by: Nancy Claflin DNP MS RN NEA-BC CENP CCRN CPHQ FNAHQ
Chair, NOVA Education Committee          

In 2023, NOVA completed a successful first year of our three-year program of webinars on Veteran healthcare topics, the “Caring for Veterans” webinar series. VA nurses do an amazing job in caring for veterans every day and this series of webinars was developed to assist VA nurses in providing that care. These programs are designed to provide specific information about veterans and veterans’ healthcare.

The Caring for Veterans webinars are focused on providing information to not only new graduate nurses and nurses who are new to the VA but also to all of the VA nurses who care for veterans every day. These programs provide a wonderful foundation for caring for veterans, and NOVA recommends that they be included in Nursing Orientation and Transition to Practice programs. The three-year series includes twelve webinars presented each year. Each webinar provides 1.0 contact hours of Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD) credit, and completion of each 12-month series, and all three series provide a certificate.

Outstanding programs were presented in 2023 and are available on the NOVA website. Kimberlee Bayless DNP FNP-BC presented a webinar on Acute Pain Management. Mercedes Moore CRNP presented a webinar on COVID-19. Rebecca Brown MSN MBA RN presented a webinar on Breast and Cervical Screening Updates. Gretchen Werle RN MSN and Scott J McAllister, Sr. LICSW presented a webinar on Addressing Homelessness and the HUD-VASH Program. Rosetta M Brown-Greaney MSN ANP presented a webinar on Eligibility for VA Care Compensation, and Pension. Leigh A. Paz LCSW presented Fundamentals of Military Culture. Samantha McCandless MSN RN CEPC presented Community Based Interventions for Suicide Prevention: Community Engagement and Partnership Programs. Linda R. Droste MSN RN CWOCN CBIS presented Wound Care. Daniel Hawks RN presented the Caregiver Support Program. Maura Miller PhD APRN GNP-BC presented Hospice and Palliative Care for Veterans, and Karen Justi BSN RN NBC-HWC presented Whole Health. Viewing these programs will help you and other VA nurses provide the best care to veterans.

In 2024, look for programs on Providing Care to Veterans with Rehabilitation Needs, How You Help Save Lives: Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation, Safe Patient Handling, Providing Equitable Healthcare: Caring for LGBTQ Veterans, What is PTSD and How Do You Address it with Veterans, Infectious Disease Exposures Veterans Encounter, Community Care Update, Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Pain Management, Suicide Prevention Strategies, Military Sexual Trauma/Intimate Partner Violence, and Substance Use Disorders.

As a NOVA member, please register for the current webinars. You can also schedule a room in your facility to view a webinar. Communicate with the Nursing Education and Education departments about the upcoming webinar and send an email from your private email address to VA nurses with information about upcoming webinars. You can also post a flyer in break rooms and/or on educational bulletin boards, etc. with information about the webinar. During the webinar, have people sign an attendance sheet with their name and email address, and send that to nova@vanurse.org after the webinar so people who attend can receive an evaluation and a certificate for nursing continuing professional development credits. Share information on NOVA’s webinars including the Caring for Veterans series with your colleagues. The webinars are available on demand on the NOVA website: https://www.vanurse.org/default.aspx