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Discussion

From BSN to HM

Hello!!!

I know I'm in for it, and will hear how stupid it is for me to want to do this, however, does anyone know if you have your BSN (I finish in another year), would you be able to bypass the Navy Corpsman 'A' School if enlisting? Or would it be shortened up since the 4 year BSN, on top of 4 years in the FD/EMS setting (EMT-B)? Thank you for any help.

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    • Featured Replies

    As a Navy vet you would most likely have to go through A school. Why would you enlist as an HM when you can become an officer and a nurse?

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    You can not bypass (A school) but you do get a rank boost. I was training with one guy in (A school) that received his second class petty officer rank because he had a bachelors in a health care related field. I don't remember what his bachelors was in though.

    Im sure you're going to get heckled for this multiple times but why would you want to be an enlisted corpsman when you could be a commissioned nurse corps officer?

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    I have the same question- why HM over nurse corps?

    To answer your question, no, you would not be able to bypass A school. A lot of what we learned in corps school I never learned in nursing school. A lot more of the pre-hospital care, hazmat, and trauma stuff than in RN school (much of what you learned as an EMT). HMs have a VERY different approach to health care, and it can be very challenging to try to switch back and forth. It took me awhile to get out of my HM head in nursing school and learn to think as a nurse.

    If you're thinking that enlisting is a fast track to officer, think again. There are no guarantees, and anymore, no advantages (aside from more respect once you're an officer if you're prior enlisted, and a little pay boost in the lower O ranks depending on your E time).

    REALLY REALLY REALLY think about what you're giving up if you do this.

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    Consider also the ethical and legal dilemma that you, a nurse working as a corpsman--at a lower level of licensure--will have if you join as an HM. You're held to the standards of your highest level of licensure--nurse--but you're only allowed to act as a corpsman. Is that a risk you're willing to take with that soon-to-be newly attained BSN?

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    • Author

    Thanks for the responses, it's a thought to do it, my outlook is I'd rather work hand and hand with the marines (many of my buddies are in the corps), rather than being stuck in a field hospital etc... it's something to get heckled for, but if it's more help as an HM than an O, I'd do it...

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    • Expert

    Something else you might want to think about is your career once you get out of the military. If you enter the military as a new grad nurse but never gain any experience as an RN, then you'll find it nearly impossible to be hired as an RN in the civilian world once you separate. You'd have all the downside of a being a new grad (no experience) without any of the upside (education still fresh in your mind). At the very minimum, you'd have to do a nurse refresher course (basically re-doing your clinical hours) to have civilian managers ever look at you.

    If you want to serve the marines in the field, why not do PA? Military PAs have the potential to gain a lot of that cool field experience you're looking for. That's where the PA profession comes from after all.

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    If you want to work with Marines, then you can do Fleet Marine Forces as a Navy Nurse.

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