National Center for Military Deployment Health Research by Committee on a National Center on War-Related Illnesses & Postdeployment Health Issues
Author:Committee on a National Center on War-Related Illnesses & Postdeployment Health Issues
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Health and Medicine : Military and Veterans
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 1999-11-16T00:00:00+00:00
VA Plans for a National Center on War-Related Illnesses
The VA presented its proposed plans for a national center (or centers) for the study of war-related illness and postdeployment health issues to the committee (VA, 1999b). Underlying the VAâs concept of a national center is the need for (1) preventive strategies to minimize illness and injury that could be implemented prior to, during, and after future conflict; and (2) increased attention to improving the care of active-duty and veteran patients. The VA views a national center as an integrated approach that would contribute to improving the health of active-duty military personnel and veterans after peacekeeping missions and war.
The four major program components of the VAâs plans for a national center (or centers) focus on research, clinical care, risk communication, and education. First, it is intended that each center implement a balanced program of epidemiological, clinical, health services, and basic research. The results of such research are to be disseminated through publications, scientific presentations, training, and education programs to the medical, scientific, and veteransâ communities. Second, it is proposed that the center (or centers) would integrate new and existing knowledge and skills into medical practice through the use of education and training programs for students, residents, VA staff, and the medical community.
Design, implementation, and evaluation of clinical care models for postdeployment illnesses of veterans is the third major component of the center (or centers). Demonstration projects on new approaches to clinical care might include multidisciplinary clinics, postdeployment evaluation and management units, specialized clinics and consultation teams, case management in primary care, cognitive behavior therapy, sleep evaluation programs, and rehabilitation units.
Finally, each center would be responsible for developing and coordinating effective health-risk communication programs that provide military personnel, veterans, and their families with up-to-date information about postdeployment health issues. The center (or centers) would serve as a focus for coordinating health-risk communication efforts of DoD and the VA.
The VA plans require that each center be located at a VA medical center that has strong academic affiliations with medical and other health professional schools. Additionally, it is considered crucial for the center (or centers) to actively collaborate with the DoD, particularly the Centers for Deployment Health. Other affiliations would include HHS (particularly the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health) through memoranda of understanding and other mechanisms.
Center sites would be chosen through a competitive peer-reviewed selection process. Program evaluation and oversight of the selection process and center productivity would be conducted by a non-VA advisory committee composed of veterans, health care providers, and scientists. Centers would report to a central VA program office that would coordinate the federal/academic collaborations, oversee the funding process, and work closely with the Military and Veterans Health Coordinating Board and the advisory committee.
The background information discussed in this chapter was useful to the committee as it deliberated on its findings (Chapter 3) and then went on to fully develop its recommendations for a National Center (Chapter 4).
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