scholarly journals Challenges, Facilitators, and Recommendations for Implementation of Home Dialysis in the Veterans Health Administration: Patient, Caregiver, and Clinician Perceptions

Kidney360 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
pp. 1928-1944
Author(s):  
Lindsey A. Jones ◽  
Elisa J. Gordon ◽  
Timothy P. Hogan ◽  
Cindi A. Fiandaca ◽  
Bridget M. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Informal Caregivers ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Psychosocial Effects ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Home Dialysis ◽  
Data Feedback

BackgroundHome dialysis confers similar survival and greater quality of life than in-center hemodialysis for adults with ESKD but remains underutilized. We examined challenges and facilitators to implementation of home dialysis and identified stakeholder-centered strategies for improving it.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative, cross-sectional, multisite evaluation that included five geographically dispersed Veterans Health Administration (VHA) home dialysis programs. Participants included patients with ESKD receiving home dialysis, their informal caregivers, and home dialysis staff. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted and audio-recorded from 2017 through 2018, to assess perceived barriers and facilitators to patient home dialysis use in VHA. Transcribed interviews were analyzed thematically by each participant group.ResultsParticipants included 22 patients receiving home dialysis (18 on peritoneal dialysis [PD] and four hemodialysis [HD]); 20 informal caregivers, and 19 home dialysis program staff. Ten themes emerged as challenges to implementing home dialysis, of which six (60%) spanned all groups: need for sterility, burden of home dialysis tasks, lack of suitable home environment, physical side effects of home dialysis, negative psychosocial effects of home dialysis, and loss of freedom. Four themes (40%), identified only by staff, were insufficient self-efficacy, diminished peer socialization, geographic barriers, and challenging health status. Twelve themes emerged as facilitators to implementing home dialysis, of which seven (58%) spanned all groups: convenience, freedom, avoidance of in-center HD, preservation of autonomy, adequate support, favorable disposition, and perceptions of improved health. Two themes (17%) common among patients and staff were adequate training and resources, and physical and cognitive skills for home dialysis. Recommendations to promote implementation of home dialysis common to all participant groups entailed incorporating mental health care services, offering peer-to-peer coaching, increasing home visits, providing health data feedback, and reducing patient burden.ConclusionsStakeholder-centered challenges were rigorously identified. Facilitators and recommendations can inform efforts to support home dialysis implementation.

Communication and psychological safety in veterans health administration work environments

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 754-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. Yanchus ◽  
Ryan Derickson ◽  
Scott C. Moore ◽  
Daniele Bologna ◽  
Katerine Osatuke
Keyword(s):  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Psychological Safety ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Employee Perceptions ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore employee perceptions of communication in psychologically safe and unsafe clinical care environments. Design/methodology/approach – Clinical providers at the USA Veterans Health Administration were interviewed as part of planning organizational interventions. They discussed strengths, weaknesses, and desired changes in their workplaces. A subset of respondents also discussed workplace psychological safety (i.e. employee perceptions of being able to speak up or report errors without retaliation or ostracism – Edmondson, 1999). Two trained coders analysed the interview data using a grounded theory-based method. They excerpted passages that discussed job-related communication and summarized specific themes. Subsequent analyses compared frequencies of themes across workgroups defined as having psychologically safe vs unsafe climate based upon an independently administered employee survey. Findings – Perceptions of work-related communication differed across clinical provider groups with high vs low psychological safety. The differences in frequencies of communication-related themes across the compared groups matched the expected pattern of problem-laden communication characterizing psychologically unsafe workplaces. Originality/value – Previous research implied the existence of a connection between communication and psychological safety whereas this study offers substantive evidence of it. The paper summarized the differences in perceptions of communication in high vs low psychological safety environments drawing from qualitative data that reflected clinical providers’ direct experience on the job. The paper also illustrated the conclusions with multiple specific examples. The findings are informative to health care providers seeking to improve communication within care delivery teams.

scholarly journals Supporting the Implementation of Connected Care Technologies in the Veterans Health Administration: Cross-Sectional Survey Findings from the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative (VET-C) Cohort

10.2196/21214 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. e21214
Author(s):  
Bella Etingen ◽  
Daniel J Amante ◽  
Rachael N Martinez ◽  
Bridget M Smith ◽  
Stephanie L Shimada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Advanced Degree ◽  
Patient Portal ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Clinical Records

Background Widespread adoption, use, and integration of patient-facing technologies into the workflow of health care systems has been slow, thus limiting the realization of their potential. A growing body of work has focused on how best to promote adoption and use of these technologies and measure their impacts on processes of care and outcomes. This body of work currently suffers from limitations (eg, cross-sectional analyses, limited patient-generated data linked with clinical records) and would benefit from institutional infrastructure to enhance available data and integrate the voice of the patient into implementation and evaluation efforts. Objective The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has launched an initiative called the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort to directly address these challenges. This paper reports the process by which the cohort was developed and describes the baseline data being collected from cohort members. The overarching goal of the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort is to directly engage veterans in the evaluation of new VHA patient-facing technologies and in so doing, to create new infrastructure to support related quality improvement and evaluation activities. Methods Inclusion criteria for veterans to be eligible for membership in the cohort included being an active user of VHA health care services, having a mobile phone, and being an established user of existing VHA patient-facing technologies as represented by use of the secure messaging feature of VHA’s patient portal. Between 2017 and 2018, we recruited veterans who met these criteria and administered a survey to them over the telephone. Results The majority of participants (N=2727) were male (2268/2727, 83.2%), White (2226/2727, 81.6%), living in their own apartment or house (2519/2696, 93.4%), and had completed some college (1176/2701, 43.5%) or an advanced degree (1178/2701, 43.6%). Cohort members were 59.9 years old, on average. The majority self-reported their health status as being good (1055/2725, 38.7%) or very good (524/2725, 19.2%). Most cohort members owned a personal computer (2609/2725, 95.7%), tablet computer (1616/2716, 59.5%), and/or smartphone (2438/2722, 89.6%). Conclusions The Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort is an example of a VHA learning health care system initiative designed to support the data-driven implementation of patient-facing technologies into practice and measurement of their impacts. With this initiative, VHA is building capacity for future, rapid, rigorous evaluation and quality improvement efforts to enhance understanding of the adoption, use, and impact of patient-facing technologies.

