Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Providers Should Know About Caring for Veterans

Abstract

Many of America's Veterans have unique medical and psychosocial needs related to their military service. Since most medical care received by Veterans occurs outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, it is imperative that all medical providers have a working understanding of the unique needs of Veterans and some of the many programs and services available to Veterans through the VA. This article, created by an interdisciplinary team of palliative care and hospice providers who care for Veterans throughout the country, seeks to improve the comfort with which non-VA clinicians care for Veterans while increasing knowledge about programs for which Veterans might qualify through the VA.

Keywords: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center; VA comprehensive end-of-life care initiative; caring for Veterans; palliative care; serious illness.