ellies

I am glad you put this article on the board, I will pass it on to some of my young corpsman and medics looking to enhance thier careers on the outside. Another route is an EMS degree program, but you still have to get the necessary prerequisite for the nursing programs out there. I really appreciate your post and like I SAID i WILL PASS THIS ON, THIS IS THE ANSWER I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!! Thank you

I like you post but I am looking for a program that will help folks while they are still in, and maybe the military is already working to that end, but I don't think so.

That is a great answer, but what I would like to see is an educational format for the military all around to help medics, corpsman and such to achieve the theory, practice, and preparation to prepare for the NCLEX. The Army has an LPN program, but the navy and the air force don't. I just think there needs to be an educational format towards the lvn level. Still I get the license part, it is really the educational part that may need work on the government end to prepare these guys for civilian sector. Just in case anyone wanted to know, I am an lvn going to rn who's just trying to help others get as far as I have.

Once again, I get the licensing part and you are right about that, but if you may happen to another way to evaluate education toward LVN/LPN and or the 2 year ADN programs without trying to accelerate, but just being prepared for the programs around the nation; I would be grateful and then I WOULD BE THANKFUL!!

First of all no one is talking about licensing I am talking about education, second of all I really don't need you to think me for my service because if it weren't for some great nurses out there I wouldn't have the experience i got as a medic!!, Third of all I think you miss read me. I know about the licensing part i just want to know if there is another way to measure training nationwide. so no I really DON"T NEED your thinks just another way to format and transfer education. Thanks but no thanks!!

That is what is meant by performing outside of the box to some

I am not going to say that we do more than nurses or anything of that nature, but as an Army Medic or Doc i will say we do quite a bit. RNs in the army run a patient hold which can be from 72 hours up to 3 days depending upon the Area of Operation. I as a SSG, and MEDIC not RN found myself in charge of one for 13 month as well as walking the line with my fellow worrier. I will have to say that I agree with FMFDevilPerry as I was also a former Marine Rifle, who located and closed with the enemy while others rest at home. I will not rant because i have a great admiration and respect for the Nursing community and will be joining that community very soon. The only thing I have always wondered is this: The nursing field has always seem to be understaffed and yet with the extremely large pool of medics and corpsman to pick from you would think the country or someone would come up with a plan to alleviate this situation instead of telling us military folk about our training and nursing theory. I respect the notion that nurses feel we need to have a full grip of what and why we do the various types of patient care, but don't you think some has told us, because a good medic corpsman follows the orders of his PA, MD, NP, etc..., and asks questions also. Did you know that we do after action or lessons learned briefings also. I believe this fmfdevilperry could tell some RN a great deal as the same goes for RN's the him. So when are those powers that be gonna start shaking the military medicine bowl for some of us good corpsman, medics and med-techs to come on over to the other side of the field and put our skills to use. "The only thing I ask of you is knowledge. "

I don't know the real answer, but I think it would depend on the state in which you reside; if some of the professionals on this site could lend I would appreciate it.

But how often could a military medic be asked to provide humanitarian assistance or happen upon civilians while on operations that require help??? I thought we did humanitarian missions, and some the missions we do most definitely involve the local populace. We do a lot overseas , and are allowed to do very little here in our own country; unless a natural disaster is involved.

Thank you very much, the input I am receiving here is great. Please do not be offended by my odd research tactics, but it is necessary to do so in order to write a point paper as you all know. So if I in anyway offended anyone my most sincerest apologies to you and the profession which I so highly respect. I hope to keep getting the input from you all and will be able to continue my work toward some most needed improvements the 68W training. Soon the Army, Navy, and Air Force will combine medical training and I would like to have a stand point from your point of view, so I'll be posting more questions and looking for great answers! Thank you all for your participation!!

Thank you all very much, I appreciate you help and the information you have offered. I have been checking around the area, I just got here to Fort Sam Houston in July of 2008. I was just trying to get outside info because I get so tied up at work. Thank you all once again.

I believe I was looking at something more on a traditional path. And you are not listening because I have said many times that I understood one needed those classes, but how could I create a program to satisfy all those requirements for the non m6 medics that want to be an RN later. I know you understand that medics know the basics, offering a soldier the other prerequisites now that's something different. You are giving me good info, but I want to create a better program. Give me some time and I'll download a sample to you. I'll even have some the RNs I work with look over it. Sound like a deal!?!

Lucky1RN what I was trying to say before the other person answered was in the last post. I was looking for a program that bring the basic medic, corpsman, or med tech up to par with prenursing skills or something close to at the very least LVN skills. That person thought I wanted to take a medic and turn them into an RN overnight. I thank you for taking the time to respond back and well as the other responses I received from GilaRN. Trust me your responses are all noted, but that is why I am here to pick your brains for good sound advice. I guess I kept hearing how we needed nurses, and thought what a pool to pick from. I figured through assessments and proper education, I'd hoped to come up with an idea to produce folks that could get an LVN or LPN License and move on to RN later if they so desired.

Guy I was talking on the pre nursing and LVN levels in preparation to RN. Is that so presumptuous. I mean if a kid doesn't go to the M6 course because at that time they think to do so, it would be kind of cool if they could go to an assessment type program to see where they are as far as their LVN or Pre Nursing core requirements are instead of just getting 14 credits. I come to this site for answers and I you like you want to bite my head off. Just listen to what I am saying, because maybe you have the answer or am I looking in the wrong place for answers.

