A day in the life of a Navy Nurse

[DanznRN, RN]

I was asked the following by another member, so I thought I'd share the info. Here's what was originally asked....

how about a quick breakdown on an average work week lt. dan?

i'm considering navy nursing, though i think i might finish my bsn and work icu somewhere for a year or two before i join, so i have a better chance of doing crna. i actually have 6 years prior navy enlisted, so i know all about shipboard life, but i know nothing about navy nurses and what they typically do.

i have looked all over this place trying to find info, and mostly people are talking about whether or not they will deploy, which is not an issue for me. what i'd like to know is what are your shifts like (ie: how long, how frequent, staffing, etc)? what's advancement like for navy nurses? how receptive are officer detailers when working out duty stations (my experience with enlisted detailers leaves much to be desired)?

Well, shifts are 12 hours in almost all cases, I have had to do 36+ hours once, but that was due to a flood and we got to sleep. We rotate nights and days, no set shift. We do 6 weeks of days and 6 weeks of nights currently, some choose to do 8, depends on the facility too. When I was in San Diego, we did 4 weeks of each, so rotating every month, ouch. You generally work 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 3 days off, so you get every other weekend off, again facility/unit dependent. For me this how it has been for the last 9 years, my wife's unit has no pattern. When I am on, I'm the only nurse for our small 7 bed ED, sometimes crazy, most times not. At the larger facilities, there are generally 6-8 nurses for a 25 bed ED, including the triage area. Remember, along with the nurses go corpsmen. I have 3-4 that are on shift with me and they can give meds, start IVs, draw blood, etc.,. So being the only one is not as bad as you may think. Advancement is not too bad, as long as you don't kill anyone you will go from Ensign to LTJG to LT without a problem, almost guarenteed. That will take 4 years to get to LT, 2 Ensign, 2 LTJG, then LT. After that you really have to work for it to get LCDR. You have to have collateral duties on diffeerent levels, unit, command, base if possible. I am the ED's Education and Training Officer, I am the command's Nurse of the Day Coordinator and I am a presentor at the base-wide safety standowns, remember that is in additon to being a staff nurse, so you put in some extra hours. But, if you know how to get things done, you can get the extra stuff done while on shift, depends. As far as detailers, there are good ones and bad ones, I have always been able to get what I wanted. Best thing to do is start talking early. I generally call them when I am about 18 months out from PCS. I normally get told to call back at the 12 month mark, but I like to plant seeds in their head early for where I want to go. you just have to work with them and flexible. For instance, I wanted east coast once and ended up in Great Lakes, close enough for me, especially coming from California.

That's it, kind of down and dirty. If someone has specific questions or wants to know more, let me know.

LT Dan

[joshuaclay]

LT Dan-

Thanks. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Awesome post! I figured the collateral duties would be a big factor for advancement. I just wasn't sure about the differences. On the Stennis I had to juggle a lot of collateral duties, but it always paid off with EP evals.

One more for now: Do officers get FITREPs like Chiefs? How closely do you actually work with the person writing it?

...ok that's 2...

[Corvette Guy]

LT Dan-

Thanks. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Awesome post! I figured the collateral duties would be a big factor for advancement. I just wasn't sure about the differences. On the Stennis I had to juggle a lot of collateral duties, but it always paid off with EP evals.

One more for now: Do officers get FITREPs like Chiefs? How closely do you actually work with the person writing it?

...ok that's 2...

May I answer from the Army Nurse Corps side? Officers get OERs [Officer Evaluation Reports], which are done by a Rater [senior officer] & Senior Rater [which is senior to both the Rater & officer being evaluated. I can elaborate much more on OERs, yet don't such is required at this time.

[DanznRN, RN]

Vette Man-

One of these days I will remember to type Army not Air Force, Dam!!

Josh-

Yes, officers to get FITREPS. You have the basic marks section where you get rated from 1-5 in different areas. Then on the back you 18 lines of narrative that are written about you based on what you did in that reporting period. What is written here is based on a Brag Sheet that you turn in to the person writing the FITREP. Therefore, the more you have to Brag about the better. As far as the person writing it, in my case, my Ensign FITREPS were done with little input from me except mt brag sheet. Once I hit LTJG I was more involved, it will depend on your DIV-Os. My past 2 LT FITREPS, I basically wrote myself and then they were tweaked by my boss. I'm am up for LCDR (04 for you non-Navy types) this summer and my boss has been grooming me for the past 2 years for it. So I wrote my FITREP and the LTJG in our unit for practice, because once I hit LCDR, I'll be writing them for my people. One thing to keep in mind is that Brag Sheet, very important. If/ when you join, do me one favor, on the door of your locker in your unit, tape a blank piece of paper there. Any and I mean ANY, time you do something, talk to a junior enlisted about college, give a presentation, volunteer for something, write it down on that paper, like a journal. That way when it comes FITREP time and your DIV-O asks for your Brag Sheet, it will take less than 5 minutes to do it and you won't have forgotten anything, at least that is what I do. Any other questions? I'm all ears.

LT Dan

[joshuaclay]

that's great advice. writing evals is an art. you wouldn't believe some of the brag sheets my guys (and gals) used to turn in. almost like they didn't WANT to get advanced. a journal will really help out. maybe i'll start one while i'm still in school so i get used to documenting my accompishments.

good luck with LCDR! can you say $$CHA-CHING?!!

[antoxnio]

Do you think you have time to study while in the navy (let's say to do a specialization or taking a master's while working as a nurse corp?) Thanks for the info!