Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Care for Military Personnel and Veterans With Chronic Health Needs: A...

Military personnel and veterans experience complex health needs at higher rates than the general population, including both physical and mental health conditions. Although multidisciplinary care may improve outcome in this population, there has been a reduction in veteran-specific healthcare services in Australia.

We evaluated outcomes from the National Centre for Veterans' Healthcare, a national multidisciplinary program established in Australia in 2019. During the study period, 345 current and former Australian Defence Force members were referred for multidisciplinary assessment and intervention. Standardized outcome measures were collected at admission and discharge, including the Brief Pain Inventory, Pain Catastrophising Scale, Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, PCL-5, and DASS-21.

Participants showed statistically significant improvements across all measured domains. The greatest improvements were seen in pain interference with daily activities. Although completion rates for discharge measures were lower than at enrolment, improvements were consistent across all measures (P < .001 for all outcome measures). Musculoskeletal pain was a common presentation, with up to 72% of participants having lumbar spine pain in particular.

A dedicated veterans' healthcare program delivering comprehensive multidisciplinary care can achieve significant improvements in pain, mental health, and functional status. These findings support the value of veterans-specific healthcare services tailored to the specific health needs of this population.