RealNut

So glad to here I'm not the only one doing Neuro ICU to prep for CRNA school. My goal is to do overtime and floating to the SICU and do SICU with U.S. Army Nurse Corps reserve ( I commission next month). Hope all this experience, along with my previous years of acute care nursing will add up to something that is attractive on my CRNA school application.

Hi, I'm in a similar situation. I live in Stafford VA, currently an army reserve nurse and trying to prepare for direct ascension CRNA school. I'm very familiar with the VA and DC hospitals. In D.C the ones to look at are... Georgetown George Washington University Washington Hospital Center Washington D.C Veteran's Affairs Hospital Walter Reed In VA... INOVA Fairfax Hospital INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital Medicorp Mary Washington Hospital (i work here as an RN) Bon Securs hospitals of Richmond HCA Hospitals in Richmond Medical College of VA at VCU, Richmond Richmond Veteran's Affairs hospital Ft. Belvior Dewitt Medical Center Look in the ANCC website. Look up the "Magnet" Hospital Listings for D.C./VA/MD. This will give you a fabulous starting point as only the top notch hospitals for nation are listed here because they have proven to provide excellent quality nursing care and have top notch nursing programs and internships. Also most of the hospitals have internships that start in Jan/Feb and then again during the summer months. Contact each facilities HR department nurse recruiter. He/she can walk you through the process of getting into an ICU fellowship.

so psyched!! my recruiter received my offical nurse corps reserve packet today and my physical is next week. i think figured out what I am going to wear to the physical, nice but casual for comfort. Cami with a nice dressy pull over fall sweater, neat, clean cut blue jeans, some leather oxford clarks and some sort of simple matchng accessory. I think we will do more than the physical and will tour the base. so i figure dress for comfort and the possible chill outside. no nerves yet. my honey, when i told him my packet was in the mail. he was sooo supportive and sweet, so excited for me that i am finally going to live this dream of mine :)

Wow! thanks for the info again. So hoping I'm not PMSing the week of my physical. That'll add another 5 lbs. Definitely don't need that! I'll certainly ask about the tour at Ft. Sam Houston. Everyone does nurse corps reserve OBC there?

Thanks everyone for your info and advise!! So appreciated!! I live in Stafford, VA so my physical is going to be in Richmond at Ft. Lee. There is no medical center at Ft. Lee to my knowledge, so I don't know if there is going to be a tour or anything involved. Guess I gotta check with my recruiter. What's involved with "the tour?"

Processing my Army Nurse Corps reserve application right now and go for my physical next week. Just wanting to know... 1. How long does the physical take (hours)? I know it starts at 06:45... 2. What should I wear to go to the physical? 3. What is involved with the initial military physical?

Go Army Reserve as a commissioned officer. Then make it very well know your plans to attend AMEDD CRNA school. Get into CRNA school. As a SRNA you are active duty, but not deployable. Average length of time for an active duty nurse trying to go to CRNA school is like 5 years b/c of schedules and pending deployments. In the reserves you have so much more control over things, better bonuses, ability to rank even faster, and stay critical care in hospital till AMEDD, etc... Find you states health care AMEDD recruiter. They will walk you through everything! Hope this helps!!

Thanks for your post. This is the info I've been looking for. would love to chat when you get a chance. Your wealth of knowledge here would be greatly appreciated. Right now I'm dealing with swiss cheese. Have some of the info and facts straight as we try to work this out, but so many holes in it. And Thses holes need answers to se know what we are getting ourselves into and can plan more appropriately. Joey is using his GI bill right now, and will graduate with his Bachelors May 2010. Goal for him to go AD in aviation or communications, me to go AD (BSN RB x5 years). He is studying for the AFAST now. Is your husband a warrent officer or commissioned officer in aviation? Thanks, Emily [email protected]

Thanks so much. This is exactly what I understood and figured the way it would be. in our situation. I give up CRNA school so i can complete my masters while still living with him at Ruckers. i can do FNP or CNS or nursing administration instead. my biggest hurdle now is do I go reserve now and transfer to into AD while he is at Ruckers so i can get a head start on things for myself or do I wait and go AD at same time he goes AD? In the end want joint commision/married status at Ruckers and make sure it follows through best as possible to other posts.

Thanks so much, every bit of info helps as I put this info puzzle together. Recruiters only give you half of the info, not all the ins and outs of each step. Thinking of calling a second recruiter for a second opinion to compare notes from the first. I really want this to all work out. i am so hopeful!!

