Air Force Nursing Questions

[Inquisitive Nurse]

Greetings,

I am a RN currently working on my BSN (I plan to finish in the summer of 2015). I have one year of experience between Med-Surg and Step-Down/Tele; and almost two years experience in Critical Care. I am very interested in joining the Air Force as a nurse. I was hoping someone with military nursing experience could give me some advice on things I can do to improve my chances of getting accepted into the Air Force.

Most of the people with military experience that I work with recommend for me to complete my BSN first. If I did this I would have over four years of civilian nursing experience, (three of those years being in critical care). My current GPA is 3.62, and I hope to maintain or improve it by the time I finish my BSN. I also plan to attempt to obtain the CCRN Certification. Someone also mentioned the Air Force ROTC, will that improve my chances? Also, do you recommend joining prior to completing my BSN?

If I did get accepted, what are the prospects for a Critical Care nurse in the Air Force. I was told the Air Force base near me only has a clinic, and many of their patients get sent to the local hospitals. Is this common on most Air Force bases? Also what might I expect my starting rank to be?

Thank you for reading my post, I look forward to your responses. And I thank you all for your service to our country. Salute!

[Dranger]

1.For one you have to have your BSN to commission, a bachelors is a requirement for ALL officers.

2. Credit wise AF ROTC would not be feasible and the scholarships are very hard to get and are probably taken by younger kids coming out high school or just entering college

3. Don't join first as at that point the AF owns you and you would not be doing an RN job but rather whatever MOS that fits your ASVAB scores. Once again you need a BSN to practice as an AF nurse and a commission to become an officer.

4. I don't know about the AF but the Army doesn't have a screaming need for CC nurses at the moment. CCRN will probably help though

5. O-1 most likely, maybe O-2 (2LT or 1LT)

6. The major base near me is a trauma center so they don't send anyone out, it is probably just a smaller base. You do know that you won't be at that base right? You are stationed where the AF needs you.

Take time to read some of the threads here as the military is very competitive right now.

[midinphx, BSN]

AF critical care slots are still in need from what I see and hear. I'm active AF critical care. Being icu does limit you in places you can be stationed. Off the top of my head: San Antonio, Travis afb, elmendorf afb, Kessler, Langley, ramstein, Elgin, nellis, wright-Patterson. If where you want to go does not have icu, don't narrow yourself to icu but come in med-surg. Also, I just found out that coming in fully qualified icu makes it very difficult to make any changes in your career. The icu expects to keep you in icu for 2 assignments which is 6-8 years. I am trying to go flight nurse and have everything done, but icu won't release me. I wish someone had told me this before, then I wouldn't have set my hopes on it 2 years too soon.

Get your CCRN if you want to be competitive to come in icu. And all icu's are not created equal in patient acuity in the AF. Some places may as we'll be step down units..... Until they get deployed.

[Inquisitive Nurse]

Thank you so much for that helpful information! While I enjoy Critical Care Nursing, I would definitely be willing to work wherever the best opportunities are for growth and advancement exist. Perhaps I should tell my recruiter that I have Med Surg and Critical Care experience?

[Dranger]

You can tell them whatever you want but you are wasting your time until you have that BSN in hand or they can't start any of the process.

[CAPPerron]

AF critical care slots are still in need from what I see and hear. I'm active AF critical care. Being icu does limit you in places you can be stationed. Off the top of my head: San Antonio Travis afb, elmendorf afb, Kessler, Langley, ramstein, Elgin, nellis, wright-Patterson. If where you want to go does not have icu, don't narrow yourself to icu but come in med-surg. Also, I just found out that coming in fully qualified icu makes it very difficult to make any changes in your career. The icu expects to keep you in icu for 2 assignments which is 6-8 years. I am trying to go flight nurse and have everything done, but icu won't release me. I wish someone had told me this before, then I wouldn't have set my hopes on it 2 years too soon. Get your CCRN if you want to be competitive to come in icu. And all icu's are not created equal in patient acuity in the AF. Some places may as we'll be step down units..... Until they get deployed.[/quote']

Midinphx,

Where are you currently stationed? I was just picked up as a FQ ICU Nurse and will be leaving for COT in January with an assignment to SAMMC afterwards. It was my hope to progress on to become a flight nurse, but from the sounds of it in your earlier reply it doesn't seem too easy to accomplish this feat. I have also given strong consideration towards CRNA, but really want to have a strong critical care background before advancing past RN. Anyways, any advice, thoughts, or input is greatly appreciated.

Eric

[midinphx, BSN]

I am at Sammc. It's pretty big and can be confusing and frustrating at first. There are multiple icu units and we AF nurses are interspersed throughout. I didn't really want San Antonio, but I find I'm liking it here.

CRNA is a way a lot of icu nurses go and there are great programs and AFIT available. Flight nursing is NOT an icu thing. iCU in the air is CCAT. And you don't need to wait years for that as it is a deployment based job. There is a world of opportunity - just keep your mind open to what comes up. I've lived in 3 different apartments, 2 schools, 2 deployments, and multiple TDY experiences in 3 years. It's been a whirlwind. :)