Participate in an interdisciplinary health care team as a leader and an active member to promote quality and safe care at the patient, family, population, or system levels for veterans and service members.​​​

• Provides education and resources regarding military toxic exposures by era of service, risk factors, assessments, and health considerations over the lifespan for veteran and military populations. 

  • Fear the Fire Presentation​

  • What Matters to Veterans Presentation

• Demonstrates competency in this outcome through sharing information and knowledge gained in Veteran and Military Health Care specialty program with colleagues directly responsible for facilitating care transitions to improve the quality and safety of inter-facility transfers. ​

  • People Matter: The Human Factor in Strengthening Relational Coordination presentation​

  • Job shadowing activities during internship to improve interdisciplinary care coordination and collaboration to accomplish task of safe interfacility transfer

• Provides educational information and resources for community hospitals regarding VA benefits, point of contacts, and Emergency Care Reporting requirements for care coordination. 

  • Infographics for community hospital outreach​

  • Design magnets with Emergency Care Reporting information for staff

• Provided education on Policy Brief assignment of Women's Deployment Health issues to deployed female staff, who then engaged in discussion with provider caring for women in austere environment.

• Engages in interdisciplinary meetings to develop process improvement and policy revision to improve the quality and safety of emergency inter-facility transfers.​​​​

• Participates in interprofessional education sessions with VA, DoD, and Community agency staff to improve system level quality and safety in care coordination and information sharing. ​

• Focuses on improving communication and collaboration across VA and DoD by engaging with interdisciplinary health care team as necessary to improve safety and quality of care.​

• Facilitates conversations with VA/DoD Chaplains as needed to support Veterans, Military members, and their families. 

• ​​​Engages with S-CTRAC coordinator as needed to provide updates when enrolled patients are presented for interfacility transfer.​

  • Applies topics from Veteran and Military Health Care specialty courses to address clinical care issues to improve care coordination, communication, and collaboration

• Coordinate and collaborates on outreach activities with staff members involved in providing clothing, shoes, and items for Veterans and military members who are in need. Provides educational materials, handouts, and resources to share for those seeking information conditions commonly associated with homelessness, such as substance use disorder and PTSD.​

Develop a professional, ethical, caring, and culturally sensitive approach when working with veteran and military patients, families, populations, or system​

• Understands the unique attributes of Veteran and Military members and applies and shares knowledge gained in this program to improve culturally competent health care for the Veteran and military population. ​

• Develops and shares educational presentations to help colleagues understand and appreciate the cultural identity of Veteran and service members. Identifies and educates staff on the lifelong influence their unique experiences have on health over the lifespan.

• What Matters to Veterans Presentation provides educational resources and information to promote high-reliability and safe care that focuses on What Matters to Veterans, including resources and information for caregivers and families to improve health care.

• Provides education and resources to providers during care coordination on end-of-life care for Veterans and discusses available service available for palliative care services for Veterans meeting criteria for referral enrollment into S-CTRAC program with facility coordinator.

• Committed to a culturally sensitive approach to mental health care for Veterans and Military members using the Whole Health approach.

• Improving morale, decreasing symptoms of burnout, and focusing on wellness strategies are appropriate and acceptable forms of wellness activities for Veterans, Military members, and VA/DoD staff.

• Considers unique circumstances Active Duty military members face in terms of mental health and prove culturally sensitive information and strategies to improve mental health and wellness. 

​Integrate patient care technologies to improve patient, family, population, or system outcomes for veterans and military service members​​

• Provides education and technical assistance to colleagues on the use EHR, assisting with new EHR access for staff, and developed resource guide for staff to access Veteran and Military specific resources and training for professional development and sharable resources to educate Veterans and military members.

• Provides educational resources to staff, patients, and families on technology available to access benefits, resources, and VA apps. Considers access to care and socioeconomic disparities in rural settings that may impact the way in which care is delivered due to the lack of reliable internet, transportation, and difficulty with telemedecine. Identifies opportunities to promote health care equity and access to care by leveraging technology, resources, and printed materials available.

  • What Matters to Veterans Presentation​

  • IDES pamphlet and Step by Step simplified infographic for written information and alternative contact methods to facilitate evaluations.

• Demonstrates acquiring data and applying quality measures to clinical process and decision-making to improve safety during interfacility transfer coordination of care. Identifies opportunities for process improvement across care system based upon data and generates knowledge for evidence-based interfacility transfer coordination. Leverages available VA data to promote quality of care and improvements in organizational processes to increase veteran access and satisfaction with care. 

  • People Matter: The Human Factor in Strengthening Relational Coordination Powerpoint Presentation​

• Understands difficulty with access to online information for Veterans and provides printed information relevant resources for homeless veterans. 

• Participates in communication and collaboration using MS Teams groups for VA Emergency Department, Case Managers, Community Care Staff, and Mental Health staff to improve care coordination for Veterans. ​

Use theoretical frameworks to address patient, family, population, or system needs for veterans and military service members.

• Demonstrated engagement with interdisciplinary health care team on People Matter: The Human Factor of Strengthening Relational Coordination.  Improving relationships and developing shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect supported by frequent, timely, and accurate problem-solving communication to improve complex interdependent care coordination using the theory of Relational Coordination by Dr. Jody Hoffer Gittell directly improves Veteran and Military health care outcomes and communication with interdisciplinary care team. 

• Provided educational presentation on Martha Rogers' theory of The Science of Unitary Human Beings and demonstrated the development of a theory-guided Personal Nursing Philosophy. Provided education to colleagues regarding Rogers' theory and the application to Veteran and Military Health Care by addressing the importance of the environment as integral part of the veteran.

• Demonstrated the application of theory-guided models of care in practice setting by applying nursing theory to guide quality improvement project on People Matter: The Human Factor in Strengthening Relational Coordination project​

Integrate evidence-based knowledge into managing the care of patients, families, populations, or systems to improve and protect health and wellness for veterans and military service members in Colorado and beyond.​

• Develop evidence-based guide for staff aligned with VA mission for implementation of Age-Friendly Health Care System in the What Matters to Veterans presentation  with application to Advanced Practice Veteran and Military Healthcare specialty nursing in a VA/DoD facility. Over the course of this program, multiple knowledge gaps for Veteran and Military centered health care identified and targeted for inclusion in presentation for VA/DoD and civilian staff. Integrated evidence-based knowledge from specialty courses to develop education on Veteran identity, cultural competence, core values based on branch of service, exposures and considerations of experiences that impact health care based on era of service. Aligned educational information with with VA strategic plan, demonstrating VA and DoD high reliability principals. Discuss how aging Veterans have unique health risks and are at risk for developing dementia, delirium, depression and anxiety. Addressed the most common service-connected disability "tinnitus" and the relation to dementia, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. ​​

Formulate strategies to advocate for patients, families, populations, systems, or the nursing profession in Colorado and beyond.

• Formulate strategy for ongoing Relational Coordination to improve care coordination and transitions of care in terms of all transitions of care. Discuss and develop ideas to improve benefit and service accessibility for Veterans, Military members, and staff. Participated in meeting with VA Whole Health Coach to develop ideas for future practice to implement the system-wide Whole Health approach to improve and protect health and wellness for Veterans, Military, and VA/DoD staff members. Formulate strategy to advocate for age-friendly health care to improve Veteran health care and provide resources and education for their family caregivers and caregivers responsible for their care int he hospital. Consider ideas to incorporate targeted outreach for transitioning service members; to include those going through the IDES process. ​