{"id":32316,"date":"2018-07-16T12:49:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/16\/report-vas-staffing-issues-and-prescription-practices-may-be-hurting-suicide-prevention-efforts\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:21:15","slug":"report-vas-staffing-issues-and-prescription-practices-may-be-hurting-suicide-prevention-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/07\/16\/report-vas-staffing-issues-and-prescription-practices-may-be-hurting-suicide-prevention-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: VA\u2019s staffing issues and prescription practices may be hurting suicide prevention efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Problems with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2017\/09\/27\/hiring-new-staff-remains-a-problem-for-vas-suicide-prevention-efforts\/\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Affairs\u2019 hiring practices<\/a> and department doctor\u2019s overprescription of anxiety drugs may be undermining officials\u2019 efforts to combat suicide among veterans, according to a new report from one of the nation\u2019s leading veterans groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">American Legion analysts released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legion.org\/publications\/242424\/veteran-suicide-white-paper\" target=_blank>the 20-page review of veterans suicide prevention efforts<\/a> last week, about a month before their annual convention. It also comes a month after VA leaders released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/06\/25\/va-backs-off-suicide-study-which-indicated-thousands-of-unreported-military-deaths\/\" target=_blank>their latest national suicide data<\/a>, showing little change in the veterans rate in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA has implemented numerous successful initiatives and programs,\u201d the Legion report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHowever, as an average of 20 veterans a day continue to take their own lives \u2026 much more must be done, and VA must continue to strive to provide patient-centered care and improve the patient experience through adequately staffed and properly funded programs and services.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/06\/25\/va-backs-off-suicide-study-which-indicated-thousands-of-unreported-military-deaths\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4018590.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">VA backs off suicide study that indicated thousands of unreported military deaths<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The report showed thousands more troops taking their own lives than official military records had previously reported.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of particular concern to Legion officials are significant staffing gaps at VA medical facilities across the country. Department officials have acknowledged more than 30,000 full-time vacancies across the VA system, with particularly problematic shortages in specialties such as mental health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaders from the veterans service organization blame those shortfalls in large part on \u201cthe tedious hiring process\u201d at the federal bureaucracy, and urged more outreach and research into ways to improve the recruiting and retention process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe shortage of employees can lead to overworked staff, poor patient experiences and lower quality of care,\u201d their report states. \u201cExemplary patient experience is vital to keeping veterans in the VA care network, which studies have shown significantly decreases risk of suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legion officials also sounded alarms over VA physicians use of benzodiazepines, a class of anti-anxiety drugs that includes Xanax and Valium. Despite the risk of numerous problematic side effects, \u201cover 25 percent of veterans newly diagnosed with PTSD are still being prescribed harmful and potentially deadly amounts of medications,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The authors recommended better tracking of those medications to find ways to minimize their use and more closely watch for signs they may be triggering suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report also recommends further outreach by VA to veterans with other-than-honorable discharges \u2014 last year, VA officials offered emergency mental health intervention to those veterans for the first time \u2014 and more exploration of alternative mental health therapies for struggling veterans, such as such as \u201cacupuncture, yoga, meditation (and) martial arts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The full Legion report is available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legion.org\/publications\/242424\/veteran-suicide-white-paper\" target=_blank>on the group\u2019s web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To contact the Veteran Crisis Line, callers can dial 1-800-273-8255 and select option 1 for a VA staffer. Veterans, troops or their families members can also text 838255 or visit <a href=\"http:\/\/veteranscrisisline.net\/\" target=_blank>VeteransCrisisLine.net<\/a> for assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You are not alone. Trained professionals, some <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Veterans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Veterans<\/a> themselves, are 1 call, 1 chat or 1 text away. Call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/VeteransCrisisLine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#VeteransCrisisLine<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/54tvlJG3Su\">https:\/\/t.co\/54tvlJG3Su<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qXzxrOs70g\">pic.twitter.com\/qXzxrOs70g<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Miami VA (@MiamiVAMC) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MiamiVAMC\/status\/1012818071843758083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>American Legion officials say more work must be done to address the problem of suicide. Twenty veterans a day across the country take their own lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":25,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[29,117,15,35,25,146],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3347],"class_list":["post-32316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-retirement-e-report"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BY7XKRCCIFFLJE43PBLREFL7CY","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2018\/07\/16\/report-vas-staffing-issues-and-prescription-practices-may-be-hurting-suicide-prevention-efforts\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Report: VA\u2019s staffing issues and prescription practices may be hurting suicide prevention efforts - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American Legion officials say more work must be done to address the problem of suicide. 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