Nursing After Navy

[ChiefFaith]

I'm currently a senior in High School, and have been planning to enlist in the Navy. I want to join purely out my heart and for a good way to start my future. I want to be navy corpsman for some medical experience, because I plan on going to school to be a nurse after my four years of enlistment, but I know that getting the corpsman slot is not certain. My problem is this, what's the best way in getting a nursing degree? And what are the differences between ADN and BSN? After my enlistment I really want to get the Associates Degree Rn, due to lack of time in school compared to the BSN path. Any advice would be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA]

Here's something about the ADN that many people don't know: it's not that much faster. If you are a high school student starting from scratch, you'll thank yourself later if you just get the BSN now. Let me explain.

The ADN is probably the most involved associates degree one can get. It's probably going to take a year of pre-reqs before you can even start the program. If you factor in the pre-reqs, you could easily be pushing 80 credits (2.5-3 years). For another ~40 credits, you could have a BSN. The big advantages with the ADN are that it's cheaper on a per class basis (because it's at a community college), it's about 30% quicker to obtain, and many programs don't require the general education classes (foreign language, English). If you're goal is to work at a big hospital (500 beds+), you'll find it's easier to get hired with a BSN as a new grad. If you're okay working at rural community hospitals and nursing homes, then I think it doesn't really matter.

You can start working on some of the pre-reqs while on active duty with your $4500 per year of tuition assistance to reduce the time the degree will take. Just make sure you understand that being a corpsman isn't a magical back door into the Navy Nurse Corps. Also, understand that, while corpsman do have expanded scopes of practice compared to civilian nurse aides or EMTs, you may not get some of the trauma experience you think you'll be getting. The wars are winding down and people aren't deploying as much; the patients you'll see when not deployed are actually going to be far-less sick than patients in a typical civilian hospital.

[jerryp]

I see too many people falling into the trap of completing an Associates degree in nursing taking 2 years of nursing education + pre-requisites = over 3 years in school. Do yourself a favor and shoot straight for the Bachelors of Science in Nursing. All of the military nurses, and a large majority of acute care facilities require nurses to have a BSN.

One of my friends ended 8 years of service in the Marine Corps and is now about to graduate from his BSN program which is largely (if not completely) funded by his GI Bill. He is a full time student.

A registered nurse with an associates is actually = a registered nurse with a bachelors. REGISTERED NURSE is a state licensure for professional practice. Associates and bachelors are just the degree.