Male Nursing Student

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Hello! I am a Nursing student who will be graduating in May of 2013 with a BSN. Currently I am trying to decide where I want to start with my career with the end goal of being a CRNA. I am highly interested in joining the military, particularly the Air Force. My questions are what are the chances of landing a Critical Care job directly out of school in the military? Is it possible to somehow work that into a contract? What are the advantages and disadvantages of joining the military as a nurse? With the goal of becoming a CRNA would it be smarter to take a civilian job in an ICU first and then join after a year? Any help is much appreciated.

A little information about myself...

University of Iowa College of Nursing

Worked as an NA on a Speciality Surgery floor (Transplants, GI surgery, Bariatric)

Overall current GPA 3.62

Nursing GPA 3.5

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Specializes in CTICU.

I too would like to know more about this...anyone wanna chime in?

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Specializes in Oncology, Palliative Care.

Y'all both should go to your local recruiting office to speak with a recruiter... Understand that it is their job to recruit, so don't take every word they say as gospel, but you can trust what they say for the most part. You might want to talk to recruiters for a few different branches to see who can offer you the best contract... My husband (who's in the US Navy) says the Navy & the Marines are the least competitive when it comes to promotions in the military.... (All recruiters are going to tell you their branch is the best, of course) & you may not be concerned with promotions now, but other than the honor of serving your country, the whole point is to achieve higher ranking.

Good luck to you both!!

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Specializes in RN-BC, ONC, CEN... I've been around.

I have a bit of insight into this, I am former army (91C, LPN) and my wife is currently a commisoned army nurse (66H8A, ICU)

1st: Is it possible to get critical care written into your contract? Sure... HIGHLY UNLIKELY THOUGH. Active duty nurses spend years in the trenches of med surg to go to a critical care course, and the entrance into these is competitive. Couple that with that the military is currently shrinking and there is less of a need for nurses. I will say your odds of going straight into a course or getting it into your contract right now would probably approach zero.

You can go the civilian route but you will need to get your CCRN first and I believe that you need 2 years of critical care experience to qualify for that cert.

The advantages of the military are the benefits (retirement and medical), I believe that the culture is much more supportive of new nurses (this is subjective and dependent on your chain of command), more room for and a more clear path for promotion. There is also the matter of pay.My wife until she hit captain (O3) made less than her civilian countercounterparts when you calculated in her base pay and bah. With that in mind figure that for the first 3-4 years you will be making less. At captain she broke even... Keep in mind that she had enlisted experience and that makes a big difference in pay so your mileage will vary. Right now though she is making significantly more than her civilian counterparts when you calculate in her bonus for being an 8A (ICU identifier). You will likely get cost of living adjustments every year, something that rarely happens any more I the civilian sector (I would almost guarantee the adjustment but it is dependent on congressional approval so...)

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As a new 66 series (new nurse=med surg nurse/66H) in the Army you won't see ICU time for 2 years. Lots of Army ICU RNs go onto CRNA and the Army has the best program in the nation....

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