New online veteran resource for nurses

In collaboration with DVA, the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) has published a resource called ‘Support for your veteran patient’ on its online Knowledge Hub.

The resource seeks to raise awareness among nurses of two key programs DVA offers to help primary healthcare practices and their veteran patients. The programs are:

• Coordinated Veterans’ Care (CVC), which aims to reduce unplanned hospital admissions and improved management of chronic conditions. The CVC Program provides proactive care coordination for Veteran Gold Card holders with chronic health conditions and Veteran White Card holders with chronic DVA-accepted mental health conditions. GPs and care coordinators (typically a practice nurse) work with participants work as a team to improve the participant’s health care in a general practice setting.
• GP Veteran Health Checks, which provide early intervention and prevention of veteran mental health issues and other key health conditions. 

The aim of these programs is to support improved health outcomes for DVA clients.

We also want to make it as easy as possible for nurses to access the information they need to understand and take advantage of these programs for their patients. The resource points nurses in the direction of a suite of handy reference guides and resources to help them when treating a DVA client. 

The resource appears prominently on the Knowledge Hub, which attracts around 25,000 page views a week. We also have an article about the resource in APNA’s current edition of The Connect newsletter, which has an audience of 24,000.

This initiative maintains the momentum achieved through DVA’s participation in three APNA roadshow events late last year that engaged directly with nurses about key DVA health arrangements and programs that support general practice.

Primary health care nurses have an essential role in supporting members of the veteran community. APNA is the peak body and professional membership association for all nurses working outside of a hospital setting in Australia.