Navy Nursing Corps.

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Hey folks,

I'm 17 and I will be beginning my BSN journey next fall. I've recently been looking into the Navy Nursing Corps because while I do want to be a nurse, I've always wanted to serve in the military. So I've been looking into the Navy Nursing Corps and I have a few questions.

1. Do nurses in the Navy deploy on ships?

2. If not, are they in field hospitals?

3. How often are deployments. (I would be willing to volunteer for deployment.)

4. Which sub-specialty in nursing is deployed the most?

I wish I could give more information about which sub-specialty I'm interested in working, but I simply don't know yet. I'm hoping that will be made more clear when I'm in nursing school doing clinical rotations.

Thanks for any information.

-Charlie

Hi Chuckleface. Navy ER nurse here. I did ROTC, not NCP, but I would love to answer other Navy nursing questions. In regards to your original post, Navy nurses go out on the USNS Comfort and Mercy. There also is a small opportunity for nurses to go on fleet surgical team ships (OR/ICU nurses mostly) The Comfort and Mercy go out typically once every two years. The Mercy is on the west coast and Comfort is on the East coast. Currently the Comfort is out providing medical relief for Puerto Rico. As the Navy provides medical care for the Marine Corps, Navy nurses do deploy with Marine units in field type medical units. The types of nurses that typically deploy with these units are ER/ICU nurses. Most Navy nurses begin as medsurg nurses and later decide what specialty they want to do. (ER/ICU/OR/etc). I would say Navy nurses don't deploy very often like most members of the military, but you would still have the opportunity especially if you specialize in ER/ICU.

Feel free to message for other questions. Cheers!

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I think you're right about the ACEN accreditation. Good to know about the MSN option. Hopefully my school will get the ACEN accreditation. I still have to finish my senior year of high school and then after that I'll have one year of pre-requisites before I'll be considered for the Nursing program so there is still time.

Being a former CPT/66T, I would imagine you know quite a bit about nursing in the military. Is there a particular branch that deploys more than the others or provides more medical support overseas? Obviously, I would prefer the Navy, but I am open to the other branches if there are more direct support options overseas.

I think Air Force deployments are shorter - maybe 6 months vs. the typical 9 months in the Army. But the Air Force nurses, from what I understand, are placed in a rotation schedule where they might deploy every couple of years if they are needed. A friend who worked ICU in the Air Force deployed twice while I was active duty where I only deployed once. Deployments are more rare these days, but stuff is always changing.

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NavyER would you mind answering some questions I have about experienced nurses. I'm an ADN in critical care with TNCC and CCRN. I'm working on BSN. Will navy nurse Corp count my experience or will.they make me work med/surg. Thank you in advance.

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A note about the nursing school accreditation... I was also confused about the ACEN and CCNE requirement but I just spoke to my Nurse Corps recruiter today and he told me that the Navy will accept either one for a direct commission as a nurse. The school I'm going to hopefully be attending this Spring holds the ACEN accreditation so I wanted to make sure I could apply for the Navy when I was done.

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Specializes in Surgical Trauma ICU.
A note about the nursing school accreditation... I was also confused about the ACEN and CCNE requirement but I just spoke to my Nurse Corps recruiter today and he told me that the Navy will accept either one for a direct commission as a nurse. The school I'm going to hopefully be attending this Spring holds the ACEN accreditation so I wanted to make sure I could apply for the Navy when I was done.

Good to know. My school has recently applied for CCNE accreditation and are currently a new applicant. Hopefully they will get it. :)

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As long as your school gets the accreditation, I'd give the NCP a shot. Even if they don't get the accreditation in time for you to apply for the NCP, you can still apply for a direct accession as a Navy nurse. I'm in that boat since I already have my bachelors degree in another field and will be going through my ASN program and taking some BSN courses at the same time.

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