Disparities in Health Behaviors and Chronic Conditions in Health Care Providers in the Veterans Health Administration

Abstract

Veterans Health Administration's population appears less healthy than the US general population. Disparities between occupation groups support the establishment of targeted health promotion programs, with attention paid to differences in local culture.

Innovative Approaches for Understanding Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Declination in Healthcare Personnel Support Development of New Campaign Strategies

“…However, the area-level variance for VHA location in the vaccine acceptance model was higher than what we have previously found in our work predicting employee health behaviors and chronic conditions. 26 Although the variance between VHA locations appears to be relatively small, it likely reflects important differences between facilities that may affect vaccine acceptance. When 4 facility-level predictors (facility size, complexity, a rural or urban designation, and vaccination rates in the previous year) were included in the multilevel model, the MOR decreased to 1.27.…”

Integrated Employee Occupational Health and Organizational-Level Registered Nurse Outcomes

“…The initiative (2008 to 2012) included (1) a pilot intervention program in 11 Midwest hospitals to test specific tools, (2) a small grants program to serve as an innovation engine to identify new solutions, and (3) a national wellness survey to define baseline data for future comparisons. 19 Since 2012, continuing to foster the development of a national community of employee wellness, the program has expanded to include a national training program for coaches based on successful pilot elements. VA assessed the health promotion programs status and activities at year 2 of the initiative using a key informant survey.…”

“…16 Current estimates suggest that over one-third of the U.S. nursing workforce is over 50 years of age. 17 Given specific occupational risks and the advancing age of the nursing workforce, with ageassociated increases in ''lifestyle diseases'' and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, [17][18][19] maintaining the health of individual nurses and the nursing workforce has become an important priority for health care organizations. 20 In the current study, we utilize transactional data from employee health, organizational health, and human resources to operationalize indicators of employee health integration.…”

Cardiovascular Risk Factors of Long-Term Care Workers

“…Research has shown health care workers have higher or similar rates of overweight or obesity, PA, and hypertension as the general population of the United States (N. Blake, Blayney, Loera, Rowlett, & Schmidt, 2012;H. Blake, Malik, Mo, & Pisano, 2011;Flannery, Resnick, Akpadiaha, & McMullen, 2014;Frank, Tong, Lobelo, Carrera, & Duperly, 2008;Schult, Awosika, Hodgson, & Dyrenforth, 2011;Zapka, Lemon, Magner, & Hale, 2009). In addition, the health behaviors of these individuals extend beyond personal benefit to potentially affect patient behaviors as these caregivers can be role models in regard to diet and PA.…”