Nursing Schedule in the Air Force or Navy

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Hello everyone. I am considering joining the Air Force and maybe the Navy. I served 4 years in the military. I only say that because I know that "typical" work days aren't so "typical" and can end up doing many different things.

So my question is, if I commission as an officer to become a nurse in either the Air Force or the Navy, how does the "work week" or "scheduling" work.

Is it 3 days of 12 hr shifts and the rest off. Or 3 days of 12 hr shifts and the other days doing "military BS work". How exactly are the schedules.

Any info or experience would help.

Thanks

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I'm not in the military (yet, hoping for good next month). But I know from other people and posts on this site that nurses do more than just nursing. As officers, there's a whole array of added duties, all the military stuff plus leadership jobs etc. Plus they're always looking for people to help out. There are meetings and such as well, so even if you work 3 12s a week you probably come in on off-days too. It's not the same stuff as enlisted, but there are definitely extra duties that take time

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I believe most military MTFs do 80 hours every two weeks. For us (Army), we do six 12s and an 8 in two weeks. I miss my civilian hospital three 12s! Lol. As a military officer/nurse, expect at least another 10-12 hours a week on top of your shifts for miscellaneous duties and/or activities.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing (CEN).

I'm Navy, we work 84 hours every 2 weeks. 14 shifts a month and then your collaterals on top of that. A sample rotation is work Mon/Tues, off Wed/Thur work Fri-Sun, off Mon-Tues, work Wed/Thur off Fri-Sun. This is pretty standard in the Navy.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
I'm Navy, we work 84 hours every 2 weeks. 14 shifts a month and then your collaterals on top of that. A sample rotation is work Mon/Tues, off Wed/Thur work Fri-Sun, off Mon-Tues, work Wed/Thur off Fri-Sun. This is pretty standard in the Navy.

That's the Panama schedule - 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. I do that as a midshifter in my Army ED. :) I love a cyclical schedule!

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

In my experience with the military so far, how much BS you do is really up to you. A sizeable chunk of your promotion and awards package bullets come from the BS stuff...i.e. stuff that really doesn't involve patient care. No one really cares about the patient care you provide, as long as you aren't screwing-up; it's expected that your care is good.

If you qualify as 'prior enlisted' and can receive the 'E' designator, you could retire as an O3E and pretty much never do military BS in your career. Promotion to O3 really isn't that competitive. It's only if you want O-4 and above that you need the BS stuff on your record.

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Awesome! Good to know. So to get that 'E' designator, how do I find out if I qualify for that? If I do qualify I never have to go higher than a Captain at O3? Thats good to know because If BS has to be done only to get rank then I won't have to do much to at least to get to O3 status.

Thanks

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Thats not too bad. How much time would you say that you spend on "other military" duties?

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Awesome! Good to know. So to get that 'E' designator, how do I find out if I qualify for that? If I do qualify I never have to go higher than a Captain at O3? Thats good to know because If BS has to be done only to get rank then I won't have to do much to at least to get to O3 status.

Thanks

To qualify for the "E" pay you have to have served four years + one day at a minimum in active duty enlisted service.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

That's as far as being eligible for the 50% (based on the average of the last three years on active duty) of your base pay retirement for the rest of your life. O3E or O4 (for non prior enlisted) are the minimum grades for retirement. Obviously the pension is much better if you get promoted more.

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I am wondering if you can further elaborate on the extra 10-12 hours a week for other job-related activities?

Are these staff meetings? Or leadership-related classes?

I am used to working as a hospital CNA, right now, three 12-hour shifts a week, rotate days for one month, and night shifts for the subsequent month, and the cycle repeats.

But on top of the three 12-hour shifts, I also pick up an 8-hour shift for over time pay, per week.

Let me know.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Depending on your rank, nurses run their units in almost every way. It might be someone's job to revise policies and procedures. Someone else's job might be trouble shooting and recommending revisions and implementing updates for the e-charting system. Some nurses teach classes such as teampstepps, ACLS, BLS, or PALS. From O-2 and up, it is very likely you will be supervising and writing performance evals on other nurses or enlisted med-techs.

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