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Research Highlights
VA Research & Development Website to Get Facelift
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated September 1, 2003
Charlie Festel is serving as the web project manager for R&D and is working with the Information Dissemination Program staff, to orchestrate the redesign and content enhancement process. The goal is to better serve the VA research community and all web users, including policymakers, managers, veterans and the public.
The new site scheduled to launch in early 2004, will have improved navigation and accessibility and better-organized information on topics such as training, career development and funding opportunities. Some of the new proposed content includes: searchable database of study and citation information; catalogue of major accomplishments of R&D findings and breakthroughs; and current content, i.e., feature articles on hot research topics, researcher profiles, center initiatives, awards, summaries of R&D press coverage, etc.
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated September 1, 2003
VA Study on Cholesterol Drug May Protect Vision
According to a University of Alabama at Birmingham and VA study to be published in the September issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology, elderly men who take cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration. Age-related degeneration occurs when light sensitive cells at the back of the eye, or macula, break down.
Supported by the National Institutes of Health, Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. and the Eyesight Foundation of Alabama, the study evaluated 6,000 elderly men, including 550 who had recently been diagnosed with macular degeneration. Researchers found a significantly lower occurrence of macular degeneration in men who were taking statins. For every three cases of the disease found in men taking statins, researchers found 10 cases in men not taking statins.
It was determined that more study is needed into the connection between cholesterol levels and macular degeneration, and more research needs to be focused on the effectiveness of statins in preventing macular degeneration.
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated July 21, 2003
VA Conducts National Nursing Pilot Project
To expand VA’s understanding of the relationship between nurse staffing and patient outcomes, VA’s National Nursing Executive Council has launched a 16-month national pilot to create the VA Nursing Outcomes Database (VANOD). Specifically, the project has three objectives: 1) establish feasible, consistent, and reliable data collection methods for obtaining nursing-sensitive quality indicators and staffing at the patient care unit level; 2) build the pilot VA nursing database; and 3) develop prototype reporting processes and formats that will help sites benchmark and compare patient quality outcome indicators at the local, network and national levels.
The database will allow for testing of practices, provide an evidence base for assessment and interventions, and determine relationships between the structure and processes of nursing care. It will be designed to generate reports at unit and hospital levels that will enable benchmarking within and among VA facilities. It will also be available for research studies related to structure, process and outcomes across VA.
Although the current pilot project begins with acute care settings in 12 randomly selected sites, the long-range plan will include all VA health care facilities including those specializing in psychiatry, long-term care and ambulatory care.
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