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I wouldn't worry too much about it either; sounds like it could have been handled better, but depending on how big of an LTC facility it is and how well its run, telling you could have just slipped their mind. And they probably do have to post it- wouldn't really be fair to someone on night shift who's been there for 10 years waiting for a day shift to open to miss out on it just because you happened to have been filling in on an interim basis. On the plus side, if the person with 10 years on nights moves to days, there should be a new full-time night position opening...

From what I've seen so far, I actually prefer night shift to day, so the money would be a bonus. Granted, this was mainly from observing during clinicals (had a 7 PM - 7 AM NICU rotation) and from what I see when I stop to check on patients at the hospital nights / weekends. The overall impression is that night shift is more laid back and focused on patient care, not family issues, doctors / administrators, testing, etc.. And I'm a night owl anyway, so it just all around works for me. At the same time, you better get used to being pale and not seeing a whole lot of your family.

Well, you have two options: lose your humanity and become a jaded robot, or continue to care and be willing to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune... You'll be a better nurse if you pick option #2 (in my opinion), but #1 is easier. My first job- and only so far- has been hospice (7 months); this is pretty much set up to be difficult environment possible. You start your nurse / client relationship knowing that the person is likely to die within 6 months (and usually much sooner), build a close relationship, be involved in their care at home, get to know their whole life story and family... Then they die. No really good options for how to deal with that situation. One of the reasons I want to get out of this job is compassion fatigue- I am afraid of the dehumanizing potential of going through this repetitive loss cycle. Sure, right now I am willing to stay late just to visit with lonely patients (salaried, so no $ benefit), but I doubt I would be able to sustain this for long. On the plus side, in my case you generally know the person is at the end of life, and usually have lived a fairly long one. I suspect ICU / ER / OR where someone in their prime has an accident and dies could be challenging in a different way. So, you live, learn and deal with it, or you go into administration. Good luck :)

Ugh, that's an ugly situation. I doubt that in any state they could pull your license; most likely you'll end up repaying it somehow. But be careful you don't step on any toes; especially if its a big / dominant healthcare system. You could easily end up on the wrong side of HR and need to move a city over to get a fair shot at a job, especially being early in your career. I'm kinda surprised they thought there would still be enough demand to need a $10k sign on bonus two years ago; by then the market for nurses had already started to tank. Good luck...

I will say that I really liked most of my professors. By and large they were very pleasant people to work with; they were very supportive, even the ones that I thought were scary at first. Actually, especially the ones that I thought were scary at first. Weird how that works out...

Lots of reasons people end up as instructors; sometimes good, sometimes bad. They sure don't pay them well enough; maybe this is especially true at the CC level? I don't know, but I know in general they could make more as regular nurses, especially when you factor in they need graduate degrees to teach. You'll always have bad co-workers, no way around it, but sooner or later they'll get better; you just have to keep looking. And suffer through the whole school thing...

Usually it gets better, but some floors are just hostile / evil. I know where I did clinicals, we dreaded some assignments; the staff was just flat-out unpleasant and generally didn't seem to want to be there. Suffer for now, be glad you have a job, then get out when the economy turns around...

Well, everything finally went through, and I did the oath of commissioning on 12/4, so I am now officially committed. I'll be heading to ODS in March (the soonest they could get me in), then on to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda after that. Well, supposedly Bethesda; that's what the paperwork says now, but its subject to change. It was my first choice, so hopefully that's where I'll be. I think I may have shot myself in the foot doing the 3-year commitment; need to put in 4 years to get the post-9/11 GI Bill, and could have pocketed an extra $10,000 (pre-tax) if I had gone 4 years, but oh well. So, my questions. Anyone know if there are guidelines about how close to the hospital you have to be? I.e., do you have to be able to report for duty within a half hour or live within a 20 mile radius, something like that? I am a little familiar with the area, and know I would be more comfortable in Frederick, Germantown, or another outlying area, but don't know if that would be allowed. I don't mind a long commute- I used to drive an hour to work each way, but now would prefer public transit. I imagine taking the MARC in from Point of Rocks or Harpers Ferry is right out; I think it would be at least a 1.5 hour commute each way, looking at the schedule. Not to mention the limited hours of operation- wouldn't really work with a 12 hour shift. Any thoughts? Anyone know what the hospital is like? I keep reading that it is the "flagship hospital" for Navy medicine, and it's getting a huge amount of extra funding to construct new facilities to absorb the patients from Walter Reed, so that's exciting. And I expect that its been better funded than Walter Reed for a while, since NNMC has gotten more high-level civilian attention, but is it a top of the line facility? Comparable to Johns Hopkins or Mayo? Not that I would have a good frame of reference, coming from Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids Michigan; just want to know what others think. Actually, not sure if I can ask that- can we speak honestly if a facility is sub-par? So many rules to learn now... Few other questions that I had a hard time having my recruiter answer- how long until I get something other than med surge? I know its going to be at least 10-12 weeks, but I've heard it can be a couple years (ugh, hope not, I want to get through that ASAP). I don't know if my 5 years working as a molecular biologist for the CDC will help (probably not). And what is the deal with days off? If I'm working a 12 hour shift, and use a day off, do I still get 30 days? Doesn't really seem fair to people with 8 hour days; I'd effectively get 50% more time off. Also, she provided some confusing answers regarding how shifts work in the hospital; I assume NNMC will be like a civilian hospital, with 2 or 3 shifts providing 24 hour care, and a fairly even distribution of staff between those shifts. She seemed to indicate that most shifts were daytime, which I find hard to believe. Anyway, I like the night shift, so I wouldn't really mind too much if she were wrong... Wow, that turned into a big post. Obviously, I'm pretty excited about this move, and finally getting commissioned after nearly a year of effort. Any input that those of you in the know can provide will be greatly appreciated; I know I'll get a mentor assigned once I get closer, but its never too early to start planning... Jon

