Air force nursing 2018

Specialties Government

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As an applicant for the Air Force Nurse Corp 2018 I thought I would open a public thread for people to talk and ask questions. I was non-select in 2017 due to lack of time in a trauma center, but reapplying again for this FY2018 as ER/Trauma RN. This time I got some more certifications and experience under my belt and ready to move forward.

I would say that they long term care experience is probably not helpful. I'm not really sure if they look at dialysis nursing as acute care or not. I don't think they would take someone as an experienced nurse without any inpatient hospital experience. Outpatient stuff is usually not looked at very highly.

I know :( got nothing to lose if I try to apply.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I've actually seen people in your situation accepted. However, they've not received credit for their experience the same way nurses with ICU, inpatient-med surg, ER, OR, etc experience get credit. You may very well come in as an O-1 with no time in grade credit towards O-2, similar to a new-grad nurse. Further, you may be forced to attend the Nurse Transition Program (NTP) for new grad nurses; this is a 12 week new grad nurse orientation program. A group of senior AF nurses who make the selection decisions will end up making the call on that...not your recruiter.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Great thread with some great questions. I want to commission as a flight or critical care nurse, but I haven't gotten much in the way of answers from my recruiters. I'd just like to know what the general commissioning process looks like, what I'll have to do, and experience, etc.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Are you looking at active duty? Do you have at least 1 year of full time experience working as an ICU RN? If not, you can't direct commission as an critical care nurse in the active duty Air Force. The same goes for flight.

You will be able to apply for OR, Med-surg (clinical nurse), or OB if you are a new grad nurse or if you otherwise don't have experience in a valid specialty area (inpatient psych, ICU, ER, NICU, OR, or OB).

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Specializes in Critical Care.

That's what I was afraid of. I have been an ER nurse for over two years now, so I'm hopeful I can receive a commission in this specialty. I'm assuming there are opportunities to transfer between specialties once I receive a commission. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

You are certainly eligible to be an ER nurse in the Air Force. Once you join however, you can't easily transition to ICU without a one year long training program. The opportunity would be doing 2 years as an ER nurse in the Air Force (the minimum to cross-train) and then applying to the ICU training program.

If it makes you feel better, some of the deployment teams allow for ER nurses to supplement ICU nurse slots. ER nurses do sometimes perform air transport duties, specifically within the TCCET (tactical critical care emergency team) role.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

If you haven't already, you absolutely need to get your CEN. The Air Force considers that the gold standard for ER certifications.

It is well worth the money and study time, because it will significantly improve your chances at getting accepted. More importantly, it will improve your chances of being awarded the "J" identifier that allows you to be an ER nurse in the Air Force.

You should know that it is possible that your experience may not be deemed valid if you are at a small, non-trauma, community ER. If that were the case, you would be forced into med-surg.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I definitely have enough experience to qualify for the CEN certification. I think I should be fine, as my experience comes from a larger trauma center.

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Hello Everyone!!! :-)

Sooooooo glad I found this thread!!!!!!!

I REALLY NEED some Suggestions!!!

I am a 4yr RN, currently completing my BSN. All of my experience as an RN has been in Pediatrics (6 months in Neuro/Surg) and 3.5 yrs on a Vascular Access Team (IV Team). I was a Paramedic for 11yrs prior to becoming an RN. What do you think would be my best course of action to be competitive in gaining acceptance into the Air Force? Should I try to move into the NICU or leave and go into an adult Trauma L1/L2 ER again? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!!!!!! (I'm concerned about the needs/open positions for pediatric RNs in the AF) Thanks!!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I'm sure that if you present your experience as a pediatric nurse to a recruiter, he/she might be able to help you figure out where you can fit in. They may have military hospitals that meet the needs of service member's families (such as NICU, L/D, peds ED, etc.), but that is information that only a recruiter can provide to you. In addition, if you were to transition to an adult trauma L1/L2 unit, they'd recommend you have at least 6 months of experience in the field you are attempting to enter. The thing about commission into the Air Force is that they often require some kind of experience in a specialized field (unless you want to try med/surg or OR). At least, this has been my experience thus far. It sounds like you have a great amount of experience across multiple health care platforms; it'll be pretty easy to fit you into military health care.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

There is no pediatric specific specialty in the Air Force. The specialties are ICU, ER, NICU, OR, inpatient psych, flight, and OB/L&D; you need 1 year of full time civilian RN experience in one of those to start in the corresponding area. Everything else falls under the non-specialized 'clinical nurse' role.

That's not to say that we don't take care of kids (several bases have PICUs and pediatric units). We just don't have a specialty code that recognizes the experience.

I would definitely leave that vascular access team to do whatever it is you want to do in the AF. Get 1 year of experience in it (ICU, ER, NICU, etc) and then apply. Otherwise, you'll be doing inpatient med-surg when you join the AF for the first few years.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question!!! Guess Ive got some job hunting to do before applying....having been EMS and ER for so many years....I really do not have a desire to enter into the Med/Surg arena if I can help it.....Do you think it would be better to get my PNP before entering then perhaps? Thanks again!!!!! :-)

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