VA Research Wrap Up: New research on lung cancer screening, rural hospitals and suicide prevention

VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting new findings on cancer screenings for Veterans, improving rural VA hospitals and info on a suicide prevention program.

New centralized process improves lung cancer screening

Rural Veterans often receive lung cancer screening through community care, but this can result in perceptions of low-quality care and care fragmentation. The Minneapolis VA tested a centralized process that cut the time between screening and the ordering clinician receiving results nearly in half, from an average of 27.6 days to 14.5 days, and greatly improved guideline-adherent follow-up.

The program also decreased the number of Veterans receiving unnecessary screenings from 6.3% to zero. In this system, a nurse coordinator reviewed referrals, confirmed eligibility, ensured results were received back to the medical center, and made sure Veterans received appropriate follow-up. The results show centralized coordination by VA can prevent care fragmentation and make sure Veterans receive timely screenings and care.

Researchers create playbook for treating rural Veterans

VA Eastern Colorado researchers adapted a hospital leadership playbook for rural hospital medicine to improve team functioning and Veteran care.

The “Relational Playbook for Cardiology Teams” is a 6-month, evidence-based leadership development program designed to foster supportive learning environments within VA. Researchers recruited clinical leaders in medicine, nursing, social work and pharmacy from three rural VA hospitals to tailor the training to the challenges and needs of these facilities. Working with these leaders helped researchers identify barriers and difficulties, such as physician burnout, allowing them to customize the approach to the rural setting. Future work will evaluate the impact of this quality improvement initiative on direct Veteran care.

Reducing suicide through better firearms safety

Lethal means training for firearms safety has been shown to reduce the risk of suicide. Researchers from the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx evaluated a peer-based training program called the Overwatch Project to help active duty service members create a safety plan with their peers to use if a suicide crisis occurs.

In a group of 900 active duty service members, 85% of those trained by the Overwatch Project met the minimum score on a firearms safety knowledge assessment, compared to just 8% before the training. Individuals creating a proactive safety plan on their own increased their scores by 42% after training. The results suggest the Overwatch Project could be a promising step toward reducing suicide in active duty service members.

For more Office of Research and Development updates, visit ORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.