CARING FOR OUR VETERAN AND SERVICE MEMBERS

Veterans and military service members comprise a unique population with specific health care considerations and nursing care.  This symposium will address a spectrum of issues that illustrate the myriad of concerns for this population.  The first presentation of Sleep-wake Disturbance in Veterans with Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) highlights the somatic consequences of TBI, one of the hallmark injuries of the current war.  TBI can result in both short- and long-term physical, cognitive and neurobehavioural impairments. Complaints of disturbed sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness and disorders of arousal are among the most pervasive, enduring and common sequelae of TBI. The second presentation of a theory of relational certainty for military veterans explores the adaptive stress responses veterans’ display reintegrating into society. The theory attempts to explain how veterans internally construct meaning related to their stable relationships, with the level of relational certainty indicating a balance of biological and social links.  These first two presentations illustrate the visible and invisible consequences of war. The third presentation explores the unique challenges of aging for veterans, identifying issues related to continuity of care, isolation and a lack of advance care planning for veterans who are often unable or reluctant to access Veterans Administration (VA) health care services. The study offers new perspectives on how to approach palliative care when uncertainty and flux is inevitable. The last presentation highlights a new programmatic initiative creating academic programs for veteran and military health care as an emerging nursing specialty, exploring the facets of scholarly grounding for this nursing practice.  With over 22 million beneficiaries in the Veterans Administration (VA) and 9.6 million in the Military Health System (MHS)^, this new specialty is based on the complex systems of care in the VA and MHS, advances in combat casualty care, the large influx of veterans and service members into the health care system post an extended period of conflict, and the growing health care needs of service members, veterans and their families. Overall, caring for our military service members and veterans is relevant, timely, and an extraordinarily important area of nursing research for a population who have endured personal sacrifice on behalf of others, and who live daily with the health effects from their service.