I guess that does make sense- having an MOS for every specialty subtype would be a bit overwhelming from a staffing and management standpoint. Just goes to show another one of the differences between the military and civilian sectors, I suppose...

I am curious if the military (especially the Navy) have infectious disease nurses. Anyone have any idea? I have to think USAMRIID employs nurses, and with the exposure to exotic agents all over the world, it seems ID nurses would have to part of the service. All I can find listed for active duty nurses are the specialties listed here: Advanced Practice Nurse Community Health Nurse Critical Care Nurse CRNA Emergency Room Nurse Family Nurse Practitioner Medical-Surgical Nurse Nurse Anesthetist Nurse Midwife OB/GYN Nurse Operating Room Nurse Perioperative Nurse Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse None of these are truly infectious disease / infection control positions, although that may fall under the "advanced practice nurse" category, or possibly the "community health nurse"; however, looking at the description in their documentation, I'm inclined to think they do not handle ID type stuff. I know the Navy does have some form of ID nurses, I've seen references to them, but maybe they're reserve nurses or come from a different agency? I'm curious since I worked for the CDC for 5 years, and would like to see some of the more exotic illnesses before working in private practice; not a whole lot of Wucheria bancrofti in Michigan... Seems like the Navy would give me the exposure (hmmm, maybe poor choice of words) I want...

Whoops- yeah, forgot about that base (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/great-lakes.htm). Still, according to that link they only have 403 civilian and 198 military personnel (which seems awfully low for having 15,000 recruits on base at a time; maybe the hospital staff is separate?). I would be curious regarding how many of the nursing duties are handled by civilian nurses. I would also suspect that a lot of the nurses are assigned duties like administering vaccinations and handling clinic-type stuff, but I really don't know (that may be handled by corpsmen?); perhaps someone who has been there would have a better idea. I see in Google that there is a Naval Hospital and VA Center co-located with the base; maybe they do have full facilities. I also see that this is the base they train corpsman at, maybe the nurses have a role there too... On the plus side, it looks like the base's future is pretty secure, so if you did eventually get stationed there you could probably plan on retiring from it, not having to move during a base realignment. Huh- may be more there than I thought (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/04/mil-030404-nns01.htm), (http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2005/09/sec-050905-nns02.htm), (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2008/02/mil-080229-nns04.htm). But it also sounds like they are consolidating some elements to other bases. Interesting...

