Mind, body, spirit

As a Primary Care Physician at VA, the standard practices go beyond studying symptoms or treating an illness. Dr. Jeff Brooklyn, who works at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System in Las Vegas says, “It’s a very holistic approach to patients.” They look at care planning in a very mind, body and spirit way, and try to provide solutions to any and all problems that might be beneficial.

At VA, patients are always put first and caring for them is not a business decision. With ready access to multidisciplinary care and professionals with a diverse range of skills, the primary care physician can provide the best combination of solutions based on the physical and psychological needs of the patient. This composition of care is also easily altered with time and patient needs.

Dr. Jeff says his current work environment is one filled with lots of challenges, as he has to attend to a complex group of patients on a daily basis. Describing the diversity of challenges in his words, he says, “Problems are anything from something as simple as getting transportation out here to visit us for their appointment or something more complex like immediate hospitalization.”

Despite the professional challenges, he believes the very patient centric care approach at VA enables him to carry out his duties to the best of his abilities and personalize solutions specifically to the patient’s needs. At VA, physicians do not face the restrictions associated with numerous private facilities and are known to spend twice the amount of time with their patients, in comparison to their peers working with other organizations. It’s the structural set-up that makes it easy to work seamlessly with multidisciplinary team members and helps in consistently providing comprehensive care to over 8 million veterans.

VA is committed to the development of resident physicians, as well as other trainees across a wide variety of health professions. To learn more about how VA can support your career, visit VAcareers.va.gov/TACLVA.