Hospital ship RN employment

[emgmag]

I am interested in doing a tour on a hospital ship as an RN (i.e. USNS Mercy). Is there anyone that can tell me what the prerequisites are or how or where to get further information? I am prior Navy and would be interested in re-enlisting or going as a civilian.

[RiskManager]

My ex-wife was a Chief Corpsman and did a couple of Pacific Partnership missions on the Mercy out of San Diego. I recall her saying that nursing staff came on board when the ship was ramped up to Full Operating Status in preparation for departure. Just about all the clinical staff came from Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego with some minor infill from other Navy medical commands on the West Coast. She said that a Mercy deployment was a sought-after mission, and Command generally had way more volunteers than available staff slots. So the short answer to your question is that after you become a Navy RN, get your detailer to assign you to Balboa, or to Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Norfolk for deployments on the Comfort.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Nurses don't enlist in the Navy, they commission. Do you have a BSN?

[emgmag]

True statement on commissioning vs enlisting! I will only have an ADN and will be pursuing my masters in January, so then at the completion of that I could then consider commissioning.

[emgmag]

Thanks so much for the info!