For the first time, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing is graduating a group of nurses skilled in tending to the health needs of the nation’s veterans.May 17, 2015 - When newly minted nurse Samantha Woehrle sees a patient for something as simple as a headache, she’ll know to ask if the person sitting across from her has ever been in an explosion or exposed to Agent Orange.
It may not be the usual line of questioning in the waiting room. But it makes sense if the patient is a veteran.
For the first time, the University of Minnesota School of Nursing is graduating a group of nurses skilled in tending to the health needs of the nation’s veterans.
Woehrle and 19 other nurses who received their diplomas last week are specially trained to understand veterans’ complex medical demands, from post-traumatic stress disorder to conditions specific to the war being fought.
They are joining the workforce at a critical time for veterans and for the Department of Veterans Affairs, one the largest health care providers in the world. In the next five years, 40 percent of the VA health care workforce will become eligible for regular retirement, with 23 percent projected to actually retire. The average age of a VA nurse is 49. At the Minneapolis facility alone, a quarter of its 936 direct care nurses are currently eligible for some form of retirement. read more>>>
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