Veterans and Emergency Medicine

Bionic Monkey

ITT you do my homework for me.

Okay, not really, but I could use some help brainstorming broader topics that I will then research later. And I know we have some veterans on the board, and figured it would help to get some perspective direct from the people this would impact most.

The long and the short of it is I'm taking a Behavioral Emergency/Crisis Intervention class as part of my EMT Paramedic training. A group of two other guys and I will be giving a presentation in a few weeks, and the topic chosen was Veteran Specific Issues. A pretty broad topic, but within the confines of emergency medicine, it's surprisingly limited, and not a one of us is actually a veteran.

What we've come up with thus far is PTSD (causes, triggers, treatments, symptoms), Suicidal Ideation (attempts, methods, triggers), Long Lasting Physical Injuries (psychological repercussions & transport difficulties), and perhaps Gulf War Syndrome though that seems like more of a physical issue.

We don't want to get too broad, since the presentation will be limited to 15-20 minutes, but if we could come up with a third in-depth topic such as the PTSD and Suicidal Ideation, that would be perfect for each of us to focus on.

Any thoughts? Any veterans that can give me some insight that might just not be obvious to me?

Fandyien

I'm about as far away from a veteran as possible but I think you could address benefits (or the lack thereof) for a veteran's dependents

Bionic Monkey

Benefits, as in monetary and services? It's an important issue to be sure, but probably not relevant to the narrow focus of the class.

If that's not what you mean, could you maybe explain it a little more?

Fandyien

Well, that and things like death benefits or things to alleviate the pressure of caring for someone with one of the illnesses you list above could bear mentioning.

Evigilant

Some possible topics:
Amputations (perception, acceptance, thoughts on what outsiders might think)
Prescription Drug abuse (how are they obtaining them, causes, trigger, treatment, symptoms)
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) (causes, trigger, treatment, symptoms)

Personally, I'd choose Prescription drug abuse and tie that in with PTSD, Suicidal Ideation, and long lasting mental/physical injury, because veterans have easy free access to prescription meds.

Bionic Monkey

The drug abuse angle is a fantastic idea. I'll need to do a bit of research into mTBI, but that sounds like it could be tied into long lasting physical injuries as well.

Morblitz

What about psychosis? Stress can be a factor in developing a psychotic disorder, which can also be sometimes brought on by severe depression. Schizophrenia could be a thing here, so could Depression with Psychotic features. Worth a look?

RazzleDazz

Seconding drug abuse and TBI, they tie in well with PTSD and suicide as problems that follow many veterans for a long time or as issues that may go undiagnosed / untreated.