AMU Military Veterans

Caring for Today’s Veterans

By Elaine Keavney
Program Director, Nursing and Public Health at American Military University

In August 2012, Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden started the Joining Forces campaign. This campaign was launched in order to bring attention to the unique needs and strengths of America’s veterans.  The goals of the campaign are to call attention to the critical health issues facing veterans and their families, and to increase access to wellness programs and other healthcare services.

Major nursing organizations, such as the American Nurses Association, the National League for Nursing, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing immediately supported this campaign.  Since that time, more than 650 schools of nursing in all 50 states have pledged to the Joining Forces campaign. With this pledge, schools of nursing commit to enhancing the preparation of the nation’s nurses to care for veterans and service members as well as their families. This pledge includes developing and including content related to veterans’ health care in their curricula by 2014, as well as sharing resources and best practices with others in the field. Many discussions, webinars, a veterans’ health toolkit, and conference presentations have taken place since Joining Forces was launched. The collateral materials for this program continue to grow as nursing programs share their ideas for supporting this campaign.

There are more than 22 million veterans in the United States today. More than 37 percent of these veterans are over the age of 65 and many more are young returnees from recent conflict in the Middle East (Veterans Today, 2013). The challenges to the healthcare system in caring for both aging and the younger veterans are significant. The older veterans have the natural problems of aging, while the younger ones are faced with significant disabilities from traumatic brain injury and other healthcare issues related to their service in combat. It is critical that today’s nurses and other healthcare workers are adequately prepared to meet the healthcare needs of this population.

In American Public University’s RN to BSN program, a new course titled “Caring for Today’s Veterans” is now a required course for all nursing students.  In this course on veterans’ health, students are able to devote eight full weeks to looking at issues such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the unique issues facing female veterans.  It is an interactive course in which students have the opportunity to connect with veterans and veterans services within their community.

As nursing programs throughout the country develop formats for incorporating veterans’ health issues into their curricula, the sharing of best practices through conference presentation, webinars, and other social media avenues will offer opportunities for all nursing educators to provide optimal care to those who have served our nation.

 

About the Author:

Elaine Keavney lives is a Registered Nurse, with a background in Emergency Nursing. Elaine served in the U.S. Army after obtaining her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. Her service included a brief tour in Vietnam at the end of the war. She has a master’s degree in nursing education. She worked in emergency nursing for 22 years, and spent 7 years as a clinical educator for staff in a busy emergency department in Puyallup, WA and 6 years as a System Clinical Educator in the Institute for Learning and Development at Multicare Health System in Tacoma Washington.

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