Educating nurses to provide better care for the military veteran and their families

Abstract

Reports that military veterans do not divulge details of their military experiences because others “do not understand” has been accepted for too long. Veterans and their families require a nursing workforce that are knowledgeable of the specific demands associated with a military life, and who are educated and empowered to discuss these issues in a language that the veteran population understand. USA have taken steps to address this challenge through academic programmes that systematically teach nurses how to be pro-actively engaged in improving veteran’s health and wellbeing. These lessons are being absorbed into fully evaluated under-graduate nursing sessions being developed at the University of Chester that will ensure under-graduate nursing students gain the requisite knowledge and understanding of veteran health and social care.