I want to know if the USAF accepts new grad FNPs who never worked as an RN before? I graduated with my BSN in Spring 2009, went straight into the FNP program in Fall 2009 full time, projected to grad in August 2011.
Application put in for the active duty USAF health professions scholarship and now just waiting for MEPS physical. Recruiter says I'll be going in as a new grad FNP not an RN, which is what I wanted, and she also confirmed this with me over the phone even though I don't have previous RN experience. Now just gotta get lots of paperwork through since I had positive skin test for PPD but cleared with CXR, however, they still need more documents from my state TB clinic which I'm sending all this week and should be cleared et into MEPS by then.
I contacted my Senators office for help and got a response from Chief Army nurse and said she believes RN experience is needed before going into the military as an FNP. However, she said she's not completely sure if thats the case now. Does anyone know? Although my recruiter said otherwise, I will be looking into opportunities in getting experience as an NP that hires new grads with no RN experience and work for about a year or two and then join the USAF with experience. Yes, I was indeed frustrated earlier about this confusion and issue with my TB skin test results and the request of records since 1992. PLEASE HELP!
which FNP program accepted you without experience? I thought FNP programs require RN experience.
It is not unusual for NP/CNS/MSN degrees to allow students to go directly into the program without RN experience. In fact the former director of AACN actually encouraged nurses to go straight through without stopping to get RN experience 1st.
CRNA school is the only one that requires at least one year of RN experience in order to be able to get selected for nurse anesthesia school and/or sit for the certification exam.
Good or bad I don't think there is any study out there that shows it makes a measurable difference in providers or patient outcomes.
Thanks wtbcrna. You've got me thinking. NP's can quickly lose their skill set being in a different role for an entire pcs change. That's disappointing that a commander could be unprofessional and not utilize someone in the role they have trained for because they don't like the role. That should be based more on the individual and job performance not the role. I was told you have to have an opening at the hospital for your job code which is requested by the chief nurse. Why would they take someone they don't need. I hope this doesn't come off offensive. I'm not defending my job. This has been a long process for me. Now I'm 2 weeks away from a 4 year committment that may not be for the job I think it is. I'm concerned to lose my skill set early on. I don't have any medsurg experience and my paperwork is coded for fnp. I understand officer first and nurse second. I could scrub floors if that was the immediate need. I can do anything temporarily but I would hope that if an opening came open, I could move into it. I will struggle with being put in a different role because someone doesn't like me or my job. I have more than loved every job I've ever had. I thought I would love it more with the military. I was raised in the military and my husband is active duty. I was hoping to experience the pride and camraderie that they did. I understand rank but it just seems a tad unprofessional to use your rank and position to hold others back. So disappointing to hear this......
Thanks wtbcrna. You've got me thinking. NP's can quickly lose their skill set being in a different role for an entire pcs change. That's disappointing that a commander could be unprofessional and not utilize someone in the role they have trained for because they don't like the role. That should be based more on the individual and job performance not the role. I was told you have to have an opening at the hospital for your job code which is requested by the chief nurse. Why would they take someone they don't need. I hope this doesn't come off offensive. I'm not defending my job. This has been a long process for me. Now I'm 2 weeks away from a 4 year committment that may not be for the job I think it is. I'm concerned to lose my skill set early on. I don't have any medsurg experience and my paperwork is coded for fnp. I understand officer first and nurse second. I could scrub floors if that was the immediate need. I can do anything temporarily but I would hope that if an opening came open, I could move into it. I will struggle with being put in a different role because someone doesn't like me or my job. I have more than loved every job I've ever had. I thought I would love it more with the military. I was raised in the military and my husband is active duty. I was hoping to experience the pride and camraderie that they did. I understand rank but it just seems a tad unprofessional to use your rank and position to hold others back. So disappointing to hear this......
You are pretty safe from med-surg as long as you avoid getting your 46NX. Use that to your advantage.
