Nate McKee: First NUHS DC intern at Roudebush VA
Thursday, July 14, 2016
One of the exciting
hospital clerkships available for DC interns at National
University is at
Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center inIndianapolis, Indiana.
Nate McKee is the first DC student to go through the clerkship and
reports on his experiences below.
Working at a Veterans Administration hospital has been an
interest of mine ever since lobbying for veterans' access to
chiropractic at National Chiropractic Legislative Conference in
Washington D. C. I have been passionate about the need for quality
care for veterans, and feel like chiropractic care can be very
beneficial for them.
In my clerkship at Roudebush VA, I work with two DCs: Dr. Jason
Gibson, my primary supervising clinician and an NUHS graduate, and
Dr. Chris Sherman. Here, we typically treat patients in conjunction
with other medical professionals. Patients are referred to
us, or referred by us to other physicians, physical therapists,
occupational therapists or surgeons.

Dr. Chris Sherman, Intern Nate McKee, and Dr. Jason
Gibson
We treat veterans ranging in age from their early twenties to
their early nineties (Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom to
WWII). The bulk of our cases include low pain back, disc
degeneration and/or disc herniations. However, there have been many
other interesting cases such as cervical myelopathy,
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Charcot joints, traumatic brain
injuries, cauda equine syndrome, and more.
We typically see anywhere from 12-15 patients a day with 2-4 of
them being new evaluations. A workday is roughly 8 hours, which can
vary depending on the complexity of the patient cases we've
scheduled. Also, some of that time is set aside for administrative
work such as charting, consults, or meetings and
conferences.

Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center
As a career move, working here at the VA will benefit me
tremendously in the future. I feel more confident now diagnosing
and treating patients with simple and complex presentations. Also I
feel more comfortable talking with patients and educating them
about their condition and explaining the details of their
treatment.
My time here at Roudebush VA has also increased my passion and
desire to work at a VA facility in the future. I cannot stress
enough how great and valuable this opportunity has been for me urge
any DC student interested in working with veterans to explore VA
based clerkships during their time at National University.