Army Med-Surg to civilian work

[Sparticus391]

Hi, I'm currently at a level one trauma surgical unit. I'm near the point of my army career when I need to start thinking about what to do when I near my ETS date if I want to stay or get out. I was curious how civilian hospitals rate military experience. By that time I'll have 3 years of combat medic experience with a deployment and 4 years of nursing experience. Any help would be great. Thanks in advance.

[midinphx, BSN]

I think the question you should ask is : how is it different working civilian vs military. I think being a vet matters to hiring manager when they have 2 equal candidates. But I find working in the military much different than my 14 yrs as a civilian nurse. A civilian RN goes to work, does the 12, mad goes home - generally speaking. They don't have extra duties and most do not take ownership of their unit or get involved. They don't have as many nurses who strive for more continuously as most military nurses do. There is a slightly different mentality in civilian nursing. That's not bad or good, just need to be aware it's there. I may have worked fewer hours for more money as a civilian, however, I worked more in those hours every single day. I had heavy assignments that really were unsafe at times. They cut staff down to a minimum each shift and you pray you get no more admits because it can be so unmanageable. Military has better staffing. Even during a mascal down range , I felt more in control than some days as an icu nurse outside. I have to say I loved my civilian experience just as much as the military. It's just very different, even though the patient care is the same.