AFOBRN

I am an Air Force OB nurse. I am still relatively new to military life as an Officer. I am stationed at Travis AFB, CA. I was prior enlisted for a time and I also grew up a military brat! I never did work an acute care nursing job in civilian life. Prior to joining the Air Force I was working in a SNF. A day in my life is really not much different than civilian nursing. I triage, admit, deliver and recover mothers and babies. I work mother/baby and labor and delivery. What I really love about my job is that I have had the opportunity for very necessary albeit expensive training that while available to civilians was free for me! AWHONN's beginning and intermediate fetal heart monitoring courses, a perinatal nursing course, STABLE, ACLS, BLS, NRP, and PALS (if I want to take it). All for free. I have the same risk for deployment as any other Air Force nurse. However it is not likely that I will deploy as an OB nurse. more likely that it will be as a Med/surg nurse. We are required to keep up our general nursing skills through CEU's and floating to a med surg floor when needed. I am looking forward to the rest of my time in the Air Force, however long it will be. I am looking into going overseas when that opportunity comes up.

I was opposite Nursemel09. I did my NTP at Nellis and my permanent duty is at Travis. Know that you will most likely be first stationed at a large teaching hospital if you have no prior nursing experience. NTP is actually for nurses with less than 6 months clinical experience. You can chose to go if you are on the borderline like just barely 6 months experience. Also it depends on the kind of nursing experience you have. I worked 6 months in a nursing home...not the same as an acute care hospital! Family can be with you at NTP but...it will be on your own dime not the air force's. They will not move your family...however you are given freedom to come and go in most cases. My family lived 2 hours from Nellis and I went home on my days off. It was much easier than I expected it to be. But like I said if you have more than 6 months experience you won't go to NTP. It is a long and drwn out process for applying. Mine was extremely long but I had a baby halfway through my process and the Air Force requires you to be 6 months postpartum before applying officially. From the time I filled out my paperwork and leaving for COT was 6 months. I went to COT March 2009 and I have been at Travis since July. Now TDY to Lackland for 6 weeks.