Infection Problems Solved At Dayton VA Dental Clinic DAYTON, OH - According to a VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) review, infection control deficiencies discovered last year at the Dayton VA Medical Center’s dental clinic have been brought under control. In 2010, an OIG investigation of the Dayton VAMC found that a single dentist working in their dental clinic had, for up to eight years, failed to follow simple infection control practices. Thousands of veterans who received care at the clinic during that time may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis C due to those lapses in infection control. More
Advocates Call For Support for TBI Act WASHINGTON - Legislators and brain injury advocates voiced support for the reauthorization of the TBI Act during the 11th annual Brain Injury Awareness Day held this week on Capitol Hill. The legislation currently authorizes a variety of TBI activities conducted by federal agencies. Changes proposed to the legislation include authorizing the Health Resources and Services Administration to develop a national plan on TBI in collaboration with other agencies and providing the national Centers for Disease Control with the authority to collaborate with other agencies to issue reports based on national needs. More
Homeless Veterans' Lawsuit Against VA In West Los Angeles Moves Forward LOS ANGELES - A lawsuit filed by a group of homeless veterans accusing VA of failing to build promised permanent housing on its West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus is moving forward after a federal judge refused the government’s request to dismiss the suit. The lawsuit was filed last summer by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the veterans, alleging that VA had failed to use its large West Los Angeles campus for its intended purpose. More
Specialty Update: COPD/Respiratory Care
Harsh Environment - Not Just Burn Pits - Cause Health Problems in Troops STONY BROOK, NY - While burn pits have been the focus of a controversy for years about causes of high rates of respiratory illnesses among military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, evidence increasingly paints a more complex - and far more difficult to address - picture. At a recent symposium about lung health after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, leading researchers presented several studies that indicate simply being in the two Southwest Asian countries may be making servicemembers ill, a conclusion also drawn by an earlier Institute of Medicine (IoM) report. More
VA Seeks Continued Improvement of Non-OR Airway Management DALLAS - On average, more than 30 times a day across the VHA, patients outside the operating room require emergency-airway management. It is literally a life-or-death situation, as failure to establish an airway can result in brain damage or death within minutes. How that situation is handled in the VA system has undergone dramatic changes during the past decade. Now, new guidelines are being proposed to assure even better training of non-anesthesia personnel and make the process safer than ever. More
Specialty Update: Focus on Psychiatry
DoD Center of Excellence on TBI - Psychological Health Falls Short WASHINGTON — The DoD organization at the forefront of efforts to improve care for psychological health and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is falling short of its mission, a watchdog agency found. A recent GAO investigation done at the request of Congress found no single entity that coordinates DoD’s psychological health and TBI programs, despite the creation of the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and TBI. More
Telemental Health Services Benefit Native Veterans WASHINGTON — After American Indian and Alaska Native veterans initially tried telemental health services, their use of any health services significantly increased, as did the proportion receiving psychotropic medication, a new study found. The authors of the study said this is the first examination of service use at specialty telemental health clinics by American Indian and Alaska Native veterans. More
Specialty Update: Endocrinology
Institutional Barriers Seen in VA MOVE Program Rollout DURHAM, NC — For the past five years, VA has struggled to implement a systemwide weight-reduction program to combat obesity rates among veterans receiving care. More than one-third of veterans receiving care qualified as obese in 2006, and VA believed that lowering obesity also would lower weight-related illness, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and hypertension — all of which occur in high rates among VA’s population. A recent evaluation of VA’s efforts shows only modest effects. However, that may be due to a number of institutional barriers that have made implementation move slowly in most VA medical centers (VAMCs). More
Brenda L. Mooney Editorial Director, U.S. Medicine mooney@usmedicine.com 39 York Street Lambertville, NJ 08530
STONY BROOK, NY - While burn pits have been the focus of a controversy for years about causes of high rates of respiratory illnesses among military personnel deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, evidence increasingly paints a more complex - and far more difficult to address - picture. At a recent symposium about lung health after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, leading researchers presented several studies that indicate simply being in the two Southwest Asian countries may be making servicemembers ill, a conclusion also drawn by an earlier Institute of Medicine (IoM) report. 
DALLAS - On average, more than 30 times a day across the VHA, patients outside the operating room require emergency-airway management. It is literally a life-or-death situation, as failure to establish an airway can result in brain damage or death within minutes. How that situation is handled in the VA system has undergone dramatic changes during the past decade. Now, new guidelines are being proposed to assure even better training of non-anesthesia personnel and make the process safer than ever. 
DURHAM, NC — For the past five years, VA has struggled to implement a systemwide weight-reduction program to combat obesity rates among veterans receiving care. More than one-third of veterans receiving care qualified as obese in 2006, and VA believed that lowering obesity also would lower weight-related illness, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and hypertension — all of which occur in high rates among VA’s population. A recent evaluation of VA’s efforts shows only modest effects. However, that may be due to a number of institutional barriers that have made implementation move slowly in most VA medical centers (VAMCs). 