With the exception of you as an IDMT, every MT I speak to in the Air Force wishes they could get to do what we do as medics. Form what I have seen of some nursing programs NAs CNAs and MAs get more of an edge then we do. I maybe wrong in my thinkng, but I am aware of the pharmacology, A&P and Chemistry along with the theory of nursing that you must have. I must have been search all the wrong programs, just think about all the training you received, and it's worth and zI think you you know what I am getting at. I mean yeah the army does have a 68WM6 program, but I keep seeing them in level 3 MTFs and higher which is right, but you and I are doing the same job as them and "can't get a break" do see what I mean know. I told the last person that I understood there was more to nursing then most think, but what I am talking about is a program to bring your average medic up to that level when they depart from service. I once had a LtCol and Maj Both PAs speak with me about a senior medic course, my response was Paramedic, the reply was you see any paramedics running the show here? I got what they meant. The training you receive in the W1, 18D, and Pararescue Programs only warrant you so much, because some civilian educators don't understand rapid need for us on the battle field and in the units, yeah we get our A&P and Parm pretty quick down and dirty, but that doesnt mean we are so far removed from what an LVN does to some degree, I think you know I am fairly right in what I am saying considering you and I have similiar backgrounds.

I am talking about the folk who become civilians, we already know about the 68WM6 program. You are right about the Mike 6 program, but not everyone stays in the army, and why can't that 68W training counts as pre-nursing, or allow the individual to attempt to test out? huh hmm huh hmmmm!

I need help with trying to decipher the training and skills that I have obtained throughout the past 9 years and see where it could fit in with accomplishing the goal in which I am looking toward. I understand that there is theory that comes with the programs out there, and why we don't just get to walk into a program and "poof" I'm a nurse, but something has to be said for the skills and training I have received over the years. One reason in particular; one day I had to give mock code because I was the only Basic Life Support/Advanced Cardiac Life Support instructor in our radius. After the code was done, I give after action review and got scoffed at because I was not an RN by some of the folk who were. My boss the Head nurse told me not to worry about it and that they were upset because a "medic" gave them a course health care practitioners should have been giving them, or so they felt. I believe that my time as a medic in the military should count for something, because I am constantly receiving some form of training day in and out. You like most others I have had this conversation with may not feel the same way.

Okay here is my deal. My mom was a nurse, my grandmother, and now after all these years I too want to be a nurse. I can tell you that my time in the military has been great, I was an Marine Infantryman and I got to be an infantry medic(paratrooper at that, with the 82d Airborne Division), who can complain. Me!, of course!! If I could change one thing I wouldn't do it, but I would add one thing. I would add Nursing School. I have watched nursing through men and women I have known throughout the years and I believe that is where I was supposed to go. I got to do the tough cool guy stuff, but every time I help someone get better or apply some sort of wound dressing, I feel like it is definitely worth while. Since becoming a medic in the Army, I have managed to learn a great deal and I would love to continue that education in civilian life as an RN, and health educator. I know that nurses keep long hours and I have heard all the horror stories, but four combat tours later, I'm still here and I know medics that have been longer than I have at what I consider one of the greatest crafts in the military. Now I would like to see those of us who get out of the military and desire to become nurses there, get a break and get to school to become an BSN and skip the stuff they have already done. I, for one am definitely one his way to finding the best way to achieve that. Don't get me wrong I understand that theory in practice is everything, but that is where we need come up with a better assessment program of what a medic's skills truly encompass. So if there is anyone out there willing to listen, I am willing to tell all about a program that just may work. It would still require the military medic/corpsman to do some hard work, but will be worth it in the end. Some of us don't have very far to go at all. :smokin:

oh sorry I meant in a combat zone as well.

I have a ton of experience as a medic also and I am currently going through a health care educator degree program. I want to become a Registered Nurse also. I been medic for 9 years, and I have ran an aid station, a level II patient hold an a combat zone, as well as performing forward mission and convoys in country, I am an EMT, and both Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor, also certified as an Advanced Burn Life Support Provider. I am currently in charge of the Troop Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston as a supervisor over medical assistant, clerks, cnas, and lpns/lvns. can anyone help!?!

You know those young men and women who are out there in Afghanistan and Iraq that are fighting in combat situations everyday? They have on their teams and in their units these folks they call "Doc" known as 68W for the Army, Med Techs For the Air Force, and Corpsman for the Navy and Marine Corps. They are depended upon by our soldiers the save their lives in extremely harsh conditions; ie firefights, road side bombings etc. The also work along side doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners in the field environment, the hospital setting, as well as outer laying clinics. Some are even trained to head up a patient hold area in the forward hospital unit in combat zones when lpns aren't available. Their training stems from basic anatomy to minor field surgery. I myself am what the army call a health care specialist or combat medic. We even get training such as EMT, ACLS, and PALS. SOme of us perform jobs such as Flight medic also. We are a versitlie job skill and we never get credit for what we do in the civilian world. I hope to become a nurse practitioner one day and in the mean time would like to know why these skills haven't been re-evaluated. Take a look on line or the next time you go to a military instillation ask speak to an enlisted medical person. I am stationed in Texas and in the clinic wear I work, I am holding the administrative position an RN would normally hold. We do have a nursing shortage, I bet some of Military Corpsmen/Medics could help!!:redbeathe:nurse::heartbeat:nurse:

Can you tell me what Excelsior requires from us? I'm an Army Medic, and really want to become a nurse. The nursing program we have would require me to be a SGT, and I am a SSG. I used to be Marine Infantry from 1987 - 2000, and in my experiences the Navy Corpsman will always be the best in my book. I became a medic because I have always admired you guys. I tried to go Navy, but the recruiter could not promise me Corpsman only Boatswains Mate, so I went to the Army instead. I have worked with Corpsman in Iraq and there is still that level of professionalism that I have always remembered. So thanks for being Doc!!!