[NRSKarenRN]

AACN Applauds Senator Richard Durbin For Introducing The Troops To Nurse Teachers Act Of 2008

...The TNT program, offers a creative solution to help address the nursing shortage. Modeled after the successful Department of Defense (DOD) program called Troops to Teachers, the goal of the four-pronged program is to increase the number of nurse faculty members so schools of nursing may expand enrollments and alleviate the ongoing shortage. The TNT program offers: a fellowship program for Commissioned Officers with a graduate degree in nursing; a scholarship program for Commissioned Officers who have served at least 20 years of active duty as a nurse and are eligible for retirement; a transitional assistance program for Commissioned Officers of the Nurse Corps who have served at least 20 years and are already qualified to teach; and a program for retired Nurse Corps Officers who can serve as full-time faculty in a accredited school of nursing.

The nursing community has widely supported this program since its conception in 2006. Last year, 23 nursing organizations supported the TNT program as an amendment to the DOD Authorization Bill. This year, 28 nursing organizations have supported Senator Durbin's stand-alone bill. The overwhelming support for this program is due to a clear understanding that the nurse faculty shortage plays a critical role in the current nursing shortage. AACN is grateful to Senator Durbin, and the original ten cosponsors of the bill, including Senators Inhofe (R-OK), Obama (D-IL), Lieberman (I-CT), Biden (D-DE), Reed (D-RI) Mikulski (D-MD), Collins (R-ME), Menendez (D-NJ), Dole (R-NC), and Inouye (D-HI). The nursing community letter of support for S. 2705 can be found at http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Government/pdf/TNTLetter.pdf

[jjjoy]

I was afraid it was going to propose that regular troops be trained up to be nurse educators... yikes! But it's for well-experienced nurses, so whew! Interesting! Thanks for the info!

[MichaelFloridaRN]

Our current Nurse Manager is a retired Air Force Nurse and great in all areas. It did take her some time to adjust to civilian life she stated at one time, but I could not tell any difference. Glad to have her and could not imagine a much better manager.

Our Chief Nursing Officer on the other hand is a retired Army Nurse, and as far as I am concerned she needs to be put in a storage area that reads do not open until global war breaks out. Her people skills are non existent and she would like for us all to stand at attention and salute her. She has never gotten the point that giving out orders is not the only way to communicate with people. In fact most people in our large hospital avoid her at all cost, but she is normally found 1 inch away from the CEOs butt and well liked by him.

So perhaps they should include a large portion of education on how to interact with people outside the military if they do this. Also it seems to me, having been in the Army myself and having a father who is retired Air Force, that different branches of the military adapt differently to civilian life.