No veterans preference for military vets who work as nurses at the VA hospitals.

[patrick1rn]

We need to get a law changed. Title 38 USC 7401 (1) lets VA Hospitals ignore Veterans Preference for health care professionals. If you served as a medic or corpman and want to continue your medical career as a MD, PA , Nurse or NP etc, at the VA hospital, They DONT count your veterans preference. The VA has DISCRETIONARY power to appoint regardless of veteran status. YOU MUST CONTACT congress, the VFW, the DAV and the Legion and both houses of Congress to get this law changed. CONTACT the POTUS also. JOIN me to get this law appealed for fairness in hiring of qualified veterans to work at the VA. Only TOGETHER will our voices be heard.

Thoughts ?

[Be'Be']

Patrick I am working with a VSO with regards to changing Title 38.

[HollyLynn14]

Without sounding crass..am I the only veteran that is ticked by the lack of veterans employed at the VA med centers?

[tiffcrn, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, EMT-B]

I know this is very old but I have to disagree. I am a 5 Point vet, MSN in Education (from an accredited school), 10+ years of experience within many areas and I was not selected for a Nurse Care Manager position. I submitted a FOIA and found out the RN selected has her BSN, Not a vet, and has less experience (external hire). I have filed with VETS. Unfortunately they do not give preference.

[djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP]

I know this is very old but I have to disagree. I am a 5 Point vet, MSN in Education (from an accredited school), 10+ years of experience within many areas and I was not selected for a Nurse Care Manager position. I submitted a FOIA and found out the RN selected has her BSN, Not a vet, and has less experience (external hire). I have filed with VETS. Unfortunately they do not give preference.

5 point vet as msn in education?! What does this have anything to do with a care manager position? Im a 10 point and worked in a care manager position with an ADN (before I finished my np) because I had relevant work experience. Care managers are pseudo physician extenders that need good experience helping manage chronic illnesses. Your msn in education means nothing unless you are applying for a manager spot.

What this thread amounts to is a series of butthurt for an inability to clear an interview process because there is either something lacking in their application or their interpersonal skills while interviewing. Veterans are hired all the time in a range of roles including nursing and doctors. I will say there are few veterans who push into those roles in the first place so it's not a shock when there's few working at the VA. My VA want hiring family nurse practitioners and the primary care head who I worked with as a care manager knew straight up her had access to any doctor he wanted and saw no need for an aprn. Valid and I moved on.

What this law does is not tie the hands when hiring the very people we expect to be most professional in the end. There's no guarantee that a veteran will somehow be more compassionate, understanding, or even more effective at treating other vets. They can bring new perspect For sure. But it's rare that all things are equal even if on paper they appear that way. I've received nothing but stellar care at multiple vas from compassionate staff from a multitude off backgrounds and personally worked worth the most professional colleagues within the system.

[tiffcrn, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, EMT-B]

Wow.... Butthurt? Little do you know I have great experience outside of "just" being an educator. I have long term care, critical care, as well as serve my community as an EMT. Being an NP, you may want to proof read before you post. Just saying.

[djmatte, ADN, MSN, RN, NP]

Wow.... Butthurt? Little do you know I have great experience outside of "just" being an educator. I have long term care, critical care, as well as serve my community as an EMT. Being an NP, you may want to proof read before you post. Just saying.

Try not to worry about my proof-reading on a forum where things like autocorrect can drastically correct things you never notice. I have my Masters (just like you) and have proven myself an exceptional writer.

But to your point, you qualified your masters in education as if it set you apart as the superior candidate. You never mentioned where your or this person's experience resided nor do I believe you ever could truly know for sure what that person had as a background. But as the op noted, they don't give preference and shouldn't have to. They give preference to relative and most recent experience followed by an ability to actually hold your own in an interview. As a veteran and someone who's worked there, I'm perfectly ok with this.