As the Department of Veterans Affairs leads an effort to redesign health care delivery, it is holding workshops for VA clinical staff throughout the country. Last week it brought its training module “Whole Health in Your Practice” to UConn Health to train the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

“This ‘Whole Health System’ model has been described as a ‘radical redesign of healthcare’ and has the potential to transform how health care is practiced across the United States,” says Dr. Aysha Saeed from the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

It’s a patient-centered, team-based care concept that emphasizes the importance of the relationship and partnership between patients and their health care professionals, empowers self-healing, and works to create a personalized, pro-active, patient-driven experience. The VA’s Whole Health approach is expanding the health care focus beyond disease management, to engaging and empowering the veterans to achieve their optimum health and wellness. The training also addressed staff burnout and self-care.

“It’s a model that was launched nationally and continues to evolve,” says Dr. Mary P. Guerrera, director of integrative medicine in the UConn School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine, and one of the enrollees in the three-day workshop. “It’s a shift from us asking the patient, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ to asking, ‘What matters to you?’”

Dr. Jordan Borgman ’18 (SOM), ’14 (CLAS), is in her second year of a family medicine residency and is taking an elective in integrative medicine. She joined Guerrera, her faculty adviser, in attending the workshop.

“I’ve always been interested in whole health and integrative medicine, and this was a great opportunity to learn how to implement it in your practice,” Borgman says. “It is a VA-specific training, but it is something that if I don’t wind up working at the VA, I can carry forward to my future practice.”

UConn Health and the VA have a history of affiliation, and some UConn residents rotate at the VA Hospital in Newington.