Looking at Army nurse corps reserve and active duty army nurse corps. My decision is going to be ultimately decided based on what my spouse does. He is going active duty aviation. My question is how easy is it to transition from reserve to active duty in the army nurse corps? second, if going the route of reserve to active duty, upon going active duty will i be able to contractually match my orders to my spouses very easily, joint officer commission? just wondering what you all know and advise i get back. my recruiter said the transition ought be no sweat is prefereable- reserve to AD upon my deciding of when i want to make that change over. He states my spouse and i will be able to get same post assignments. so basically i can follow him to flight school at Ft. Ruckers as a reservist, then go AD when an opening is available for me at Ft. Ruckers. i'm hoping that once my spouse is done at Ruckers i can then immediately follow with my orders to the post he will be stationed at. Help me understand if you can Thanks

hi everyone, i just had my meeting today with my Army healthcare recruiter. Now that the meeting is over, and I have had time to process all the info, I have a couple of questions. i am an experience ICU step down RN and in-patient OB RN. Basically, over the past five years I have pretty much seen and done it all. A bit of everything. I am interested in peri-operative, critical care, and ED, trauma. any experienced Army RNs give me a run down of what to expect for each specialty (in the military world). I know what I see and do civilian is a lot different. does the emergency specialty course include trauma management? does peri-operative specialty course include RN first assist, or only prepare you to OR circulate? is critical care ICU style nursing only? and in the field, upon deployment, what role would each specialty nurse play upon care of the pt. Are there any specific specialty teams i should be aware of in the Army military nursing world. Just to be frank, I have no interest in CRNA. The incentives are awesome, but 2.5 years of school in Texas while my spouse is at Ft. Ruckers in Alabama for flight school as well. Need to be able to do my training but keep joint post status as much as possible.

Same question here!! I have my Army reserve meeting in a week or so!! Any info would be greatly appreciatedfrom all you Army RNs out there!! When I have my meeting I will definitely post all info to help you out too!! Emily

Hi everyone, So I recently spoke to my local Army Nurse Recruiter here in Virginia and i have my first official meeting with him in about at week, June 2nd. I am pretty psyched!! In preparation for this meeting, i would like to call out to all my military nurse friends out there to ask if you all have any advice for me as I prep for this meeting. I am interested in both AD and reserves. Any specific Q's I should be asking, any specific topics of conversation I should make sure I cover, what to look out for good/bad/ugly, anything I should particularly ask for in my contract... My spouse is prior service and will be with me, but this is still new to me and I want to cover myself. I am also considering Navy reserve so I want to make sure I get all the info I can, make sure info is accurate from my recruiter and do a good comparison before i make a decision. Thanks for any and all help you all can give me!! emily 2004: ADN, RN 2008: BSN, RN (RN x5 years) 2.5 years critical care (ICU step down for cardiac medical/surgical, neuro surgical) 2.5 years: high risk in-patient OB (antepartum, L&D, postpartum, obstetric OR, ED) BLS, ACLS, NRP, STABLE certified, fetal monitoring, critical care core courses, heavily involved in shared governance, nursing performance excellence/improvement councils and Magnet Recognition councils

Hi, I'm looking for any and all advice to help me figure out the pro's and cons of each branch nurse corp. I have always dreamed of military nursing but put by spouses army career before mine. He is finishing up school with his GI bill scholarship and he is also looking at reserve duty. i am a BSN, RN 2.5 years critical care, and 3 years inpatient obstetrics experience. Fetal monitoring, STABLE certified, BLS, ACLS, NRP certified. given my experience i have a couple of Q's... 1. What rank should i expect to enter in as? 2. Pro's and cons of each branch reserve nurse corp. 3. Promotional and professional opportunities for all branches? 4. Average deployment schedule if activated? 5. Nurse corp entry training and education for reservists. 6. Particularly interested in flight nursing, always dreamed of this. don't want to do OB nursing in the military. loved critical care, but on really bad civilian unit and no openings in ED. Have obstetric OR, triage, inpatient experience too. 7. What awesome opportunities are there for me, as a 25 year old and no dependents, just my spouse and I right now. Thanks, appreciate all advice. Want to make the best choice possible and recruiters and not always the most reliable for info. Emily Neigh, BSN, RN

Hi, I went to Germanna and graduated in '04. with my ADS nursing, RN. Loved the program. Any nursing program is going to kick your butt, there is no way around it. It's meant to. and when you graduate you will be so thankful they did!! NCLEX will be a breese because you studied and worked so hard for it. I still keep in touch with the professors, work with the clinical professors at MWH, and precept myself. The program is top notch top notch. Most community college programs have a wait list so make sure that you have all your ducks in a row before you apply. Key thing to know, it's not only about where you go to school but where you do your clinicals. NCVV will make you travel to NoVa and D.C for clinicals b/c they have contracts with those facilities. Germanna is MWH, Culpeper, Faquier name a few. Everyone can choose the location of choose any where in the U.S. for an internship during the summer. I went to INOVA fairfax for the experience. There are a million things i could tell you that would be very helpful as you make your decision. Contact me at if you want to chat!! Emily Neigh, BSN, RN

