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!

lifeafter,

on your top 3 duty station as a generic entry level nurse you have HUGE chance of getting top 1, 2 or 3.. they actually have to send up the chain of command when that cannot be met... the initial options are like of the 8 main med centers.. only oconus are HI and Germany.

v/r

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lifeafter,

on your top 3 duty station as a generic entry level nurse you have HUGE chance of getting top 1, 2 or 3.. they actually have to send up the chain of command when that cannot be met... the initial options are like of the 8 main med centers.. only oconus are HI and Germany.

v/r

Just_cause...just what r the 8 main med centers? Could u break down the choices for us?...as always, thanks Bro!

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If I remember correctly, Ft Lewis, WA is in there also.

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Hah.

Lifeafter-

so true.. it figures that I omit my previous duty station and my #1 choice.. lol.

FLWA is a great place - if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to give my 2 cents ;)

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Hah.

Lifeafter-

so true.. it figures that I omit my previous duty station and my #1 choice.. lol.

FLWA is a great place - if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to give my 2 cents ;)

....O.K. Just_cause...let's say I choose FLWA...once I complete my generalist yr (Med/Surg) and select the Critical Care 16 week course, would I stay @ FLWA (Madigan AMC) for the course or do I get to make the selection (e.g. Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas or Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.?)...Also, after the course, do I get to select an OCONUS/CONUS or would I just go wherever the Army needed me?

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life,

well these are simplified questions - we can only guess, here is mine.

If you are FLWA and since the critical care course is at FLWA, Brook and Walter reed - I would say you have a 99% of taking it at FLWA rather then costing the installation money to send you elsewhere TDY for 4 months.... as it doesn't make any sense.

Timeline would dictate where you went.. most likely you would take it at FLWA and stay at FLWA until your Cpts course - and from there you would be assigned your next duty station and go from there.

v/r

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life,

well these are simplified questions - we can only guess, here is mine.

If you are FLWA and since the critical care course is at FLWA, Brook and Walter reed - I would say you have a 99% of taking it at FLWA rather then costing the installation money to send you elsewhere TDY for 4 months.... as it doesn't make any sense.

Timeline would dictate where you went.. most likely you would take it at FLWA and stay at FLWA until your Cpts course - and from there you would be assigned your next duty station and go from there.

v/r

Just_Cause:

What shift can I expect @ Madigan (Med/Surg & Critical Care) and how much free time will I have? I would definitely appreciate any info about the Tacoma, WA area in regards to housing, or is single Officer housing available @ FTLWA? Is there a possibility of working PRN @ a local hospital in my time off? All-in-all, how would u rate Ft.Lewis on a scale of 1-10?

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lionstudent, great questions - I will answer what I know.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I left the Army last February as a CPT from a non-med branch.. so my answers are based on that + info I've gotten by shadowing a few nurses at FLWA.

MED/SURG: was 12 hour shifts and the nurses typically had about 13-16 days per month scheduled. They seemed very happy with the work to life ratio and had no compliants. As with most shifts there is some flexibility and some rigidity - ie taking a month or two of night shifts etc.

FLWA has been building like crazy but single officers still live off post. The good news is there is an abundance of nice and local housing/apt in the area and pay range as an officer. The closest is just outside the gate - in a community called Dupont. It was basically built to serve the FLWA a local intel research area and a state farm insurance business... aside from that you can drive north to tacoma... or south towards lacey and then olympia. I prefer the south option due to traffic, quality of life, and nicer atmosphere. A nice place to be is in Lacey - about 7 mi south of FLWA or Oly about 18 mi south.... I'd check out some apts online for Lacey.

Local hospitals -there are some but I do not know how people go about working civ/mil at the same time....

I really prefer olympia to tacoma... tacoma is between seattle and olympia - but after living there for a bit I prefer oly .. and would recommend lacey as a quick commute, nice area, reasonable rent.

v/r

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Specializes in crit care.

hey bronx....you basically gave me summary of army nursing i've been looking for for a long time. I am a 66h8a in the reserve component. Although I went to OBLC last summer (a blast by the way) i've yet to do anything. I somehow ended up IMA with a unit out of Kansas although I live in NJ and have nothing but loop holes trying to either get into a local TPU or volunteer for deployment. anyway i am a prior service infantry guy and have really been pondering active duty. your description helped alot....thank you

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