Health issues among military populations: are we providing health care or health and care?

restoration rather than symptom suppression, expands our armamentarium and certainly is the health platform for the future. In “Perceptions of Physicians in Civilian Medical Practice on Veterans’ Issues Related to Health Care,” Fredricks and Nakazawa,4 from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Athens, report on a survey of civilian physicians’ familiarity with and comfort in addressing veterans’ health problems. Their data suggest the need for more research in this area, as well as education for civilian physicians to ensure that they are well prepared to treat this patient population. Their study4 reconfirms that physicians and other health care providers need to apply systems-based practices and interprofessional communication skills to coordinate care in the treatment of veterans and civilians alike. Both of these articles3,4 relate to the attitudes, cultural insight, holistic thinking, and treatment of active-duty service members and veterans by practicing primary care physicians and psychiatrists. They also illustrate an important and necessary trend in the diversification of physician research to include findings that embrace many of the 7 core competencies in osteopathic residency training.5 A greater emphasis on the full spectrum of competencies, not just medical knowledge, is needed.