Navy Hospital Corpsman to RN?

[JLhn]

I am a Hospital Corpsman who has served in the military for about 2.5 years. Because of my location and 10 hour days, i cant quite make it to classes on any basis.

I have almost no idea where to start to aqcuire an RN license. The RN world alone is new to me but i have seen the responsibilities an RN can carry.

Questions:

Is there an online program that caters to acquiring a ADN? I have looked through several posts and cannot find a solid answer.

As a Hospital Corpsman we can obtain a Medical Assistant or challenge the LVN board to become that. Are any of these worthwhile to getting closer to becoming an RN.

Right now my plan is to just take online courses to try and knock out the bulk of the prerequisites to become an RN so when i am a civilian i wont be at square one. I googled nursing degrees and could not find the core classes required to become an RN. Where is this information readily available?

I go to the university of phoenix and my counselor is no help to me.

I appreciate any help

Thank you.

[weird]

strange..I treated the wounded and dying on the battlefield under enemy fire. seen limbs blown off, treated shock, bullet wounds, stop beeding gave injection, kept men alive long enough to be transported to a medical clinic.

I get out and am only qualified to be a CNA? .....for 10 bucks an hour? changing diapers? even worse then the pay is being treated like crap be LPNs and esp RNs that havent administered 1/4 of the aid I have.........if they only knew what I have actually done in the past. Sorry, all I did was save the life of a dozen or so men on the battlefield.....Guess my folks did'nt have the bucks to send me to nursing school after H.S. ANYBODY that has been a corpsmen for 6 plus years is qualified to be a LPN in any State...period

[PCLPN11]

weird,

i served for 20+ yrs. as a corpsman; i also been there and got many t-shirts.

i guess i am a lucky one, i work in a hospital that valued me for the person the navy and the marines help mold me to be. they also encourage me and work with my schedule for me to pursue that piece of paper.

the things that we smelled, saw, and the friends that were lost gave me the inspiration, dedication, and the desire to set the example and show them what a "navy corpsman" is made of. i will not dishonor them and when i see and hear silly and stupid things - i just smile and stick to my values and assist them when i can.

- the people (patients, housekeeping, cna, lpn, rn, and doctors) know who and what we are

- when times are tuff and hours are long - they know who they can trust and count on

- that why i always got my pay raises, and all the hours i want

so in april 2011; i will be an lpn and then plan to go for the lpn to rn program. and when they ask how i got to be a rn - "i'll reply with a whole lot of passion; from blood and guts, and a whole lot of danger" and just give a big smile v/r hm pc

[navyguyhm3]

Each school has different pre-requisite requirements - which makes it hard to know what to take. You almost have to know what school you're going to, to know what pre-reqs you need. And even then, you may not get in - many nursing schools now have long waiting lists, and are very competitive to get in. Make sure you get the highest grades possible to increase your chances.

Anyway, I don't know about the pre-reqs for an ADN - I only know the pre-reqs for a BSN - these include classes like Biology, Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, Sociology, Lifespan Development, and sometimes Chemisty, Nutrition, Statistics, and Algebra. Again, each school is different and wants different classes. I would start looking at schools online and read what their requirements are. Maybe even meet with an academic counselor to help you map out your classes.

Becoming a medical assistant is nice to be introduced into a clinical setting, but it doesn't help you with getting into nursing school or becoming a nurse. To become a nurse you have to graduate from an accredited program and then pass the NCLEX exam (state board).

One option might be to become an LPN (usually a year in school), start working, and then take the remaining classes to get your ADN or BSN. With your ADN or BSN, then you can take the NCLEX exam and become an RN.

Good luck.

By the way - what's a Hospital Corpsman?

A Corpsman..also known as "Doc" is the best trained healthcare professional in the US Military. We are the doctor, the nurse, the surgeon, the mom & dad. If you're a Doc serving alongside the US Marine Corps, you are pretty much the only healthcare professional to treat your platoon from physical exams/assessments to minor surgery, suturing and emergency medicine and everything in between! You name it, we're trained for it (well most things anyway lol)

[gcollins83]

Hey guys,

I'm looking at joining the Navy here in a couple of days and I'm looking at going the nurse route while I'm in. I already have a degree in Biology, however I didn't take A&P, I was a micro nut and planned on going into med technology till I taught micro for a year. So here's my question, how easy will it be for me to get my A&P credits out of the way while active duty? I heard a bit about the enlisted medical comissioning program and the ability to transfer military service for credit, but how does this work? Will I be better off after I get out to go the BSN route with the GI bill or do the commissioning program?

Of course I'll have to get picked up as a corpsman, but I scored a 99 on the ASVAB so I'm pretty confident that it will be offered to me.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Greg

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

If you already have a bachelors degree why not apply for OCS? Or look into an accelerated BSN then apply for the Nursing Corps? Much easier to get into nursing outside of the Navy than within the Navy. When you are in the Navy you are more or less at the mercy of "needs of the service."