Air Force AFIT and Bonus

rndiver82 · Mar 7, 2013

Hello all. I'll be graduating nursing school next May through NECP and had a few questions. I'll incur a four year commitment after school.
1. If I completed an NP program without AFIT, what would be the process to move into that area opposed to staying in med-surg/OB? Would this be possible if I was receiving a multi-year bonus (after my original 4 year commitment)?
2. After acceptance into an AFIT program (ie NP or CRNA) and completion of school, are any type of bonuses issued while serving the repayment period?
3. How possible is it to move from med surg/OB to ICU after a few years without going through the fellowship?

Hey there, saw your post and I'm AD AF at this time. Here is what I know:

1.) If you complete an NP program outside of AFIT, unless you came into the AF as an NP, you will not be working as an NP for the AF. We have a couple of nurses who hold an NP license, they got it on their own time, and they are staff nurses because that is what they were hired for. Does it suck? Absolutely because they are not able to have the autonomy that an NP has, but remember the needs of the AF come first.

2.) As far as special pay during a repayment period: it is possible, but with budget cuts coming down, they may start limiting this to one or the other, not both. Unless you have a job with a critical shortage, then you may, but again it may not be in the future.

3.) I am at SAMMC and at this time I believe they are trying to get it to where there is a fellowship period for all specialty areas. And there is a good reason for this: training a nurse for a specialty area such as OB/ICU/ER is quite expensive and very time-consuming. For them to get a return on their investment in you, they need a few years of you in that service. This also gives that unit a stronger base of trained nurses. Plus, with so many changes in healthcare, it's really hard to see everything in a year when it involves a disease process. I've been in an ER/Trauma nurse for 8 years now and I still see things and treat illnesses I've never heard of. So it's better for both parties that the fellowship programs exist and it also makes for safer patient care which is always the ultimate goal.

Hope this helps! Sorry if its not exactly what you want to hear, but remember that there are TONS of opportunity in the AF as an RN. Whatever happens, in the words of my Chief Nurse: Bloom where you are planted.

as1013 · Mar 7, 2013

Thank you for your response.

I understand I must get experience as a floor nurse, but I would really like to move into an advance practice position (np, crna) as soon as possible and I would just like to achieve that goal in a timely manner and make the smartest financial decisions on the way.

Any advice on this or just being a nurse in the AF would be greatly appreciated.