army nurse training

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Hi-

I'm in my last semester of nursing school for my BSN and am currently looking into joining the army nurse corps. I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me how training and patient acuity in a military hospital compares to a civilian hospital. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
Hi-

I'm in my last semester of nursing school for my BSN and am currently looking into joining the army nurse corps. I was wondering if anyone would be able to tell me how training and patient acuity in a military hospital compares to a civilian hospital. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi,

I found most of my information on ROTC Army nurse sites and the Army Nurse Branch orientation sites.

http://www.rotc.usaac.army.mil/Scholarship_HPD2/Nurse%20Program/nurse%20staff%20dir%20page.htm

While it is ROTC related it is also new nurse grad related...I have heard and read from military nurses here that the year bedside beforey any deployments or anything could be more like six months bedside.

http://www.branchorientation.com/nurse/

good luck!

Gen

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Specializes in ICU (hearts,trauma,NICU, PICU, ER).

Ok, I'll be nice. I'll admit that I'm a military nurse with various experience from both civilan & with the Army Nurse Corps.:caduceus:

I'm an ICU preceptor for the 66H8A slots, but I was also did precept in the 66H slot & for ROTC.

66H: RN

8A: Critical Care Nursing.

I work in the SICU/TICU currently. If U have questions email me

I'm a direct commission officer which means i came in the Army Nurse Corp with several years of nursing experience the army didn't train me as a nurse but train me to be an Army Officer. ;)

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Hey Nice To Hear From You, Can You Tell Me How It Is? In The Army Nurse Corps That Is? I Just Finished My Physical And I Am Deciding On Active/res Or Try Direct Accession To Crna School. Any Advise, Info Would Be The Bomb. I Am Bsn 14 Yrs Critical Care/icu. Prior Service. Would I Definately Be Deployed? How Is Army Nursing? Any Different. How Are The Leadership Opportunities? Tell Me The Good, Bad And The Ugly. Any Info Would Be Great This Way I Know If My Recruiter Is Not Up Front. What About Combat?

Thanks For A Great Job

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Specializes in ICU (hearts,trauma,NICU, PICU, ER).
hey nice to hear from you, can you tell me how it is? in the army nurse corps that is? i just finished my physical and i am deciding on active/res or try direct accession to crna school. any advise, info would be the bomb. i am bsn 14 yrs critical care/icu. prior service. would i definately be deployed? how is army nursing? any different. how are the leadership opportunities? tell me the good, bad and the ugly. any info would be great this way i know if my recruiter is not up front. what about combat?

thanks for a great job

[color=#333333]the army nurse corps is nursing with military bearing. crna is very competitive & u go to maryland, bethesda (usu) to go to school. i currently have to friends starting the program in june. i know u need a very good gre score & the critical care u have enough. so u are good.:cheers:

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[color=#333333]as an 66h8a( critical care nurse) & crna yes u will be deployed. i'm schedule to go in about 1yr to afghanistan. i have my boyfriend in iraq now, he's a nurse. as a us officer u are always in a leadership role (charge nurse). everyday u walk in the hall & as an 8a it's very respected among the other nurses & some doctors realize it after they go up to the floors or deploy how important & different ccn are. u still do solider training but the focus is your mos. u are an us officer & military bearing is very important. u do need the soldier training for deployment, but officer training it's as bad as the basic training for the enlisted personnel.

[color=#333333]

[color=#333333]for combat, u don't see combat but u see plenty of the causalities in combat. i will tell u i have 18 months left of active duty. i'm a captain who's thinking of leaving the army because i'm tired of the war & caring for the young soldiers (both male & female) & seeing young spouse grieving. i see lost limbs, open bowels, tbi's all day. when u deploy u also care for not only the americans but the locals, the enemy & children. caregiver stress is very big among medical personnel in the us army this is why we have so many that leave after deployment. it does take an emotional bite on u. it's sad hard & draining. :cry:

[color=#333333]

i do like my pt: nurse ratio it's not that high in the army, but my pt's are more critical in the army. so i'm always very extremely busy & sometimes i do like it. it's about 2:1 in wramc. yes we have a nursing shortage, yes we don't have enough ccn & yes we lost them because they are deploying or they just get out of the army after deployement. u don't wear the us uniform often because of all the bugs growing overseas u are in scrubs. so i like it that u don't see rank so much in the icu as in the floors. i can say i look good in all 3 uniforms. i feel proud wearing it when i have too. it's not often i do. :w00t: pay isn't a problem they pay officers well, but no special pay for your ccrn. i have a little issue that. u have to be physically fit, pt test q6mons. deployment ranging 12-15mons now with about 1 ½ years before u go again. crazy. :uhoh3:

i will say u have a lot of educational opportunities but it all comes with a prize. once an 66h8a always an 66h8a. u are stuck in critical care. u are able to get your masters degree (lthe) full time & not work for 2 yrs while getting the degree but u owe them 4yrs & as an 8a they will only pay for your degree in critical care cns or family care nurse practitioner. the us army doesn't acknowledge adult care np. this is my problem. i want adult care np & cc ns.