I have some questions regarding military service and nursing. The basics first- I'm a 29 YOA male, finishing my 3rd bachelor's (B.S.N.) in April (1st was B.S. Zoology, 2nd was B.S. Medical Technology). I have been intermittently considering military service since I was young, but didn't want to go enlisted, and didn't want to work as a med tech. My family has a history of service- my brother and dad were Marines, and several cousins have served as officers, so I think I have a fairly good idea of what I'm getting into (although none served in a medical capacity). From past history, I would prefer Navy, but I'm not ruling out Army or USPHS. 1) The first questions I have are about qualifications. My academic history is sporadic- my cumulative college GPA is around a 3.2, with my nursing GPA hovering around a 3.0 and my advanced science classes averaging a bit over a 3.5. Not impressive; however, I scored a 35S on the MCAT (15 Biological Science, 11 Verbal, 9 Physical Science, 93-95th percentile bracket overall), 98th percentile on the GRE-Biology, and a 1900 on the GRE (but its an old score, they score them differently now). I don't think these grades would disqualify me, but I would like to know if anyone is aware of them being a problem before I go through the hassle of the long application process... 2) My next question is regarding physical / medical issues. I am 29, and will be 30 in May; this isn't an outright disqualification I know, but realistically I suspect that the military would rather select someone younger. I believe I can meet the physical fitness requirements, so that's not a huge concern, however I am curious about how to handle some of my medical history. I had asthma when I was very young, but when I attempted to get the records from the hospital, I discovered that they had been destroyed; should I not mention the asthma, or inform them of the situation? I haven't had any trouble in 23 years, but the service may still want to know. Its annoying, because the only way they would ever find out is if I told them- there are no records, and no symptoms- but if I'm going to be 100% honest, I should tell them. 3) Next question is regarding time in service and how my previous experience will be handled. I have not been a part of any uniformed service, however I worked for the U.S. government for nearly five years. First I was in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Fellowship for a year, than began working for the CDC in bioterrorism security / early warning. I worked for the CDC in this capacity for nearly two years, then was transitioned to a private contractor (doing the same job) for a little over a year. What, if any, of this would count as "Time in Service" and apply towards promotion, retirement, etc.? I was a GS-9 during the nearly 2 years of CDC employment, if that helps. The evaluation of this may also be affected by the fact that I was employed as a molecular biologist, not a nurse. I probably will be told something regarding this by the recruiter, but would like to know BEFORE he tells me- just the way I am. 4) This question may be impossible to answer, so I'll apologize ahead of time, but realistically, what specialties can I reasonably expect to have offered initially? It sounds like Med / Surge is where most people end up, but that would be one of my last choices; with my background and experience, I'd prefer infection control, infectious diseases, or critical care. I also discovered I like pediatrics and psych. Actually, the only rotation I HAVEN'T liked was Med / Surge, so if I could avoid that experience I would. I may be better off working for a year or two before joining, if I could find a job doing what I want; would this help me get one of the positions I mentioned? I had thought initially that picking a specialty in the military was like picking an MOS; once you selected it, that was what you were. Researching more, it seems that I may have been wrong; there is some flexibility and opportunity to change, correct? The duty stations mentioned as the "Big 3" (Bethesda, Portsmouth, San Diego) in other posts don't bother me; any of these would be fine (preferably one of the first 2). 5) What are the odds of getting into one of the services this fiscal year? I had no idea it was such a long procedure to get in. Perhaps I should have, knowing what I do about Federal service, but still, I would hate to begin a job and quit it 2 months in to join the military. Given the current economic situation and job opportunites in Michigan (very limited at this time), the job search is going to be a real pain; not something I'm looking forward to. I may actually have to move out of state to get a job- several local hospitals are actually laying off nurses, while the vast majority are on full or partial hiring freezes. That is all of my questions at this time, although I'm sure I'll think of more later. I apologize in advance if my questions have been asked and answered elsewhere, but I read numerous posts (and had several questions answered; this is a great resource!) without finding answers to these questions. Thank you for your responses, Jon

I really hadn't looked at the Army programs (my dad and brother were both Marines, so I was planning on Navy if anything), but if you have a lot of school loan debt they may be the way to go. Up to $114,000 they claim- seems like a lot to me, compared to the Navy maxing out at $34,000 (plus a $20,000 sign on bonus, maybe?)- but if accurate, wow... Of course, it sounds like the loan repayment is taxed as income which could be problematic; the most it could pay off is around 3/4 of your loans. Still substantial, but not as great as it would seem. I also would like to know exactly what constitutes "qualified loans", presumably that is anything taken out through the school, not other debt such as credit card debt etc. My concern would be that they would only pay off debt directly for school, i.e. tuition, books, fees etc., and not debt that was gained while in school but not directly for school (i.e., room and board). Always read the fine print... If you want to stay in the Great Lakes area, you may be better off in a service other than the Navy. To the best of my knowledge, there are no major Navy facilities on any of the Great Lakes- most of our security is handled by the Coast Guard, which doesn't have the same infrastructure demands of the Navy. Army or Air Force are more likely to keep you in this vicinity (Upper Midwest); other things I have read on this forum seem to indicate Navy service will begin in Portsmouth (Virginia), Bethedsa (Maryland), or some west coast hospital whose name escapes me at the moment.