4380.0 Veteran's Health

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 4:30 PM
Oral
The purpose of this Veterans Health session is to expand public health awareness of some of the issues facing veterans today. These Veterans’ Health issues are made relevant in five studies ranging from: 1)Mortality factors facing rural and urban Veterans today; 2) Nationwide infection control of health care associated infections at VA Community Living Centers; 3)TRI CARE patient satisfaction enhances quality care; 4)Obese Veterans and effectiveness of dietary assessment and advice; 5) Challenges of VA physician workforce recruitment and retention. The importance of these presentations is focused on these areas. Characteristics of morbidity and mortality facing rural and urban Veterans were sorted by age and location. Environmental health and societal differences may also be relevant. Benefits of access to health delivery systems for rural and urban communities differed by age and other factors. Infection control of health care associated infections at institutionalized veteran populations in VA Community Living Centers need continuing nationwide surveillance. Identification of risk factors such as indwelling devices which increase health care associated infections, lead the way for designing primary public health prevention measures. Patient satisfaction with provider communication is clearly described in the TRI CARE patient satisfaction survey and the VA obesity assessment advice studies. Enhanced provider communication can improve quality outcomes as well as patient satisfaction. Finally, tangible and intangible factors challenge VA physician workforce recruitment and retention strategies, by possibly necessitating the outsourcing of surgical specialists, anesthesiologists and radiologists.
Session Objectives: 1. Describe key Veterans issues in nursing home, hospital and ambulatory settings. 2. Analyze the impact of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Enhancement Act of 2004 on VA physicians’ salaries, especially with regard to the long term ability to provide surgical services within the VA. 3. Compare mortality rates of rural to urban VA users before and after adjustment for relevant socio demographic variables.
Moderator:
Linda Tsan, MD

4:30 PM
Nursing Home-Associated Infections in the Department of Veterans Affairs Community Living Centers
Linda Tsan, MD, Robert Langberg, MA, Suzanne Bradley, MD, Ona Montgomery, RN, Chester Davis, ScD, Linda Danko, RN, John R. Pierce, MD, Christa Hojlo, PhD, RN, Robert Gaynes, MD, Chesley Richards, MD, Cynthia Gibert, MD and Gary Roselle, MD
4:45 PM
A comparison of older veterans' mortality rates across the rural-urban residence spectrum
Todd A. MacKenzie, PhD, Amy Wallace, MD, MPH and William B. Weeks, MD, MBA
5:00 PM
Impact of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel Enhancement Act of 2004 on VA physicians' salaries and retention
Tanner Wallace, BA, William B. Weeks, MD, MBA and Amy Wallace, MD, MPH
5:15 PM
Do Obese Patients Receive and Follow Dietary Advice?
Jennifer P. Friedberg, PhD, Natalie Naomi Young, BA, MS3, Michelle Ulmer, BA, Jacquelin Rankine, Stuart R. Lipsitz, ScD and Sundar Natarajan, MD, MSc

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.

Organized by: Medical Care
Endorsed by: Gerontological Health

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)

See more of: Medical Care
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