225 - Veteran Environmental Exposures and Assessments: Illustrative Clinical Cases and Discussions for VA, Dod, and Civilian Clinicians

This session will explore military environmental exposures from a clinical perspective by highlighting 3 cases: one related to garrison exposures, one observed during a compensation and pension (C&P) examination, and one involving a Veteran with multiple complex exposures. These cases aim to elucidate the clinical challenges and approaches in diagnosing and managing health effects related to military exposures. Assessing military exposure is vitally important, as there are almost 18 million Veterans and 9 million in the US civilian workforce. Clinicians may miss crucial connections between military exposures and current health conditions. Additionally, many healthcare providers lack knowledge of the unique environmental hazards faced by military personnel, such as airborne hazards and burn pits, preventing them from considering exposure-related illnesses in their differential diagnosis. These conditions, which can result in multisystem symptoms such as chronic fatigue, often mimic more familiar illnesses, leading to misdiagnosis or a focus on treating symptoms individually. This is the 5th session of 5 endorsed by the multiple ACOEM sections.