Mental health and addiction service use among United States veterans with liver disease nationally in the Veterans Health Administration

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lamia Haque ◽  
Robert Rosenheck
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Drug Dependence ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Addiction Treatment ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Health Treatment ◽  
Content Type

Purpose While many studies have shown that liver diseases (LD) can be caused or exacerbated by substance use disorders (SUD), few have examined the proportion of adults with LD and SUD who receive mental health and addiction treatment or correlates of such use. Design/methodology/approach Using national Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 data from the United States Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the authors studied all 43,246 veterans diagnosed with both LD and SUD in FY 2012 and compared those who received mental health treatment (n = 30,456; 70.4%) to those who did not (n = 12,790; 29.6%). Findings Veterans who received mental health treatment were less like to be older than 75 years of age, more likely to have served during recent Middle East conflicts (Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom), more likely to have been recently homeless and to have drug dependence as contrasted with alcohol dependence when compared with those who did not receive mental health treatment. Although the majority, 70.4%, received mental health treatment, only 30.6% of the total received specialized addiction treatment, and these veterans were more likely to experience homelessness and have drug dependence diagnoses. Originality/value This is the first study as per the authors’ best knowledge that broadly examines mental health and addiction treatment received by veterans with LD and SUD. High rates of mental health treatment in this population likely reflect the integrated nature of the VHA and its emphasis on providing comprehensive services to homeless veterans. Further research is needed to identify barriers to specialized addiction treatment in this population.

Doctoral-prepared nurses in the Veterans Health Administration: A cross-sectional survey

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Rugs ◽  
Blake Barrett ◽  
Margeaux Chavez ◽  
Linda Cowan ◽  
Christine Melillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional

scholarly journals Lung Cancer Staging at Diagnosis in the Veterans Health Administration: Is Rurality an Influencing Factor? A Cross‐Sectional Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 484-495
Author(s):  
Rolando Sanchez ◽  
Yunshu Zhou ◽  
Mary S. Vaughan Sarrazin ◽  
Peter J. Kaboli ◽  
Mary Charlton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Influencing Factor ◽  
Cancer Staging ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional

scholarly journals Personal Health Record Reach in the Veterans Health Administration: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Leah Shimada ◽  
Cynthia A Brandt ◽  
Hua Feng ◽  
D Keith McInnes ◽  
Sowmya R Rao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Personal Health Record ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Cross Sectional Analysis ◽  
Sectional Analysis

scholarly journals Hormone Therapy Use in Women Veterans Accessing Veterans Health Administration Care: A National Cross-Sectional Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Gerber ◽  
Matthew W. King ◽  
Suzanne L. Pineles ◽  
Shannon Wiltsey-Stirman ◽  
Bevanne Bean-Mayberry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hormone Therapy ◽  
Women Veterans ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional

scholarly journals Supporting the Implementation of Connected Care Technologies in the Veterans Health Administration: Cross-Sectional Survey Findings from the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative (VET-C) Cohort (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bella Etingen ◽  
Daniel J Amante ◽  
Rachael N Martinez ◽  
Bridget M Smith ◽  
Stephanie L Shimada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
Advanced Degree ◽  
Patient Portal ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Clinical Records

BACKGROUND Widespread adoption, use, and integration of patient-facing technologies into the workflow of health care systems has been slow, thus limiting the realization of their potential. A growing body of work has focused on how best to promote adoption and use of these technologies and measure their impacts on processes of care and outcomes. This body of work currently suffers from limitations (eg, cross-sectional analyses, limited patient-generated data linked with clinical records) and would benefit from institutional infrastructure to enhance available data and integrate the voice of the patient into implementation and evaluation efforts. OBJECTIVE The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has launched an initiative called the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort to directly address these challenges. This paper reports the process by which the cohort was developed and describes the baseline data being collected from cohort members. The overarching goal of the Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort is to directly engage veterans in the evaluation of new VHA patient-facing technologies and in so doing, to create new infrastructure to support related quality improvement and evaluation activities. METHODS Inclusion criteria for veterans to be eligible for membership in the cohort included being an active user of VHA health care services, having a mobile phone, and being an established user of existing VHA patient-facing technologies as represented by use of the secure messaging feature of VHA’s patient portal. Between 2017 and 2018, we recruited veterans who met these criteria and administered a survey to them over the telephone. RESULTS The majority of participants (N=2727) were male (2268/2727, 83.2%), White (2226/2727, 81.6%), living in their own apartment or house (2519/2696, 93.4%), and had completed some college (1176/2701, 43.5%) or an advanced degree (1178/2701, 43.6%). Cohort members were 59.9 years old, on average. The majority self-reported their health status as being good (1055/2725, 38.7%) or very good (524/2725, 19.2%). Most cohort members owned a personal computer (2609/2725, 95.7%), tablet computer (1616/2716, 59.5%), and/or smartphone (2438/2722, 89.6%). CONCLUSIONS The Veterans Engagement with Technology Collaborative cohort is an example of a VHA learning health care system initiative designed to support the data-driven implementation of patient-facing technologies into practice and measurement of their impacts. With this initiative, VHA is building capacity for future, rapid, rigorous evaluation and quality improvement efforts to enhance understanding of the adoption, use, and impact of patient-facing technologies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document