VA Shifts Focus on Female Veterans Research

During a stop in Wyoming on Tuesday, Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said that his department has improved in caring for the needs of female veterans, but must do more to prepare for the next generation of military women about to leave the service. Officials said the number of women using VA health care services has doubled in the last decade, with around 300,000 currently in the system. VA research focused on women’s health needs has also seen dramatic increases in recent years, with $12 million for 60 separate studies in 2011 alone.

In a roundtable with reporters on Tuesday, VA research officials said those efforts will continue to increase in coming years. But they also plan to shift many of those research projects from general medical investigations to practical accessibility questions.

Dr. Sally Haskill, a member of the VA’s Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group, said that means looking into issues of depression and mental health illnesses specific to women, but also how effectively VA medical centers are providing specialized care. The goal is to find models for the entire department, including “gender awareness curriculum” for facilities that just a few years ago almost never saw a female patient.