Engaging veterans in healthcare research projects at the Minnesota Veterans Administration
WINRS completed a 1-month consultation project with a research team at the Minnesota Veterans Administration Healthcare System, led by Laura Meis, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota. WINRS helped plan the first meeting of a stakeholder engagement panel that will bring the voices of military veterans into VA research.
WINRS consultation included clarifying the team’s desired outcomes from the meeting; designing activities to prompt useful feedback from panel members; and developing a script for meeting facilitators that can also be used as a template for future meetings. This Minneapolis initiative is in response to a US Department of Veteran’s Affairs report that recommended more extensive involvement of military vets in research projects. The Meis group hopes that what they learn in this pilot project will help them develop “best practices” in veterans’ engagement to share with other VAs.