Measuring Overweight and Obesity in Persons with Spinal Cord Injury: What Do Health Providers Use and What are the Challenges?

Introduction: Obesity is a significant health concern for veterans and individuals with spinal cord injury, yet screening for overweight/obesity can be challenging. This study examines how healthcare providers screen for overweight/obesity and the challenges encountered in identifying overweight/obesity in veterans and persons with spinal cord injury.

Materials And Methods: Healthcare providers who provide care for persons with spinal cord injury completed a semi-structured interview.

Development of a decision support tool to prevent community acquired pressure injuries for use in the spinal cord injury clinic using the delphi technique.

Study Design: Delphi Technique.

Objectives: Describe the development of a decision support tool to prevent community-acquired pressure injuries (CAPrIs) in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) for use in SCI clinics, called the Community-Acquired Pressure Injury Prevention-Field Implementation Tool (CAPP-FIT).

Setting: Veteran Health Administration Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Triangulation of veteran and provider models of preventing community-acquired pressure injuries in spinal cord injury to reveal convergence and divergence of perspectives.

Context/objective: Community-acquired pressure injuries (CAPrI) are a common and costly complication of spinal cord injury (SCI). The majority of PrIs occur in the community, but there is little guidance in CAPrI prevention. This study describes how provider and veteran perspectives of CAPrI prevention converge and diverge.

US Department of Veterans Affairs Post-Baccalaureate Registered Nurse Residency: Developing Nurses Equipped with Knowledge and Skills to Care for Nation's Veterans.

Nurse residency programs were developed to improve novice nurse competencies, mitigate burnout, lower recruitment costs and nurse attrition, and the quality of patient care. The Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA), US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), established a 12-month postbaccalaureate nurse residency (PB-RNR) program at 49 sites to develop competent, confident, practice-ready registered nurses equipped with the knowledge and skills to care for veterans. The OAA evaluation of the PB-RNR program demonstrated improved new nurse graduate competence, confidence, recruitment, and retention rates after completion of training at participating VA medical facilities.

Development and evaluation of an educational curriculum for healthcare providers on overweight/obesity management in individuals with spinal cord injury based on diverse stakeholder engagement.

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) healthcare providers are aware of the harmful consequences of overweight/obesity in persons with SCI, but many are unaware of available information and lack training to guide weight management care in the SCI population.

Objective: Describe the development and content of an educational curriculum for healthcare providers to help individuals with SCI prevent or manage overweight/obesity.

Methods: The biopsychoecological framework guided curriculum planning, data collection, and product development.