Quality of Care

What's New at Your VA?

VA is constantly working to provide more excellent service and care for Veterans. This includes new programs and initiatives, advanced training, and renovations and improvements to enhance health care facilities. Each VA project is an opportunity to improve the delivery of services to America's heroes. Featured below are some of the exciting improvements in quality of care taking place around the country:  Click on the region below to find out what's new in that area.

Northeast | Southeast | Midwest | Northwest | Southwest

Northeast

There are many reasons why Veterans rely on VA for their health care needs. Here’s why Veteran Minta Davis chooses VA.

Why Choose VA?

As she approached the end of her civilian career, Minta Davis’s coworkers encouraged her to sign up for VA health care. But she didn’t consider herself a Veteran, even though she previously served in the National Guard for more than 20 years.

“I had met plenty of Veterans, but they were all older. I didn’t realize I fit into that category,” she explains. But then she spoke with a VA enrollment specialist about her eligibility for VA health care and was surprised when the employee thanked her for her service. “I thought it sounded nice, and it dawned on me, I really and truly am a Veteran.”  Read more...

Southeast

One Veteran suicide is one too many, so James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital is taking steps to help prevent them.

Patient Safety Advancing Suicide Prevention

One Veteran suicide is one too many, so James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital is taking steps to help prevent them.

Each year, the JAHVH Patient Safety department completes a Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) as designated by the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS).  The HFMEA is a proactive risk assessment that identifies and improves potential system vulnerabilities to ensure a safe and clinically desirable outcome.

This year the Patient Safety department completed the HFMEA on Suicide Prevention: Process of Admitting Patients with Suicidal/Homicidal Ideations to Acute Medical-Surgical Units.  The goal of the HFMEA was to create a safe environment for patients with suicidal/homicidal ideations without compromising patient care.  Read more...

Midwest

Veterans enjoying the 5th Annual Recovery Picnic at Willard Beach on Goguac Lake

More than Just a Picnic

Veterans from the Battle Creek VA Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs (RRTPs)- PTSD, Substance Use Disorder, and Psychosocial Rehabilitation – attended the 5th Annual Recovery Picnic at Willard Beach on Goguac Lake Thursday July 26th.  For Veterans in the RRTP Programs, It is more than just a picnic or day at the beach.  Outing like this assist in developing Recovery and socialization skills.  Recent research by the Baltimore VA shows that therapeutic group outings may pave the way back into communal life for some Veterans.  Some Veterans also report directly benefiting from observing other Veterans in a group outing situation.

In addition to being therapeutic, the event is also a celebration of Recovery.  In celebration of their Recovery, along with the Residential Programs staff, Veterans enjoyed activities that included; volleyball, swimming, fishing, kayaking, golf cart rides, corn hole, card games, music, dancing, and singing. Therapeutic Recreation and RRTP Program staff help coordinate a number of activities that can fit the variety of Veterans in attendance.  Read more...

Northwest

Cardiac CathTeam (from left): Michael Richina, RN; Mark Pasquini, RN; Don Rickels, RN; Rudy Ruiz, Supply Tech; Arturo Carreon, R.T.(R); Isaac Beltran, R.T.(R)(CI); Ryan A. Berg, MD, FACC - Cath Lab Director; Erika Sutton, RN - Cardiology Head Nurse; Arang Samim, MD, FACC - Chief of Cardiology

VA CCHCS Cardiac Catheterization Lab Expansion

FRESNO, Calif. – The phrase "Open your heart," is often used or heard in reference to charitable donation or fundraising for a good cause. This expression, however, takes on an entirely different meaning for the doctors and nurses at VA Central California Health Care System’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, who help Veterans overcome heart blockage or clogged arteries, daily.

After a year-long process of meeting several benchmarks and making certain all necessary components and staff were in place, the cath lab is slated for an August expansion, allowing the team to offer extended services at the main VA hospital. The process included oversight by VA’s National Heart Team, as well as approval from the Veterans Health Administration in Washington, D.C. Read more...

Southwest

CARF International, recently accredited VCB’s Homeless Veterans and Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Services (ICMHR) Programs. Pictured in collage spelling the word ACCREDITATIONS are 14 employees of the more than 20 staff members who form part of the two VA programs. (Photos by Melinda Rosson and other VA employees were used in the creation of this U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs photo illustration by Luis H. Loza Gutierrez)

VCB earns 3-year CARF Accreditations

HARLINGEN, Texas -- The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, more commonly known as CARF International, recently accredited the Homeless Veterans and Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery/Rural Access Network Growth Enhancement (ICMHR/RANGE) Programs for VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System (VCB).

Founded in 1966 CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process and continuous improvement services that center on enhancing the lives of the persons served. The accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.   Read more...

return to top