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- Title
Caring for veterans in US civilian primary care: qualitative interviews with primary care providers.
- Authors
Vest, Bonnie M; Kulak, Jessica A; Homish, Gregory G
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Non-VA health care providers in the USA have been called upon to screen patients for veteran status as a means to better identify military-related health sequelae. Despite this recognized need, many service members are still not being asked about veteran status.<bold>Objective: </bold>The purpose of this research was to qualitatively assess, from non-VA primary care providers' point-of-view, barriers to providing care to veterans, the training providers perceive as most useful and the tools and translational processes they think would be most valuable in increasing military cultural competency.<bold>Methods: </bold>Semi-structured qualitative interviews, with non-VA primary care providers (N = 10) as part of a larger quantitative study of primary care providers' attitudes around veteran care. Interviews asked about providers' approach to addressing veteran status in their practice and their thoughts on how to address the needs of this population. Qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic content analysis approach.<bold>Results: </bold>Three major themes were identified: (i) barriers to caring for patients who are identified as veterans, (ii) thoughts on tools that might help better identify and screen veteran patients and (iii) thoughts on translating and implementing new care processes for veteran patients into everyday practice.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Our study identified barriers related to non-VA providers' ability to care for veterans among their patients and possible mechanisms for improving recognition of veterans in civilian health care settings. There is a need for further research to understand how assessment, screening and follow up care for veteran patients is best implemented into civilian primary care settings.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PRIMARY care; VETERANS; VETERANS' health; MEDICAL care of veterans; HEALTH services accessibility; PHYSICIANS; ATTITUDES of medical personnel; CULTURAL competence; COMPARATIVE studies; HEALTH attitudes; INTERVIEWING; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL needs assessment; MEDICAL cooperation; PRIMARY health care; RESEARCH; RESEARCH funding; UNITED States. Dept. of Veterans Affairs; QUALITATIVE research; EVALUATION research
- Publication
Family Practice, 2019, Vol 36, Issue 3, p343
- ISSN
0263-2136
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1093/fampra/cmy078