Improving Veterans health, access a School priority

Since 2009, the UAB School has had a formal partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs through what is now called the VA Nursing Academic Partnership. Other initiatives, including the VA Quality Scholars, VANAP-GE and VA Mental Health resident have partnered the School with the Birmingham VAMC and the Department of Veterans Affairs to help improve health Care for Veterans and their families through education, research and clinical practice. The School’s Veteran-centric initiatives include: 

Flag Spread leftVA Nursing Academic Partnership

The UAB School of Nursing and the Birmingham VA Medical Center earned the prestigious designation as 1 of 15 VA Nursing Academy sites in the U.S. in 2009. This unique undergraduate program partnered VA Medical Centers with accredited schools of nursing across the nation with the aim of providing compassionate, highly educated nurses to meet the health care needs of America’s heroes. To read the story click here
For more information on participating contact Randy Moore, DNP, RN

With a five-year grant from the Veterans Health Administration to the Birmingham VA Medical Center, the School and Birmingham VAMC expanded into graduate education with the VA Nursing Academic Partnerships in Graduate Education (VANAP-GE), the only one of its kind in the country, with the goal of placing 48 new psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners into the VA workforce. To read the story click here.
For more information on participating contact Susanne Fogger, DNP, CRNP, PMHNP-BCPMHNP-BC

The UAB School of Nursing also is one of only four sites in the country that has a graduate residency program for mental health nurse practitioners. Also a partnership with the Birmingham VA Medical Center, it too is designed to put more nurse practitioners into the VA pipeline to address the mental health needs of a growing Veteran population. To read the story click here.
For more information on participating contact Teena McGuinness, PhD, CRNP, PMHNP-BC, FAAN

Veterans CAN webVeterans CAN!

The UAB School of Nursing is offering a special program, Veterans Career Advancement in Nursing Program (Veterans CAN!), through the Health Research Services Administration (HRSA), to veterans who served as a LPN or medic/corpsman in the military to transition into a professional nursing career and earn a baccalaureate degree in nursing. To read the story click here.
For more information on participating contact Pat Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN 

  Flag Spread rightVAQS

The Birmingham VA Medical Center is 1 of 8 VA National Quality Scholars Program (VAQS) sites in the U.S. Pat Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN and Carlos Estrada, MD, MS serve as senior scholars for the Birmingham site. VAQS promotes leadership in quality improvement research and emphasizes interprofessional learning. The program offers fellowships to pre and post doctoral nurses. To read the story click here.
For more information on participating contact Pat Patrician, PhD, RN, FAAN

  Hero WallCaring for America's Heroes

Caring for America's Heroes is a distance-accessible elective course designed to increase students understanding of long-term and high-acuity internal and external environmental variables which affect the health of and veterans within the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA). Knowledge gained in this course can be applied to the care of VHA patients across a variety of care settings.
For more information contact Randy Moore, DNP, RN

   Simulation lab Simulation Scenarios

Clinical simulation scenarios have been developed to highlight the unique health care needs of Veterans. Scenarios developed and used by both the UAB School of Nursing and the Birmingham VA Medical Center include burn, gunshot wound, automobile accident, and OB simulations. The benefits of simulation training include practicing and making mistakes in a risk-free environment and identifying sources of error in care processes prior to practice.
For more information contact Nanci Swan, MSN, RN

  VA video simulation Video Simulations

The UAB School of Nursing and the Birmingham VA Medical Center developed a DVD, which contains three clinically relevant mental health scenarios. The nurses care for veterans experiencing depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental issues on a typical VA medical-surgical floor. The DVD is accompanied by a guidebook and information necessary for obtaining 1.0 CEU.

  Joining Forces Joining Forces

The UAB School of Nursing joined the ranks of hundreds of nursing schools and organizations dedicated to educating nursing students on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and other unique health care needs of veterans and their families. The Joining Forces initiative was launched in April 2012 in an effort to mobilize all sectors of society to support service members and their families.

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