Air Force Nurse Specialty

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I will be working at a Cardio-pulmonary unit before going into the Air Force and would like to know what Nurse Specialty I can go in as (as far as I know there are no cardiopulmonary nursing specialties in the AF)? The original plan for me was to submit my packet to the board in January as a new grad for the NTP program. He now wants me to wait for a later board for fully qualified nurses (Feb. March or July boards i believe). Is this a good idea/does in increase my chances of being selected?

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
I will be working at a Cardio-pulmonary unit before going into the Air Force and would like to know what Nurse Specialty I can go in as (as far as I know there are no cardiopulmonary nursing specialties in the AF)? The original plan for me was to submit my packet to the board in January as a new grad for the NTP program. He now wants me to wait for a later board for fully qualified nurses (Feb. March or July boards i believe). Is this a good idea/does in increase my chances of being selected?

Unless your unit is an ICU unit then you will be coming in as a 46N (general nurse/med-surg). That doesn't mean you will necessarily will be working on med-surg, but that is what you will be classified as initially.

You may have better chance to wait for the board for experienced nurses, but it really just depends on how many nurse applicants there are at that time.

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Thanks for the info...now I just need to update the resume and look for opportunities to improve my packet. Does anybody know of any ideas?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, OR, FNP.

iowa,

46n is a great choice imo. i was offered to come in as a 46n3, 46n3e, or 46n3j and i opted for plain ole n. that was the best decision i ever made. they just wanted es so they could put me in a ccat slot and have me fly around for free with no flight pay or wings.

think long and hard about coming in with a specialty identifier. you can work er and icu without being a j or e, but if you take the ider, you’ll never get out of that setting. for some folks that heaven, for me – i eventually couldn’t stand to adjust another drip on another gorked out pt and knew that crna just wasn’t the right path.

if you want to guarantee being stationed at just a couple of bases and plan on never leaving icu and you’re certain on making crna your advanced degree – then coming in as a critical care nurse (46n3e) makes perfect sense.

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