2. VCS 654 Food Borne Illnesses (1.0 credit): A didactic course outlining the professional's role in food borne disease outbreaks. Topics include regulatory aspects of food safety and food borne disease outbreaks, understanding the classification of food borne diseases, epidemiological investigation of food borne illness, risk management, and a review of common food borne illnesses. <BR>3. VCS 641 High Consequence Disease Review-Multiple Species (1.0 credit): A didactic course presenting etiology, transmission, clinical signs, lesions, diagnostic methods and differential diagnoses for high consequence diseases that affect multiple species.
<P> Year 2: <BR>1. VCS 645 High Consequence Disease Review- Minor Species (1.0 credit): A didactic course presenting etiology, transmission, clinical signs, lesions, diagnostic methods and differential diagnoses for high consequence diseases that affect sheep, goats, and rabbits. <BR>2. VCS 643 High Consequence Disease Review- Equine (1.0 credit): A didactic course presenting etiology, transmission, clinical signs, lesions, diagnostic methods and differential diagnoses for high consequence diseases that affect horses. <BR>3. VCS 646 High Consequence Disease Review- Avian (1.0 credit): A didactic course presenting etiology, transmission, clinical signs, lesions, diagnostic methods and differential diagnoses for high consequence diseases that affect birds.
<P> Year 3: <BR>1. VCS 652 Euthanasia and Carcass Disposal ( 1 credit): A didactic course outlining euthanasia and carcass disposal guidelines in the event of an animal health emergency. Topics include humane handling of healthy and morbid animals, mass euthanasia, carcass disposal techniques, and carcass disposal regulations. <BR>2. VCS 656 Managing an Emergency (1 credit): A didactic course reviewing the principles of emergency management. Topics include the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Training (ICS). In addition, laboratory modules in which students become certified at the 200 and 300 level in Incident Command Training is required. <BR>3. VCS 650 Radiological Events (1 credit): A didactic course outlining the basics of radiation and radioactivity and the threat, response and impact of a radiological event on our animal population and food supply.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Our Nation is faced with the educational problem of efficiently and rapidly increasing capacity in veterinary homeland security to serve our country. The provision of remotely accessible, quality training for existing veterinary professionals would provide an immediate means of addressing the current shortage. Achievement of critical mass to effectively address animal-related emergencies can be further expedited by providing such training to other professionals that will be involved in animal emergencies (i.e. veterinary technicians, animal scientists, law enforcement, physicians, etc). Finally, such a program would enable concurrent training of veterinary students who can then address future needs in veterinary homeland security.
<P>
APPROACH: Our Development Team is responsible for contacting and coordinating the taping of international experts for each lecture. Veterinarians on the development team edit course content (videos and slides) for animal related topics. Law enforcement, government, military, and public safety experts edit content in these areas of expertise. Thad Blossom, our outreach project manager is our webmaster. He maintains the website, formats and adds content (lectures, course notes, study guides, etc) to the website, and addresses technical issues encountered during course production and delivery. Other duties of the outreach manager include: managing student access to courses, maintaining course bulletin boards, and backing up course databases on a regular basis. Dr. Sandra Amass is the project coordinator and is responsible for ensuring proper and efficient administration. We have internal funding from the Provost at Purdue University to provide bridge funding until September 2007 to support salary of personnel and limited resources for course production. Our budget agreement at Purdue University allows us to recover approximately 88% of tuition income to reinvest in the program for self-sustainment. Our team has already produced and delivered 53 hours of lecture and supplementary learning materials on our website to test and validate our technical skills and the effectiveness of our production strategy. Lastly, the Office of Continuing Education at Purdue University is experienced in managing distance learning programs. This office currently provides student registration for this program and will continue to participate in the implementation of this curriculum.