Best Air Force Base Hospital

IowaRNBSN · Feb 9, 2011

Have you had your interview with the Chief Nurse yet? I had mine last Friday. He had tons of info on which bases to look at. It really depends on what your career goal is. The chief nurse will advise you on which bases to choose based on that.

IowaRNBSN

mobro · Feb 10, 2011

If by "sent overseas" you mean deploy, then Lackland and Keesler have the highest deployment rate. They're both large hospitals as well.

allnurses Guide · Feb 11, 2011

If by "sent overseas" you mean deploy, then Lackland and Keesler have the highest deployment rate. They're both large hospitals as well.

lol.... percentage wise Elmendorf deploys just as many or more than Keesler of Lackland at least in my department.

luvbug080688 · Feb 11, 2011

i had all big hospitals that would have up-to-date technology on my dream sheet for conus and i got an oconus assignment. there are no guarantees with your dream sheet, but it doesnt hurt to put them down at least.

allnurses Guide · Feb 11, 2011

If you are just picking AF bases with hospitals then you are just about going to list every AF hospital with 5 choices. I always recommend finding out which bases have the most openings first then making your list from there. That approach entails your recruiter calling the nurse corps assignment officer, but it is usually worth it.

The AF's biggest hospital right now is WHMC, but it is integrating with BAMC. That is probably still going to be the closest thing to what you are looking for in an AF base.

Here is the little I know of AF hospitals.

1. Eglin Afb is a relatively small hospital but seems to stay busy. The area is great and most of the hospital is relatively new.

2. Kessler Afb has really slowed down since hurricane Katrina. It probably has a patient load similar to Eglin or maybe even less. Currently from what I understand is Eglin is doing quite a bit more surgeries than keesler.

3. Andrews Afb is about as small and slow as you can get for an Afb hospital. I am actually expecting it to convert to clinics only after the expansion of NNMC is complete. Several of Andrew's Afb nurses work at NNMC already.

4. Langley I know very little about, but little Greek on here was stationed there if you want to ask here about it.

5. Elmendorf Afb in anchorage Alaska is what I would consider a medium size AF hospital and like Nellis is DOD/VA sharing hospital which can give some real interesting patients. Since elemendorf is in Alaska and basically the only full siZe military hospital in the state you get some interesting people that only come out of the bush once or twice a year for medical care etc.

6. Travis Afb is a teaching hospital so there always be some interesting stuff going on there.

7. Wright Patterson has a nice hospital, but from my visits there seems kinda of slow.

8. You may also have the choice of asking to be assigned at Landstuhl, BAMC, and or NNMC in Bethesda. All of those hospitals are large dual or tri-service hospitals.

So far I have worked at Sheppard, keesler, Eglin, NNMC, Walter Reed, Elmendorf, and a couple of VA hospitals since coming in the AF.

I hope that helps a little bit.

CRF250Xpert · Feb 11, 2011

I think Lackland has a hospital.

The Little Greek · Feb 12, 2011

I'll add my input about Langley. It's a brand new hospital and it's been expanding its ER and ICU. The L&D is the busiest in the ACC and second busiest in the AF. If you are going in as med-surg I would suggest not requesting Langley. It was going through a weird transformation while I was there and the RNs were more like floaters to other areas of the hospital--PACU, same day surgery, and even clinic. There was some restructuring going on and they took away some of the med-surg duties which really threw them for a loop. They may have fixed it by now, but if you are looking for "action" and you aren't L&D, I'd pass on Langley.

CRF250Xpert · Feb 14, 2011

I'll add my input about Langley. It's a brand new hospital and it's been expanding its ER and ICU. The L&D is the busiest in the ACC and second busiest in the AF. If you are going in as med-surg I would suggest not requesting Langley. It was going through a weird transformation while I was there and the RNs were more like floaters to other areas of the hospital--PACU, same day surgery, and even clinic. There was some restructuring going on and they took away some of the med-surg duties which really threw them for a loop. They may have fixed it by now, but if you are looking for "action" and you aren't L&D, I'd pass on Langley.

Good news. When I was there, The ER imploded and became a UCC, ICU was all offices, and Med Surg had a census of 2 or 3.

Good news was - we had a brand new gym. The bowling alley was across from the ER and had greasy burgers 'til 2200. There was a ton of construction all over base. "New" hospital is news to me though.

midinphx, BSN · Feb 14, 2011

I'm at Lackland. We do still have a hospital, but not for long. We are combining with the army over at BAMC. So Lackland is still a great nursing destination, just undergoing lots of change. We have a heavy deployment load, which I like. If you come to Lackland, you will be deployed.

The Little Greek · Feb 14, 2011

Good news. When I was there, The ER imploded and became a UCC, ICU was all offices, and Med Surg had a census of 2 or 3.
Good news was - we had a brand new gym. The bowling alley was across from the ER and had greasy burgers 'til 2200. There was a ton of construction all over base. "New" hospital is news to me though.

Brand spankin' new hospital and it's really, really nice. Bad news for the ER though because they are in the old building. Everything else moved to the new hospital except the lab and the ER. It's a strange set-up with very poor planning to say the least. It took them forever to build it too. I only worked the new hospital for a few months before PCSing--they starting building it before I even got there if that says anything.

As for the bowling alley, they rebuilt that too and it's SUPER nice. The food is still just as greasy, good, and cheap. It was a nice place for the night shifters and weekend workers since the DFAC hours are terrible.

superman07 · May 12, 2011

Hi midinphx! I just graduated in December and passed my boards in Feb. I was the only one chosen from Hawaii. I am scheduled for Oct. 17, 2011 at Maxwell Air Force base in Alabama, and then Nurse Transition Program is from Nov. 28-Feb. 15 in Cincinnati, Ohio. We will be stationed in Lackland Air Force base, TX working in the Med-surg.

It is confusing, I thought NTP is only 9 weeks. Why does it seem much longer? I know that this is an old thread, but by now, you all should have had a lot of experience and I was wondering if there are any helpful things I should know about COT, NTP and Lackland. I am trying to get things planned, and my wife is also concerned about our children and having to leave school in the middle of the year and transfer to another school, housing, etc. Anyone got any links, resources, etc.? Things you've learned and would have done differently or better? You also mentioned that "you will be deployed". Is that a gaurantee? Could you clarify please. Thank you very much!