I have never been one to believe that being an officer comes before nursing, and I am more than happy to tell anyone that I am nurse 1st and officer second. The geneva convention agrees that we are medical 1st and officers second, and if that doesn't convince someone tell them if I wasn't a nurse 1st then I wouldn't be an officer in the AF.....just something to think about. Just my
You are pretty safe from med-surg as long as you avoid getting your 46NX. Use that to your advantage.
I have never been one to believe that being an officer comes before nursing, and I am more than happy to tell anyone that I am nurse 1st and officer second. The geneva convention agrees that we are medical 1st and officers second, and if that doesn't convince someone tell them if I wasn't a nurse 1st then I wouldn't be an officer in the AF.....just something to think about. Just my
Thank wtbcrna! That sounds great. I guess I'll see for myself soon. I'll keep you posted.
I agree with shapely that it sounds a bit unprofessional. Then again, I don't know the whole story. However, there has been incidents where high ranking officers abused their power such as the story that came in the national news about a female Navy Captain who abused her powers in mostly enlisted men (could be some females too) and got in trouble for it. Anyway, I'm going to keep trying. I got a call today to pick up my TB records from my State Health Clinic for TB and going to scan it to email to my recruiter. Hopefully this will pass for the MEPS physical. So the staff RN code is 46NX? I forgot what the FNP specialty code was...was it 46N3H?
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...because this was also bad news for me as well. I am in the process of applying to Emory's Accelerated BSN/MSN program, which is Direct Entry as well. I too planned on applying to the HPSP until I got this bad news.
A good friend of my family is a Col. in the AF Nurse Corp. She sits on the board that makes the decisions regarding new nurses and scholarship money. I spoke with her 1 month ago and for the upcoming fiscal year the AF will be making changes regarding Direct Entry NPs. Previously the AF did accept NPs with no prior nursing experience and these nurse were even able to qualify for the HPSP. But within the past 2 years they have had some serious problems with Direct Entry NPs that caused them to rethink this. So they will no longer be offering the HPSP to NPs with no prior nursing experience. I was told that the only way to get around this would be to gain RN experience during your MSN program by working part-time as an RN then you could possibly be considered for the HPSP.
Also not only will Direct Entry NPs not qualify for the HPSP but the board will not look highly upon direct commission applicants without prior nursing experience. They highly prefer their NPs to have prior nursing experience now because of the problems they have had in the past with Direct Entry NPs. It seems that since the NPs mostly work in small clinical settings the learning curve was more difficult for them because there was not an availability of more experienced NPs to help guide and teach them through the learning curve.
So I would say start searching for a part-time RN job to gain some type of experience to make your application more competitive. It has also become increasing more difficult to justify accepting NPs with no nursing experience since nursing applications have significantly increased even for NPs. They exceeded ALL of their quotas last year mostly due to the recession. Hence more people are starting to turn to the military as a secure job option. Which is helping the AF to exceed their recruitment numbers but making the application process alot more competitive.
Whew.....I know that was alot of information. Hope it helped to clear some things up.
for help and got a response from Chief Army nurse and said she believes RN experience is needed before going into the military as an FNP. However, she said she's not completely sure if thats the case now. Does anyone know? Although my recruiter said otherwise, I will be looking into opportunities in getting experience as an NP that hires new grads with no RN experience and work for about a year or two and then join the USAF with experience. Yes, I was indeed frustrated earlier about this confusion and issue with my TB skin test results and the request of records since 1992. 
PLEASE HELP!
wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA
5,128 Posts
It is not unusual for NP/CNS/MSN degrees to allow students to go directly into the program without RN experience. In fact the former director of AACN actually encouraged nurses to go straight through without stopping to get RN experience 1st.
CRNA school is the only one that requires at least one year of RN experience in order to be able to get selected for nurse anesthesia school and/or sit for the certification exam.
Good or bad I don't think there is any study out there that shows it makes a measurable difference in providers or patient outcomes.