More Military Schooling Qs

allnurses Guide · Apr 6, 2010

Can an AF nurse that attains a NP/masters degree using TA still apply for and be accepted for the AFIT scholarship for a second masters?
Does earning a NP/masters (while AD or through AFIT) increase ones rank or are there only special monetary bonuses given per month?
What does AF do with their bilingual nurses (English/Spanish)?

As far as I know using TA has no effect on getting an AFIT scholarship. No your rank won't increase automatically, but in general being an AFIT grad is looked on very favorably by the promotion boards.

The AF is not going to do anything different for English/Spanish speaking nurses. You maybe able to take a language proficiency exam in Spanish and qualify for a small bonus, but I am not sure since Spanish speaking military persons are quite common.

DrCOVID, DNP · Apr 7, 2010

As far as I know using TA has no effect on getting an AFIT scholarship. No your rank won't increase automatically, but in general being an AFIT grad is looked on very favorably by the promotion boards.
The AF is not going to do anything different for English/Spanish speaking nurses. You maybe able to take a language proficiency exam in Spanish and qualify for a small bonus, but I am not sure since Spanish speaking military persons are quite common.

Wow, common? Out of my class of around 80 I was the only Caucasian American to speak Spanish besides a Brazilian that spoke secondary to Portuguese. Besides that, I have never met a bilingual RN/LPN and have met one multilingual DOC. Maybe I'm too far north?

It's a good thing to know I will be joining a service where being bilingual is common because it will be nice to start speaking regularly again!

athena55, BSN, RN · Apr 9, 2010

Wow, common? Out of my class of around 80 I was the only Caucasian American to speak Spanish besides a Brazilian that spoke secondary to Portuguese. Besides that, I have never met a bilingual RN/LPN and have met one multilingual DOC. Maybe I'm too far north?
It's a good thing to know I will be joining a service where being bilingual is common because it will be nice to start speaking regularly again!

Hey adammRN:

Come on down (or over!) to El Paso....You'll meet a whole city where everyone is bilingual and many AD, RC, retired and their dependents live and work....

athena

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2010

Hey adammRN:
Come on down (or over!) to El Paso....You'll meet a whole city where everyone is bilingual and many AD, RC, retired and their dependents live and work....
athena

They're AF - come on over to San Antonio....we're LOADED with Spanish speakers.... :lol2:

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2010

My plan is to get my masters with AFIT and use TA to get a post-Master's certificate. A certificate qualifies you to take boards in a specialty. You don't need a second MSN unless you want something like an FNP and then a CNS degree.

shapely · Apr 10, 2010

Carolinapooh-what are you planning on getting a post masters certificate in? Depending on what you get your masters in, that's all you need to sit for the exam. I have a MSN. My actual degree only has Master of Science in Nursing written on it, not family nurse practitioner. My MSN had core classes and clinical classes which allowed me to sit for the FNP certification exam. You have to have so many clinical hours which your school has to sign off on and you have to send them a copy of your transcript so they can see the specialty courses you took for the program.

I would love to get a DNP online, but I'm not sure how that's going to happen working 5 days a week in a clinic and probably get deployed in the middle of it. That's one of the perks to 12 hour shifts, you get a few extra days off to take clinicals. I worked full time the entire time I was getting my MSN online with 8-16 hours of clinicals a week. Good luck, I love school.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2010

OK - I didn't know that - I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip. I want an FNP with a post in either midwifery or peds, so I'm thinking I'll probably need the classes, but if what I want changes I'll definitely look into it.

shapely · Apr 11, 2010

Carolina definately go to a school that will let you do both concurrently. If you look at the programs they usually only differ by 2-3 courses. If you wait, you'll have to repeat courses. I knew alot of people who did acute care with adult or peds Emory in Atlanta has a family nurse midwife which is a combo. I have a feeling you will go far in nursing.

Trauma Columnist · Apr 11, 2010

Hey guys, you don't need a second MSN, just post-MSN certificates. I have my MSN in management and leadership, one post-MSN certificate as an adult health CNS and then another (hopefully in July) post-MSN certificates as a peds health CNS.

You only need ONE MSN and then you do the rest as certificates - doesn't matter if you want to mix the CNS and FNP. I was considering doing a PNP instead of the peds CNS but in my state (IL) that wouldn't make any difference in my practice so I opted for the peds CNS.

Good luck to all of you and thanks for your service.

traumarus, USN 1977-1980!

just_cause, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2010

I would really look into this. The army has a 'masters' scholarship period for all branches but eligibility included not having a masters...this was as of 2 years ago but something I always keep in mind :)

v/r