Hey, Looking for advice from anyone familiar with the Geogetown Univ. CRNA program. I live an hour from there. Have a 2.5 yeat hx. in cardiac/neurosurgery ICU stepdown and also a year of L&D. I was introduced to the CRNA option while in L&D b/c obviously we do anesthesia there all day, everyday. I'm currently looking to go back to critical care and have inquired with SICU management about employment to prep for CRNA school. My qquestions are: how'd did you like Georgetown's program, pro's and con's, which chemistry course do they prefer for admission, overview info on the school, what are acceptance rates like there, how do I best prep for that school, etc... Thanks for anyinfo that come my way!!!

Hi, I work at Mary Washington Hospital in the Labor and Delivery Dept. So I work with the NICU there everyday. Everyone I work with from there is absolutely great. It's a busy place, but very, very nice. The L&D is approx. 12-14 beds, and then a complete antepartum unit. 2 OR's, 4 ED style triage rooms, and NICU just down the hall adjacent to us. We get everything under the sun there and NICU is always there to back us up. We are one big team. I believe there's approx. 20 beds in our NICU. 24/7 neonatologists, a step down NICU, etc... I can get you in touch with someone if you'd like. email me a [email protected] Emily

P.S. it's late at night and I can't spell!! Heehee

Yup, I already have BLS, ACLS, telemetry, NRP, the critical care core curriculum and PNIP (Perinatal internship) all undermy belt. The only thing I'm missing is PALS. And yes, I am employed at Mary Washington Hospital. So far, so good. They have been so good to me. When I wanted to expand my horizons beyond cardiac/neuro on the floor, stuck and desperate :), I went directly to the director for the center of nursing excellence and got into L&D through the back door. (I hate waiting and playing waiting, go-around games with online job listings for work) At the time, it was hard to find an opening that time of year to do a internship somewhere new and ED was already full for new hires for the year. Thus, L&D. I wouldn't trade the experience. I want to be a well round nurse. This I believe will help me as I pursue advanced practice nursing in Adult Acute Care. If anyone needs info on MWH, just let me know. I know a lot of people as I participate in the councils and get get info easily.

Hey eyeryone. Quick Question. Wondering if there is out there anyone who has had L&D experience working in the ED? I started out with 2.5 years of critical care in cardiac and neuro, then transferred to L&D for the experience b/c I couldn't get into the ED(already filly staffed). I love L&D, but have always wondered if if my background could set me up to do well as an ED RN. Still only 23 and have time to think, but wondering if there is room for me in the ED someday

You might want to try MCV-Medical Center of Virginia. It is attached to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. There is Martha Jefferson Hospital, HCA hospitals, Henrico hospital, a liitle farther north (45miles) is Medicorp's Mary Washington Hospital. MWH is directly between Washington D.C. and Richmond in Fredericksburg. All these facilities have many foreign nurses and now is the time to be looking them up for summer start employment. Let me know if I can be of further help. I know the director of nursing at MWH and could more info easily.

New to OB, but not nursing. I've used the invision and MAC system in critical care and now that I'm in OB the complete care center uses QS. NICU, nursery, mother/baby, L&D, the OB OR's, and OB triage. It's a pretty good system and as the patient works her way through the system- triage to L&D, to mother/baby, so on and so forth the charting system is the same and one can easily look back at everything. I agree w/ happynurse 2005. A little confusing at first but so easy to track all important info once done. Even when a pt. is OOB to bathroom, the system tracks it b/c of the US/UA monitring jolts the strip tracings. So it even in a sense tracks pt. activity and all you have to do is label what was happening at that moment. Never an excuse to not have something charted on the system and keeps one up to date and aware of activities in L&D. A lot of it is just the click of the button for charting options. no need for a lot of nursing notes and annotations. pitfalls for charting. if you are doing a strip check to be documented on a specific minute from either active beds or stored strip. remember the sytstem only allows 255 characters documented per minute on the strip at any given time.(if you go beyond it won't be charted) so if more info needs to be put in for that specific min. of documentation. enter what you can, don't go over the limit. press "OK". then click on the same minute of strip again. document the rest as needed. especially comes into play when documenting an annotation note with the reviewed strip for the past half worth of strip. (I learned the hard way and it drove me crazy) Hope this helps