FORUM - Translating research into quality health care for Veterans

May 2011

In This Issue

Director's Letter

Director's Letter
by Seth A. Eisen, M.D., M.Sc.

Thousands of Veterans returning from deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq have a spectrum of injuries and illnesses that present challenges for both Veterans and the VA health care system. Many have complex comorbid medical problems that might include traumatic brain injury (TBI), limb amputation, vision ...

Commentary

Post-Deployment Injuries: A Core Responsibility and Challenge
by Robert L. Jesse, M.D., Ph.D., Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Washington, D.C

An improved understanding of Veterans' health care issues, which includes the development of new approaches to treatment and the appropriate research tools, is a priority for VHA. These tools include registries, cohort management studies, and an understanding of the genomic contribution to disease...

Response to Commentary

The Challenges of Co-Occurrence of Post-Deployment Health Problems
by Nina A. Sayer, Ph.D., Polytrauma/Blast-Related Injury QUERI, Minneapolis VA Medical Center

VA has implemented significant innovations to help ensure that the visible and invisible problems of these returning Veterans are identified and treated. Additional innovations include a system of care for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)/polytrauma and, more recently, a separate system of care for Veterans with amputation...

Research Highlights

Findings from an HSR&D Funded Study of Traumatic Brain Injury
by Ann Hendricks, Ph.D., Health Care Financing and Economics, Boston, MA

Our HSR&D-funded, service-directed research study examined the screening, evaluation, and utilization records for more than 216,000 patients seeking VHA services between April 2007 and March 2009....

Pain Management and Post-Deployment Care
by Robert D. Kerns, Ph.D., and Alicia Heapy, Ph.D., VA Connecticut Healthcare System and Yale University

VHA has established pain management as a high priority and has recently published policy guidance that calls for implementation of a stepped-care approach to pain management. The stepped-care model is an evidence-based and population-based approach ...

Women and Post-Deployment Health
by Anne G. Sadler, Ph.D., R.N., Center for Comprehensive Access and Delivery Research and Education, Iowa City VA Health Care System, Iowa City, Iowa

Now comprising approximately 15 percent of the U.S. armed forces overall and 17 percent of Reserve and National Guard (R/NG) forces, women are among the fastest growing groups of new VA users. After a history of caring primarily for males and members of the Regular Military, VA is now challenged with meeting the health care needs of this unique population of women...

HSR&D National Meeting Emphasizes Collaboration

"Teaming Up for High VAlue Care" was the theme of the 28th VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) National Meeting held in February. This year's theme emphasized HSR&D's priority to establish and maintain close collaborative relationships with its VA partners, so that research is more responsive and the findings are more likely to be implemented into practice. ...

Shekelle Receives 2011 Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research

Significant research contributions made by Dr. Shekelle include developing methods to assess quality of care, particularly for older adults. For example, five quality indicators he developed are part of VA's benchmarking sets. Through his work at VA's Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) Evidence Synthesis Program, he has added to the overall knowledge regarding how to synthesize evidence in order to reach clinically relevant conclusions ...

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In This Issue