but all in all, if i do decide to leave the army nurse corp i won't regret servicing my country & caring for the family & soldiers. :caduceus:

lord this was long, i hope i answer your questions if u have more just email.

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
U don’t wear the US uniform often because of all the bugs growing overseas U are in scrubs.

Hello,

What does this mean? If *you* do not mind, I am curious and for some reason could not understand exactly what your post was trying to say.

Thank *you*

edit to add: When I signed my contract I specifically "waived" the CC, Perioperative, Pshyciatric and another training because my interest is in Community health and ER which are listed in a seperate category. I am going in as a new nurse, (2LT) with an MS generalist entry degree which has a core focus of NP and CNL.

I am hoping that during the next six years of my active duty contract that I will be able to complete the post masters FNP. As best as I see it, the quickest a post masters certificate can be done is in two years. Here is to hoping there are clinical sites that will cooperate!!

Gen

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Specializes in ICU (hearts,trauma,NICU, PICU, ER).
Hello,

What does this mean? If *you* do not mind, I am curious and for some reason could not understand exactly what your post was trying to say.

Thank *you*

edit to add: When I signed my contract I specifically "waived" the CC, Perioperative, Pshyciatric and another training because my interest is in Community health and ER which are listed in a seperate category. I am going in as a new nurse, (2LT) with an MS generalist entry degree which has a core focus of NP and CNL.

I am hoping that during the next six years of my active duty contract that I will be able to complete the post masters FNP. As best as I see it, the quickest a post masters certificate can be done is in two years. Here is to hoping there are clinical sites that will cooperate!!

Gen

Acinetobacter , MRSA, VRE, are just some of the infections the soldiers come to the states with. They run rapid in the ICU’s so if U are in ICU you aren’t allowed to wear your military uniforms (BDU’s, ACU’s) because U are going from one immunosuppressed pt to the next.

As an 66H8A you can work on every ward floor expect OR. U are also not suppose to leave the hospital in the scubs U have been working with all day. Contamination! Most of the Iraq & Afghanistan soldiers are contact precautions because of this. If U work on the floors however U have to were your uniform (ACU’s, BDU’s, or Army White’s) with rank.

ICU don’t were rank. U are a ICU nurse, U are ICU doctor & that’s what’s respected there. Besides the pts are so critical U don’t care who’s military or civilian , just get the doctor, another nurse & crash cart & work on your pt. I can tell U we don’t like it when a soldier goes down. It’s gets crazy in that code & we have great team work.

Butter Bars (2LT’s: You’ll be called that often by your fellow officers & enlisted, it’s nothing bad but it’s a pain because they know U are a new RN coming out of school so it can really suck) have to get there feet wet before they allow U to advance in schooling. As a captain its where they are going to look into getting U your master’s degree. U have 3 yrs of experiences. U are good to go.

The army will pay for your FNP but remember you’ll owe them more then 6 years if U go that route. Add 4 yrs more for a total 10yr service. OK. U can take GRE, put in your packet & U are good to go. You’ll be a captain by then. With your 6yr commitment U can do it. The US Army love’s FNP. There’s a course for Public Health my friend just finished it & my other friend just finished the ER course both in Fort Sam Houston. For the courses U need to put in again 18months yrs of experience. It’s not easy being a 2LT I’ve been told.

I was never a 2Lt because I’m a direct commission & I was a 1Lt coming in which give a boost into my course because I was nursing Med Surgical for 5 yrs so I was charge nurse everyday running the ward & training Butter Bars for 1yr before I got my course. Which is why I know so much about the education benefits, I’m up for Masters degree now with only 2 ½ yrs of service & Capt for 1yr. Your nursing experiences help with speeding up the progress, but if U know people U know people who can help U. That can help too.

Holler back for more if U have anymore questions.;)

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
Acinetobacter , MRSA, VRE, are just some of the infections the soldiers come to the states with. They run rapid in the ICU’s so if U are in ICU you aren’t allowed to wear your military uniforms (BDU’s, ACU’s) because U are going from one immunosuppressed pt to the next.

...]

