Of the approximately 20 million veterans of the U.S. armed forces, less than half utilize the Veteran's Health Administration health care system. That means the majority of veterans are receiving care from nurses and healthcare professionals who may not be trained in treating or caring for patients who have served in the military. This unique book guides nurses and healthcare professionals through the specific set of needs veterans can present, including but not limited to PTSD. Topics covered include, defining military culture and how to apply that knowledge to provide informed treatment, transitioning from service to civilian life and the many challenges expected during re-adjustment and re-entry, recognizing and treating substance use disorders, identifying suicidal behaviors and warning signs, long-term care for elderly veterans, and many more topics unique to the healthcare of veterans.

Veteran-Centered Care in Education and Practice: An Essential Guide for Nursing Faculty addresses the mandate to improve veteran healthcare as a national priority, highlighting the tremendous impact nurses can make on improving veteran health. It provides guidance on how faculty can integrate veteran-centered care into nursing curricula, ultimately improving veteran-centered care at the bedside and in the community. The expert authors utilize a holistic approach to veteran needs, beginning with an overview of the importance of veteran health in nursing education and a primer of military culture and lifestyle, and transitions. A wide range of veteran-specific healthcare issues are addressed, including occupational and environmental exposures, common physical-related issues, mental-health issues, and special topics such as women's health and military sexual trauma, gender issues, and end-of-life concerns. ; This book offers innovative teaching and learning strategies to build a base of knowledge related to nursing prioritization of veteran health care needs, filling a notable gap in nursing literature. It includes teaching strategies for the classroom and clinical setting that graduate/undergraduate nurse educators may employ to integrate veteran content into existing courses or to build a Veteran Health elective or topics course. It outlines key competencies and essential knowledge faculty and students need to teach and provide basic veteran-centered care. Also covered are the expansion of Veteran-to-BSN programs, current research on veterans transitioning to the classroom, and strategies to enhance learning within this student population and maximize their skills and leadership abilities. Key Features: Discusses national and organizational efforts to improve veteran-centered care Guides nursing faculty on how to address the multifaceted nature of veteran health needs in existing nursing courses and curricula at all educational levels Outlines key competencies and essential knowledge faculty and students need to teach and provide basic veteran-centered care Includes evidence-based instructional strategies and resources to incorporate into classroom and clinical settings Features learning activities to enhance knowledge acquisition Details the unique needs of the veteran student population, as well as strategies to enhance their learning, while maximizing their skills and leadership abilities

With overseas deployment scaling down in recent years, helping professionals need practical tools for working with servicemen and women returning from deployment. Caring for the Military, with its case studies and clinical discussions, is indispensable for social workers and other helping professionals working with these populations. Leading experts contribute chapters on the challenges faced by reintegrating members of the military, including returning to a family, entering the workforce, and caring for those with PTSD, TBI, and moral injury. This text also features unique chapters on telemental health, multidisciplinary settings, and caregiver resiliency.

Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.

Advice on Helping Your Loved Ones, from the medical director of the country's largest state mental health system and the mental health editor of The Huffington Post More than fifty million people a year are diagnosed with some form of mental illness. It spares no sex, race, age, ethnicity, or income level. And left untreated, mental disorders can devastate our families and communities. Family members and friends are often the first to realize when someone has a problem, but it is hard to know how to help or where to turn. Our mental health “system” can feel like a bewildering and frustrating maze. How can you tell that someone has a mental illness? What are the first and best steps for you to take? Where do you go to find the right care? The Family Guide to Mental Health Care is the first comprehensive print resource for the millions of people who have loved ones suffering from some kind of mental illness. In this book, families can find the answers to their most urgent questions. What medications are helpful and are some as dangerous as I think? Is there a way to navigate privacy laws so I can discuss my adult daughter’s treatment with her doctor? Is my teenager experiencing typical adolescent distress or an illness? From understanding depression, bipolar illness and anxiety to eating and traumatic disorders, schizophrenia, and much more, readers will learn what to do and how to help. Real-life scenarios and authoritative information are written in a compassionate, reader-friendly way, including checklists to bring to a doctor’s appointment so you can ask the right questions. For readers who fear they will never see the light at the end of the tunnel, this book gives hope and a path forward. As one of the nation’s leading voices on quality care in mental health, Dr. Lloyd Sederer has played a singular role in advancing services for those with mental illness. Now, the wealth of his expertise and clear guidance is at your disposal. From the first signs of a problem to sorting through the variety of treatment options, you and your family will be able to walk into a doctor’s office know what to do and what to ask.

The book explores how mentoring, theoretical background of mentoring and how mentoring is used by nurses in all arenas where they work in health care, education, research, policy, politics, and academia in supporting nurses with their professional and career development. Over 300 mentors and mentees, from a wide range of countries across all continents, share their stories of mentoring reflecting on their development in leadership, clinical practice, education, research and politics. The book describes various types of mentoring including more traditional types of mentoring as well as virtual, online and peer mentoring. During the mentorship trajectories the nurses address an inclusive collection of issues that they are faced with and share supporting strategies. The book highlights the importance of mentoring for nurses to support their personal, and professional leadership development. Also, it emphasizes the importance of mentoring for when nurses engaged in variety of projects that could entail or encompass evidence-based clinical practice, development within education, research in the clinical arena, policy formation, political affairs, or cultural inclusion that present significant impact in patient care and healthcare outcomes within and across countries. With The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity report from the National Academies of Sciences, published in 2021, the role of nursing will become ever more dynamic and therefore the profession of nursing must be visible in improving and securing the future for patients, families, and communities across the globe. Mentoring practices to build the profession’s leaders are forever essential, acute, and imperative. This book shows how mentoring can support nurses in further developing nursing as a profession and scientific discipline across countries to support clinical application of evidence based practice, and nursing education and research dissemination. Accordingly, this book shares essential, diverse and pioneering expertise through wide range of narrative stories that will benefit nurses at all years of experience, from early career nurses, emerging leaders, nurse educators, leaders, policy makers and nurse scientists around the globe. The nursing profession must magnify its position in health care and nurses need to proliferate their contributions throughout the globe. They can accomplish that through mentoring and “growing and nurturing other nurses” to advance and thrive in today’s world.

This authoritative and comprehensive title is designed to enhance best clinical practices for all healthcare providers who care for military service personnel and veterans. The book is organized into four sections. The first section covers foundational information on the culture and context of health care for members of the US military and veteran population. The second section focuses on systems of care for mental health needs of military and veteran populations. The third section characterizes best practices as well as ethical issues in clinical care for mental health needs of members of the military and veterans. Guidance in relation to a wide range of clinical topics is provided, such as mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, combat and operational stress, military sexual assault, psychosis, and sleep disorders. The last section is intended to assist readers in reinforcing their learning through a set of clinical cases with accompanying questions for deeper consideration. An invaluable resource for all clinicians, allied health personnel, and administrators concerned with the mental health needs of service members and veterans, Military and Veteran Mental Health: A Comprehensive Guide is a gold-standard addition to the literature on military healthcare.