Mph

[Mabassow]

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Hey guys,

I'm a 2Lt in the Air Force stationed at Nellis and doing the MPH program at UNLV. I'm writing a paper for one of my classes about the long-term care veterans receive vs. the civilian equivalent. I was wondering if any of you possessed or knew of, some good peer-reviewed journal articles that relate to the subject? I'm specifically looking for articles that relate to the potential disparity between military trained doctors vs. civilian trained doctors. Thanks.

 

[resxn]

You won't find one. Despite the drive for pay-for-performance, there is as of yet no acceptable measuring stick to determine whether one physician is "better" than another in objective terms. You won't find a study comparing these two cohorts for sure, although it certainly would be interesting.

As for comparing health outcomes between patients at the VAMC and other hospitals, that is a simple matter of pulling numbers on reported errors, morbidity and mortality rates, EM outcomes data, and other metrics that all hospitals keep.

 

[USAFdoc]

Hey guys,

I'm a 2Lt in the Air Force stationed at Nellis and doing the MPH program at UNLV. I'm writing a paper for one of my classes about the long-term care veterans receive vs. the civilian equivalent. I was wondering if any of you possessed or knew of, some good peer-reviewed journal articles that relate to the subject? I'm specifically looking for articles that relate to the potential disparity between military trained doctors vs. civilian trained doctors. Thanks.

those are 2 different questions.

VA docs are usually civilians and civilian trained.

are you looking at quality of VA care or quality of military training?

 

[Mabassow]

That's interesting; I was unaware that most VA docs are civilians. Then I'll focus on VA Hospital care vs Civilian hospital care regardless of where the doctor's training was accomplished. Now with my renewed focus, lol, are there any articles you are aware of that would help me do my research? I've found some off of Pubmed and a couple of other sites. But I figured that since there are so many military docs here, you guys might have access to more.

 

[met19]

That's interesting; I was unaware that most VA docs are civilians. Then I'll focus on VA Hospital care vs Civilian hospital care regardless of where the doctor's training was accomplished. Now with my renewed focus, lol, are there any articles you are aware of that would help me do my research? I've found some off of Pubmed and a couple of other sites. But I figured that since there are so many military docs here, you guys might have access to more.

i know the va did studies regarding less medical errors, timely refills, less patient jumping to new docs, etc. Occasionally the evening news programs will pick this up- so there must be some data somewhere. As a 4th year student, the VA system is the ultimate in computerized medical records which allow the MD to see when the last tests were ordered, refills, results, and notes. In fact you can pull records from other VA hospitals (e.g. New York to Las Vegas) within minutes.

 

[Mabassow]

Is there an issue with the VA system being more impacted than the civilian side? I heard that patients were having issues receiving more specialized services because of the extended wait period to see a VA physician.

 

[met19]

more impacted regarding what?

generally there is a long wait for specialized care and even some primary care if you are a first time VA user. However, that is a political/budgetary cause. E.g. not enough funding for MD's to work @ the VAs. Therefore, longer waits.