AF OB Nurse

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Hello, Would anyone be able to give some insight into AF OB nursing? I am prior enlisted, however I was not in the medical field. Thank you for your help!

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I'm an AF ICU nurse. I've also worked PACU and med-surg for the AF; I was a civilian med-surg nurse before that.

I assume you understand civilian nursing? Generally speaking, nursing in the AF is 80% similar to civilian nursing. You treat patients in your area of expertise (ICU, OB, ER, etc.), it's just that you work on an AF base treating military patients, dependents, and retirees. You work your three or four 12-hour shifts per week. You might be on call once or twice per month.

The 20% difference is that you typically are vulnerable to deploy 6 months every 2 years. You also have extra things that you are expected to do after work, such as infection control, scheduling, supervising people (writing performance reports), and policies and procedures. These extra things take an average of 4-8 hours per week. Further, you take your standard AF PT test.

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Awesome, thanks. That's what I kind of figured. Do you have any tips for negotiating your contract with the recruiter before joining?

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Awesome, thanks. That's what I kind of figured. Do you have any tips for negotiating your contract with the recruiter before joining?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

There really is no negotiating unfortunately. It's actually competitive and somewhat difficult to even become an AF nurse.

Your only choice is 3, 4, or 6 years of active duty with varying, set-in-stone loan repayment and sign-on bonuses for each option. You also get some say on your duty location.

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Yes, it does seem very competitive! This may be a dumb question, but does the loan repayment need to be in the contract then?

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

It's not one single document. It's actually a series of documents in a large package. Yes, any sign-on money and credit for previous RN experience needs to be in the sign-on package.

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Specializes in Surgery.

Im just a little curious about what you said. If it's competitive and even difficult to get in in the first place, why are they paying sign on bonuses at all? I would think sign on bonuses would only be needed if they were having some difficulty to get anyone at all interested in a career, no matter how short or long, as an Air Force Nurse?

(Asking as a former Air Force dependent, formerly completely enamored of the idea of joining the Air Force myself, and tried my damndest to do it, and a strong lifelong interest in the medical profession.

I grew up in the shadow of Langley AFB, in Hampton, Va., And when my eyesight - and ONLY my eyesight at a 1/4 of a diopter over the -5.00 limit in 1975, kept me from enlisting during my otherwise perfect experience at MEPS, and acing the ASVAB, 3 years of AFJrROTC in high school and a written guarantee, signed, sealed and delivered, of walking in the door with one stripe on my sleeve - with all that going on, they said "No waivers, sorry." And gave me a bus ticket back home from Richmond. Anyway, I couldnt get in one way, so I married my way in Not quite the same, but that's OK. After 41-1/2 years of marriage, it would all have been a long ago memory for me by now anyway..but I still miss it. Also, I was going into medical, as I had no $$ for nursing school.)

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

It's competitive because there are typically more applicants than slots. That does not mean that the service does not have a need - thus the bonuses. They want to attract top candidates.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

If you look at the pay vs. hours worked (including deployments), and the general inconvenience of constantly moving every 2-4 years, the military must pay sign-on and retention bonuses and loan repayment to get quality people to join and stay in.

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Hey! I am new on this site and am terrible at figuring out how to reply, I tried to comment on your other topic but I messed it up.

I'm also prior enlisted and I'm applying for an OB slot on the 21Jan board coming up, would it be okay if I asked you some questions? I'd love to hear about your experience! Also- huge congrats!!!

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