Air Force Nurse Pay

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Do AF Nurses get any extra "special" stipend (pay) a month or a yearly bonus for being in? Sort of like the Doctors do...

Thanks

Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

I haven't heard of any changes to the ISP for the upcoming fiscal year (which starts Oct 1). Last I heard, the AF still offers it to just about any nurse with any credential (med-surg, critical care, emergency, OR, etc). There are different rules for privileged providers.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

CRNAs are eligible for retention bonuses between 10-50k/yr.

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I am an ER RN (5 yrs experience) with CEN & will be done with my MSN in Healthcare Administration this December.

Here are some of my questions:

1. What will be my pay grade coming in? Rank? I'm applying for the December 2015 Board, either as FN or ER RN.

2. Do FNs qualify for any ISP?

I have sieved through most of the threads in AN & I am thankful to all the active contributors who unselfishly take time to share their knowledge & experiences.

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Specializes in Adult Critical Care.

Generally speaking, an MSN gives you an extra 2 years of time in grade credit. I'm not entirely sure if your degree will count, but it might. If those 5 years were all full-time, then I would say you should come in as a 1st Lt (O-2) with 18 months remaining until Captain. If you also get credit for the MSN, then you should come in as a Captain (O-3). Your recruiter will have a chart that can confirm this.

Check with your recruiter, but I'm fairly certain that you can't enter active duty as a flight nurse right off the bat; you can do it in the Air Guard or Reserves with level 1 ER or ICU experience.

You can't get an ISP for a specialty you don't practice in. CEN's wouldn't get ISPs if they were serving as flight nurses. There is a flight specialty certification, but I'm not entirely sure what the requirements are or if the Air Force gives ISPs for it.

If you take the sign-on bonus or loan-repayment, then you become ineligible for the ISP until your obligation for the bonus/repayment is fulfilled. That is 3 years of obligation for each item taken.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Unless things have changed a non-nursing degree will not help with rank coming in.

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wtbcrna & jfratian, I will clarify/confirm credit re my MSN to my recruiter ASAP (it's nursing related with a concentration in Healthcare Management, so I'm not sure if that counts/matters).

I've met my recruiter once & based on my pre-qualification she said that I can apply for 1 of the 3 billets for the FN post, I'm not sure if she's 100% certain with her facts & advice. I did apply for a FN spot with an AF Reserves unit in FL 2 years ago but had to drop midway because life happened -- we had our third child (a post-tubal baby).

I am applying for active duty this time & I am hoping to get the most from this experience. Good thing my wife, who's also a nurse, is willing to sacrifice so I can fulfill my ambition/dream of serving in the military.

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Wtbcrna,

Do you have any information on case numbers for USUHS and USGPAN ( ie number of ASA 3/4 pts, a-lines, central lines, etc)?

Also, I've talked to a few ologists who claim crnas are great for healthy pts and "routine" cases, but they say their training makes a difference with sicker pts and if an emergency arises. I am aware of crna only locations who don't have ologists around and I'm sure may encounter/handle these situations. What are your thoughts on this viewpoint.

From what you've seen, are crnas, in general, getting as much exposure to ASA 3+ as anesthesiologist residents during training?

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

The SRNAs from the military programs are getting around 1000-1200 cases in their program the last time I checked. Each clinical site is different on case types and numbers. They exceed the recommendations for all PNBs, a-lines, CVLs, and ASA3/4 patients no matter which clinical site they go to.

All the MDAs say the same thing, but there has never been any type of study that showed having an MDA or a CRNA makes a difference in patient outcomes.

Residents often gravitate towards bigger cases and do rotations in the ICU, but again programs vary greatly.

I trained with anesthesologist residents and I don't think their training makes them better prepared to provide anesthesia than any military trained CRNA.

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Wtbcrna,

Sir, what civilian programs would you recommend?

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I think you are on the right track on what to look for in a good NA program.

You should look for programs that are regionally acredited, offer CRNA only or military rotations, and look for programs that offer ultrasound guided regional anesthesia rotation (100+ blocks would be ideal by the time you graduate not counting epidurals and spinals). A well rounded program will also have their SRNAs get 20+ CVLs done on your own (no sharing half a procedure), and epidurals/spinals should be around 100 total too.

Things to avoid: Programs where students just meet the minimum requirements in any category, mulitiple students in one room sharing a case or procedure, nonregional accredited programs, and programs with all ACT rotations.

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Did you get the slot? I'm trying to find other Air Force Fns

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Any Air Force flight nurses pm me please? :)

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