Everything Nurses >> Venting Zone >> Are our Vets Getting the Best
Are our Vets Getting the Best
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Posted almost 5 years ago As we have all read and seen the VA hospitals have taken lots of hits concerning the care provided. I work at a VA and find that we need improvement. We are doing better every year and are staffing the departments with more qualified nurses. The money thrown at the VA hospitals has increased. The VA as a whole does some outstanding things including much needed research. Our computer charting is the best that I have used and I have used two other systems. We now have a cath lab and are able to do some cardiac interventions. We do not and may not ever have a chest cutter on staff due to the stiff local compitetion from 3 major hospitals and 3 cardiac specialty hospitals. I would like to know more about other VAs and your opinions and gossip about VAs around the nation. It will give me an idea of how we really are doing and how well we are received by our peers in other hospital settings. |
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| Posted almost 5 years ago It makes me ill that our vets are not getting the treatment that they deserve. Shame on us. |
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| Posted almost 5 years ago One of the problems that I see is the attitude of some of the residents and how they see the patients. NOT GOOD. Makes me angry and I do all I can to Protect my brothers.. |
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| Posted almost 5 years ago My father receives alot of care from VA Doctors and from Doctors outside of VA. My father is 100% disabled (he has CLL due to Agent Orange, Diabetes, and CAD), and was in the hospital (not VA) due to bleeding from the rectum that they could not dx. He had an appt with his cardiologist at VA while he was inpatient and my mother called and explained that he could not make it...(he had had his tooth pulled at VA, and the medication they gave my father made him bleed....) My mother cx this appt more then 24 hrs in advance because they were going to keep my dad for a week for tests...they acutally sent my mom a letter stating he was a "no show" and that will in the long run affect his disability. When my mom called and said I cx that appt, they stated we still consider that a no show....we can take away his disability. Some of the care he receives is excellent and we are very happy, but then there is care that is the pits. I went with him one time and they had people laying on the floors on blankets, waiting for beds. I think our service men and women deserve better. I think there has been some improvement, but there needs to be more. |
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| Posted almost 5 years ago frankiecash says ...
Frankie, KUDOS to you for broaching this topic from the inside of the VA organization. It is notable that from your perspective things are improving each year and I sense that you have great pride in the level of care you provide there. When it comes to the cardiac realm, I’m not at all surprised that Uncle Sam stepped back and let the larger cardiac centers fight it out to see who gets the bigger market share and more critically who writes the check for the “Chest Crackers”, Electro-Physiologists and Interventionalists of all varieties required to plan and develop a true cardiovascular institute. I can speak from first hand knowledge here in Maine where competition is very stiff for resources and market share. As long as the major centers are willing to take the VA patients on a global charges basis we are probably better off to save our tax dollars for more important things (like a swift kick in the pants to those residents that mentioned in your post.) I agree that the EHR of the VA is second to none in efficacy. I’m sure that you are glad to have such a tool to work with for documenting your patient’s care. If only we could get Donald Berwick and all “Berwickians” from the IHI to take on the care of our men and women in uniform as their next annual project we could put the issue front and center to the mainstream healthcare providers of our nation and maybe, just maybe, the veterans could get the care that they need and want when and where they need and want it. “Never have so many done so much so that so few could have so little.” An ineffective leader doesn't support success.
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