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The primary purpose of this study was to describe the curricular content that addresses the cultural and healthcare aspects of the military, Veteran, and their families.
While research related to military, Veterans, and their families is growing, there is little published on how pre-licensure nursing education should be approached, specifically if and how care of this unique population should be incorporated into nursing curricula. Nurses are in a key position to care for military and Veteran service members and their families, especially after separation from the service. Currently, there are Veterans living from 6 different wars: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Strom, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Nurses and other healthcare providers are likely interacting with Veterans on a daily or weekly basis and in most cases, not even aware that they have. Through increasing awareness about the experiences of active military, Veterans, and their families, it is hoped that cultural sensitivity and compassion for their experiences and healthcare needs can be better achieved.
Methods:
The study was an exploratory descriptive design framed by Purnell's Model for Cultural Competence. The investigators developed a 28-item survey to capture the six initiatives set forth in the American Association of Colleges Nursing pledge. The survey had both open- and closed-ended items that included school/college demographics; questions related to past, present, and future military/Veteran healthcare curricular elements; faculty knowledge, comfort, and preparation with teaching the content; whether their school/college had met the Joining Forcesinitiatives, and facilitators and barriers to meeting the initiatives. A total of 583 email invitations were sent to potential respondents with 123 programs responding to the survey.
Results:
The findings suggest that some schools/colleges of nursing have exceeded the Joining Forces initiative goals, some who have implemented little, while most are in the process. Respondents shared approaches used to enhance courses and curricula. Faculty who were veterans were a strength to program enhancement. The majority felt incorporating this content was important, although lack of time and a content-laden curriculum were common barriers. Areas that programs felt they could enhance content were in special topics, community (public) health, and health assessment courses.
Conclusion:
Healthcare providers need a toolkit of general cultural knowledge so that they can ask specific cultural assessment questions. Nurse educators have an ethical obligation to teach culturally sensitive care. The first goal of educating future nurses to care for this population is an area where nurse faculty have the ability and responsibility to incorporate military and Veteran specific content into their curricula. Veteran-centered care is a global issue and the preparation of new nurses is the first step in providing culturally sensitive care to this population.