WASHINGTON, DC—Higher risk for post-stroke mortality in the so-called “Stroke Belt” does not seem to apply in VA facilities, according to recent research which cited increased awareness and best practice guidelines as making the difference.

WASHINGTON, DC—As more data is emerging on the short and long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), researchers are discovering that the injury affects women differently than it does men. Most notably, there seems to be a differential pattern of post-concussive symptoms among female compared to male OEF/OIF veterans with deployment–related TBI.

BETHESDA, MD—Due to its ability to track patient health data within its system and to orchestrate initiatives inside what is essentially a unified healthcare program, VA has played a pioneering role in showing how chronic disease treatment, such as for cardiovascular disease, can be improved over large swathes of a patient population.

DAYTON, OH—In the latest VA infection control lapse to come under public scrutiny, Ohio-based legislators are pushing for both U.S. House and Senate investigations into practices at a Dayton VAMC dental clinic that may have resulted in nine cases of hepatitis.

WASHINGTON, DC—The fastest growing segment of patients treated at the nation’s VA facilities are those with four or more chronic diseases, increasing from 15% to 22% in an eight-year period ending in 2008, according to a recent study.

WASHINGTON, DC—VHA and DoD have already recognized that they serve the same patients, just at different times during their lives. But it is only during the last few years that the two departments have thought of themselves as a true continuum of care, at least as far as mental health care is concerned, and have endeavored to ease the transition for patients from one system to the other.

WASHINGTON, DC—At the top of the agenda for the 112th Congress’s House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC ) is stricter oversight of VA, something that the new Republican leader of the committee believes has been allowed to lapse.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—The difficulty with treating COPD—as with any chronic disease—is that much of the care must be placed in the hands of the patient. The patient needs to be properly educated about their illness, not just about the pathophysiology, but about the importance of proper disease management and how to manage their own symptoms.

WASHINGTON, DC—Today’s physicians need greater accountability and more guidelines concerning their use of Twitter®, according to a study by the Washington DC VA Medical Center.

Endocrine Studies in Health and Disease

Objective: This study will evaluate healthy normal volunteers and patients with a variety of endocrine disorders to 1) learn more about conditions that affect the endocrine glands (glands that secrete hormones) and 2) train physicians in endocrinology.