Caring for Veterans and Their Families: A Guide for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals

Of the approximately 20 million veterans of the U.S. armed forces, less than half utilize the Veteran's Health Administration healthcare system. In fact, about 60% receive all their health care in the private sector, where nurses and healthcare professionals may not be adequately trained in treating or caring for patients who have served in the military. This first-of-its kind book guides healthcare clinicians on how to address culturally competent care for veterans and their family members. Caring for Veterans and Their Families: A Guide for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals discusses the role of the military and veteran healthcare systems and provides insight and guidance on key topics, including 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 health care of veterans and their families.

Dr. Rita F. D’Aoust is an associate professor and associate dean for teaching and learning at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and holds a joint appointment in the School of Medicine, Department of General Internal Medicine.Dr. D’Aoust earned her bachelor of science and master of science degrees and two post master’s certificate in acute care nurse practitioner and adult nurse practitioner from the University of Rochester School of Nursing. She earned her PhD from the University of Rochester Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She completed a mini-fellowship in geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles. She is a board-certified adult nurse practitioner and serves medically underserved communities and is a certified nurse educator.Dr. D’Aoust has served from the sidelines as a spouse and family member for military and veteran service and as a nurse practitioner caring for veterans in community settings. She has made significant contributions to educate nurses caring for veterans. She served as the co-director for the Veterans Affairs Nursing Academy (VANA) and subsequent Veterans Affairs Nursing Academic Partnerships (VANAP) at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and University of South Florida. With federal funding, she served as the primary investigator and led the development, implementation, and evaluation of the Veteran to Bachelor of Science Program at the University of South Florida. She developed an innovative approach to eliminate barriers and provide recognition of prior learning by developing an approach to award upper-division academic credit for nursing courses through an evaluation of American Council of Education (ACE) transcripts for military medics and corpsmen and recognizing prior coursework regardless of completion date. She led the development of an online course, Introduction to Military and Veteran Healthcare. She has served as a Jonas Scholar mentor for doctoral students at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and the University of South Florida.Her research contributions to the impact of military service on veteran health include the use of a novel therapy, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in homeless veterans, PTSD secondary to military sexual trauma, and the incidence of fibromyalgia symptomology in community-dwelling women veterans. Dr. D’Aoust has mentored numerous doctoral students on policy issues for veterans, nurse practitioner roles in veteran care, and quality improvement initiatives in VA settings.Dr. D’Aoust is an expert in interprofessional education, community service, and providing access to care for vulnerable populations. Dr. D’Aoust has long made her mark where the business of education and health care intersect. She has led advances in curriculum and classroom technology that match an understanding of ways to construct learning with the philosophy of education and a mastery of financial issues in higher education. At the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, she continues to lead the development and implementation of innovative teaching and learning strategies. Dr. D’Aoust is a nationally recognized leader in education program development, evaluation, and administration. She brings multiple PI grant expertise, especially in the areas of program evaluation and academic-service collaborations, quality improvement initiatives in acute care and community settings, and integrating geriatrics in primary care. At Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, she led the development and transition for an online program for Doctors of Nursing Practice Advanced Practice (nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists). She led the development of an advanced diagnostic and clinical procedures courses for nurse practitioners. Currently, she leads the development and testing of a nurse practitioner clinical competency development and assessment. Dr. D’Aoust also brings an understanding of the nursing workforce and recruitment from underserved populations. Additional research and scholarship contributions include the impact of chronic stress on sleep and depression for caregivers of persons with dementia and left ventricular assist devices. She is an active member of a nursing workforce study team that examines the impact of nurse practitioner full practice authority on changes to health access, NP income, and practice characteristics.She was inducted as a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in 2011, National Academies of Practice in 2012, and in the American Academy of Nursing in 2017.

Dr. Alicia Gill Rossiter is an associate professor and the chief officer of Military and Veteran Affairs at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. Prior to transitioning into her current role, she served as the director of the Veteran to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (VBSN) program. The VBSN program is a program for military medics and corpsmen that builds upon their military healthcare education, training, and experience, and provides a more efficient pathway and education ladder from veteran, to student, to baccalaureate prepared nursing professional. She graduated with her bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Alabama and her master of science and doctor of nursing practice from the University of South Florida. She is a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner.Dr. Rossiter served in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps on active duty for four years, which included two deployments: a humanitarian mission to Honduras, Central America and a combat deployment to Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. She branch-transferred into the U.S. Air Force Reserve Nurse Corps in 1995 and served as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee until she retired in June 2015. In her last assignment, she served as adjunct faculty at the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing at the University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, the nation’s only federal/military health science university.Her military experience has been the impetus behind her research and scholarly work, which includes women veterans and military sexual trauma, the effects of parental military service on military-connected children, and transitioning needs of medics and corpsmen into the professional role of nursing. She was instrumental in the development of a first-of-its-kind College of Nursing online “Introduction to Military and Veteran Health” course.' Dr. Rossiter completed her doctor of nursing practice in May 2015. Her groundbreaking work with Accelerated Resolution Therapy for Military Sexual Trauma related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) led to integration of this innovative, highly effective treatment into Department of Defense PTSD treatment protocols and inclusion as trauma- based therapy for PTSD in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Registry of Evidence Based Programs and Practices.During her doctoral program at USF, she was selected as a Bob Woodruff Jonas Veteran Healthcare Scholar and an American Academy of Nursing Jonas Policy Scholar with the Military and Veteran Health Expert Panel. She was inducted as a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners in 2014 and in the American Academy of Nursing in 2018 where she currently serves as the chair for the Military/Veteran Health Expert Panel.