USU Graduate Nursing Team Teaches Trauma Care to More Than 150 Providers in Pacific Partnership 2026

USU nurses joined Pacific Partnership 2026 in Vietnam, sharing trauma expertise and building interoperability with partner nation teams.

September 28, 2026 by Zachary Willis

From June 22 to July 3, 2026, a faculty member and a doctoral student from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) joined roughly 270 U.S. service members in Dong Hoi, Vietnam, for Pacific Partnership 2026, the U.S. Navy's largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster response preparedness mission in the Indo-Pacific. The 2026 iteration paired the Navy-led Pacific Partnership with the Army-led Pacific Friendship for the first time, marking the 20th year of an enduring effort designed to build collective regional resilience. Rather than relying on traditional direct-care aid models, the mission prioritized side-by-side clinical training, shared expertise, and multinational operational integration.

Air Force Lt. Col. Christy Mitchell, a 2019 graduate of the GSN's Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist (AGCNS) program and now an assistant professor, and Air Force Maj. Mario Zenteno, an AGCNS student in the Class of 2027, worked alongside partners from Vietnam, Canada, and Germany. Together, the multinational medical team embedded at Dong Hoi General Hospital and Northern Quang Tri Regional General Hospital to conduct joint trauma symposiums, collaborative clinical rounds, community outreach, and expeditionary medical exercises.

Pacific Partnership is a Department of War (DoW) mission that advances U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) health security cooperation, the practice of working directly alongside partner nations to strengthen local health systems, harmonize clinical procedures, and maintain regional stability. For USU, the deployment demonstrated how graduate nursing education directly supports a standing military priority: building a joint, multinational medical force capable of seamless interoperability during crises. It also gave a doctoral student a real-world field setting for the kind of advanced clinical education the program is built to deliver.

At the two regional hospitals, the USU team worked with local counterparts to lead a week-long symposium on trauma care, transitions of care, and infection prevention. Rather than delivering one-sided lectures, Mitchell, Zenteno, and their Vietnamese colleagues engaged in peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges on the perioperative nurse's role in trauma care, reaching more than 150 Vietnamese health professionals. Content was jointly reviewed, cleared through the USU Public Affairs Office, and translated to ensure a collaborative learning environment that integrated local clinical workflows.

This bilateral framework extended to community health outreach in Quang Binh Province. Working with the Quang Binh Provincial Center for Disease Control, USU personnel gave hands-on basic life support instruction to approximately 50 community members and contributed to a broader health event that drew more than 200 local residents.

Aboard the U.S. Army vessel Paulus Hook, the team observed a maritime mass casualty exercise that simulated a joint U.S.-Vietnam response to a Category 5 typhoon. The scenario tested synchronized casualty movement, joint triage protocols, and damage control resuscitation - the specialized emergency care used to stabilize severely bleeding patients. It also let the team see an Army forward resuscitative and surgical detachment, a mobile surgical team built to work close to the point of injury, demonstrate its capabilities. Exercises like these strengthen tactical and operational interoperability - the shared procedures, communication channels, and clinical standardization that allow distinct national forces to act as a unified response force during disaster planning.

Across the mission, U.S., host nation, and partner forces logged dozens of co-led engagements, supported more than 1,000 patients, and jointly repaired 15 pieces of hospital equipment, returning them to service for local providers.

USU graduates held leadership roles throughout the mission's medical planning. Navy Capt. Tiffany Uranga, a member of the USU GSN Class of 2006, served as director of medical operations and plans. The program's nursing director, Navy Capt. Daryl Fick, a Class of 2009 graduate, is also a USU GSN alumnus.

Hung Cao, the acting Secretary of the U.S. Navy, observed the joint operations in Vietnam and described the first pairing of Pacific Partnership and Pacific Friendship as a shared commitment to regional resilience. "As we continue to develop the Golden Fleet, we are not just preparing for future crises together; we are forging stronger bonds of trust and cooperation that are the bedrock of a secure and stable Pacific region," said Cao.

For the GSN, the exercise served as a rigorous, real-world practical experience. Zenteno, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student, satisfied advanced-practice competencies in cross-cultural healthcare leadership, partner nation collaboration, and expeditionary care. Program leaders said that these side-by-side missions reinforce the university's mission, with discussions underway to maintain GSN participation in future missions, including the hospital ship USNS Comfort's Continuing Promise deployment.