WASHINGTON — On Dec. 27, when the U.S. military was only two days away from completing its pullout of troops of Iraq, came casualty reports from Afghanistan, a stark reminder of the war still being fought: Three soldiers died, in Paktia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device.

WASHINGTON — Work therapy has been a part of VA rehabilitative programs for decades, but only since 1984 has it been codified under a national clinical initiative. With the return of the latest generation of veterans, who are entering VA care when a more holistic approach to treatment and rehabilitation is taken, compensated work therapy (CWT) has begun to be embraced fervently by veterans and clinicians.

WASHINGTON — Servicemembers who suffer from PTSD or other medical problems often seek treatment outside the military and veterans’ healthcare systems when they return from deployment. Civilian providers do not always have the expertise to provide optimal care, however.

The VA’s My HealtheVet is not only the most widely disseminated personal health record system in the United States, it also is likely to become the model for such systems nationwide.

Urban veterans with HIV may be more likely than their rural counterparts to be early adopters of new HIV therapies, a recent study suggests

The old saw goes, “Physician health thyself,” but for Ken Lee, MD, chief of the Spinal Cord Injury Division at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, one could add: “And use what you have learned in your own healing to heal others.”

After recorded seasonal influenza vaccination rates among VHA healthcare personnel plummeted 21% last year compared with 2009-2010, the agency has set an aggressive goal of vaccinating 85% of healthcare workers during the 2011-2012 flu season.

Please read this article and participate in this month's online opinion poll: Should VA mandate that all medical staff receive annual influenza vaccines as a condition of employment?

Even after they are safely transported for medical treatment far from the combat zone, wounded servicemembers face powerful adversaries: multidrug-resistant organisms, which pose a greater risk to today’s injured servicemembers than those of past wars.