January 1, 2015, 10:59 PM Last updated: Thursday, January 1, 2015, 11:11 PM

One patient might be oddly reticent and distrustful of doctors. Another could exhibit mysterious symptoms, like recurring skin abrasions or rashes. Yet another might have a deep chest rumble even though he doesnt smoke and has no family history of lung disease.

Kevin Parks, a former U.S. Army medic who served in Iraq, is a fourth-year medical student at Rutgers' Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and taking part in a special training program for dealing with veterans' health problems.

All of these outward signs, and many more, could be symptoms of lingering trauma or exposure to elements that are common to combat veterans, but might go unrecognized by physicians and health professionals who have little experience treating them and no tools for penetrating what experts say is a mind-set thats unique to them.

An intensive new focus on health care for veterans, especially those who saw action, has led Rutgers Universitys Robert Wood Johnson Medical School to develop a program it hopes will become a model for other schools and a magnet for health professionals who now work, or may soon work, with vets.

The program comes as a new crop of veterans nationwide is expected to seek medical treatment from civilian doctors rather than government hospitals and clinics. In the wake of egregious wait-time delays and poor care at some U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities nationwide, Congress last year passed a law that gives vets the option of visiting a non-military doctor if they live more than 40 miles from a VA location or have to wait more than 30 days for an appointment.

There are 428,000 veterans in New Jersey, 312,000 of whom have served in combat, according to VA data.

Passaic County Veterans Service Officer John Harris said educating civilian doctors is sorely needed if only to encourage men and women who have avoided the VA network to seek medical care.

I really think that in the medical field the professionals the doctors, nurses the people who work hands-on with patients do need some generalized information on this, said Harris, a Vietnam War veteran.

Robert Wood Johnsons one-day training program is designed to prompt doctors to ask key questions that could help them better identify health problems and their causes. Students hear from the creators of a program at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, then from a panel of veterans who share their experiences in both military service and in health care. And they learn how to build a medical history, said Dr. Carol Terregino, senior associate dean of education at the school in Piscataway.

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Robert Wood Johnson Medical School puts focus on veterans needs