Hi,

Aaah, I see. Yet, while I worked as an assistant in several hospitals over the years I've noticed that MRSA, VRE and even ESBL seem to run rampent on the medical surgical floors and for what it is worth, have been community wide in the public here in Chicago for about ten years. Read a case back then of a person becoming infected from a health club.

edit to add: yeah, I am glad that I am going in as a butter bar, especially so because I will have the MS, I *want* people to know that I am a new nurse because I want to learn as much as I can.

edit again: because I wan't finished reading! Yeah, I took the GRE already for the MS entry to nursing degree, I hadn't even thought of having the Army pay for the post MS certificate in FNP, just thought I would do it as the regular tuition they pay for you to go to school in your off hours, not full time. Wish us all luck! You too!

Gen-thanks for clearing that up!!

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
[...I was never a 2Lt because I'm a direct commission & I was a 1Lt coming in which give a boost into my course because I was nursing Med Surgical for 5 yrs so I was charge nurse everyday running the ward & training Butter Bars for 1yr before I got my course. Which is why I know so much about the education benefits, I'm up for Masters degree now with only 2 ½ yrs of service & Capt for 1yr. Your nursing experiences help with speeding up the progress, but if U know people U know people who can help U. That can help too.

Holler back for more if U have anymore questions.;)

Hi again Bronx,

Something I discovered last night, that makes me grateful to come in as a butterbar, is that it gives multiple heads up.

Not only will people know that I am a new nurse but, and equally important, they will know that I am new to military.

Seems that the learning curve of a 2LT is taken into consideration for all of our own OERs -Officer Evaluation Report- that we write, (right?)

According to the Bonn 50th ed officer's guide, "masking of early OERs, A junior officerleader development initiative of ODS restrics access to an officer's past second lieutenant OERs once he or she has been promoted to the rank of captain. This allows "learnign curve" discrepancies and precludes an officer from being unduly disadvantaged in the future..."

Yeah, I need this learning curve! Like I mentioned, I am NOT prior service.

I really do not think that starting as a 2LT is going to take my time to potential Captain rank any longer. As long as its by year four, that is perfectly timed.

Congrats again and thank you for sharing!

Gen

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Specializes in ICU.

Reading all this stuff, has brought up more questions than I had when I started..... I've got 3+ years of critical care experience at large high acuity hospitals, I had been planning on starting to work in the ER this summer and start school for my masters to be an Emergency Nurse Practitioner this fall.

I'm very interested in joining the army, and had been thinking about taking out loans and joining afterwards and getting the loan repayment for my grad school and paying back however many years of service for the 2+ years of school.

If I joined the army now as a Critical Care RN/ER, would I still be able to go back to school for Emergency Nurse Practitioner and get it paid for?

I wouldn't be joining just to get grad school payed for, but if I want to be in the Army and I want to go to school-- why not hit two birds with one stone? I'm aware that if I joined now, I'd most likely be deployed before I was eligible to go back to school, and that's fine with me.

I think this post may be confusing but it's 5am and I'm at work, so please forgive me if I'm not making sense (my patients are very stable....) :)

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Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
...If I joined the army now as a Critical Care RN/ER, would I still be able to go back to school for Emergency Nurse Practitioner and get it paid for?

I wouldn't be joining just to get grad school payed for, but if I want to be in the Army and I want to go to school-- why not hit two birds with one stone? I'm aware that if I joined now, I'd most likely be deployed before I was eligible to go back to school, and that's fine with me.

I think this post may be confusing but it's 5am and I'm at work, so please forgive me if I'm not making sense (my patients are very stable....) :)

Hi,

pasting from

http://armynursecorps.amedd.army.mil/usu.html

USU Graduate School of Nursing

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Family Nurse Practitioner

Perioperative Clinical Nurse Specialist

Doctoral Program in Nursing Science

Perioperative CNS Poster

[endpaste]

At the url listed those titles are hyperlinks. I see they only list family Nurse practitioner and not other types as being covered, at least, not now.

Good luck!

Gen

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So, I know this thread is a little old, but had a question. Still considering going in ANC (ADN RN)

I know that I can't go active duty until I finish by BSN. I am currently a perioperative nurse. (1.5 years). I don't always want to be a perioperative nurse. So I guess long story short: Would they let me sign a waiver so that in the future I could switch to ER ect.. Any advice would be helpfull. I have been in contact with a health care recruiter, but didn't ask them this question. I have heard that the time to get things you want is upon going in. After that is much harder to change things up. I don't wan't to be stuck in the OR forever. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just not for me long term.

Thanks!!!

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