panman

For what it's worth, just sent off an E-resume to Sergeant Winslow in Mobile. According to her, there is a waiver (OPAR, or something of the nature) for those in specific fields, including psych nursing (66c in recall), who are in the age 60 arena with no previous military experience. In surfing the net, I'd ran across such a waiver and designation but the details were always sketchy. Never the less, it seems the conclusions I'd reached were the same as those Sergeant Winslow expressed. I was primarily concerned with the option and initial screening so I still don't have the details, but I'll post them as I get them down so that anyone in a similar situation who is interested can follow up with some confidence. I've been trying to phone an AMEDD recruiter in Mississippi since the original post. The Jackson office number is no longer in service and the Lakeland office I've gotten no response in three calls over the period of a week. The voice messages (good luck contacting a human) don't even identify the number reached, more like CIA than military recruiter. The public perception that recruiters go to the the extreme of abducting recruits off the streets in the dead of night is not accurate in my experience. I've found them hard to find and hard to make contact with. Apparently the Mobile office is all there is for much of the southeast region.

Age was why I looked into the Air Force at the time I did but I've seen a number of posts on this website referencing waivers for nurses age 58-60 (at least) but they didn't address details (previous military/whatever). They may have been talking about extending their stay into the military to that age but I didn't get that impression.

SKimmed this forum/website, contacted AMEDD by email and phone - nada to date and while I continue my pursuit I could use any related feedback. I'm wanting to know what the ballpark chances of the military having any interest in someone with the following qualifiers: BSN, Masters Social Work, Masters Management (lt) Current Florida RN 20 years plus experience in mental health - mostly inpatient direct care 57 years old, good health, no previous military (I did apply to the Air Force around '90, was accepted by didn't go in). and the real kicker.............haven't worked in mental health since '98 - since then a real estate investor then live-in care of my elderly mother for some seven years. My guess is zip, but I don't know that, and I'd like to know before I enroll in a Psych NP program starting classes 8/23/10 All input/ideas more than welcomed and thanks in advance.

The clinical options widening is a real plus. A good clinical experience sets you on the right trajectory. Guess I've been fortunate, I've heard some horror stories. The clincal hours are just token anyway. One small digital image in a panorama that will probably take those 20 years you mentioned earlier to get an idea of what that picture even is. Life's for learning.

Finally regarding Lisa's original post, In searching the net, from what I can gather, ADN's are on the way out in terms of acceptance by the army, already for Navy and Air Force. For now anyway - probably the economy - which probably isn't going to change anytime soon. Then again, if you're willing to go where and do what nobody wants to, who knows. As I've read countless times, there's a waiver for everything. My guess is persistence will pay off. Also, apparently the fiscal military year begins in October so till then may not seem so fruitful in inquiry. But it reminds me how all my life I'd heard the field of nursing was going to phase out ADN's and I ended up going through an accelerated program in '85 to get a BSN. Then again, in the late 90's my director told me PNP's were going to be replacing psych RN's which I thought absurd at the time cause they fulfill completely different roles. But you go online and you see PNP's in big demand, not much for psych nurses. Tons of international nurses are working in the states where they used to be none. There is no nursing shortage any more and there's an endless supply from overseas. Times change, slowly it seems but actually dramatically over long periods of time. It pays to pay attention. I'm not exactly military minded material. In fact I was approved to go into the Air Force in '90 but passed, probably mostly due to a life of optimal circumstances at the time. Circumstances have changed and I'm looking into the military's "elderly" option. Read lots of mixed stories but it does seem like the medical core is more "civilian-like" than one would expect and doable. For me at this time it would seem to kill several birds with one stone. Another option you might look into is as a civilian employed by the military. That could expand your options, test the waters, maybe get an inside track. Best of luck in your search

I spent quite a bit of time trying to locate such a link earlier today. Thanks!

I've been looking into the reserves and wasn't aware there was a military forum on this website - and in looking, I haven't been able to locate one. Could you post a link by chance?

I was a psych nurse for over 20 years then dropped out for a decade and have been looking into PNP as a result. In speaking with a director at UND, sdemp has ditto'd her response. I got an MSW in the 90's cause LCSW's had their act together and PNP's are still finding their way. It flows that prescriptive powers would be in demand but I wouldn't want to be excluded from doing therapy. NP role varies from state to state and I wouldn't want to be restricted from practice any more than necessary nor have mobility limited any more than necessary. UND offers a dual program with like an extra 5 credit hours to pull it off since the curriculum's are so similar there anyway. In what job searching I've done to date, PNP's are significantly more demand that CNS's - probably because of prescriptive power. Lots of disciplines can do the therapy so that would thin demand. Don't think I've ran across a program combining FNP and PNP, interesting.

Here's some corrective, useful, and time/money saving info off the ceu professor site (FAQ). First the corrective: NOTE: Reporting to CE Broker takes place within 5 days following the end of the month. For example, for courses completed in the month of July, reporting will be completed by August 5th. Please know that Florida actually allows us 90 days after the course completion dates to complete the reporting. Also, Florida does not rely on the information in the CE Broker system when it comes to your license renewal. Next the useful: Every state has different procedures for reporting the successful completion of continuing education requirements. Please contact your board for their specific procedures. We are State Board approved. Nursing boards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia accept our courses....However, because we are a provider approved by Florida and District of Columbia, we do not have the ability to report the successful completion of CEUs by nurses of other states to their specific state nursing boards. Lastly the time/money saving (you probably wouldn't want to end up taking 24 ceus instead of 24 contact hours). CEU and Contact Hour are two ways to measure the time it takes to complete a course. No matter which method is used, all of CEU Professor's courses will satisfy the requirement. One CEU is equal to 10 Contact Hours. Generally a nurse's continuing education requirement is measured in Contact Hours. For example, your state nursing board may require you to take 30 Contact Hours every 2 years. However, your state nursing board may require you to take 3 CEUs. The 3 CEUs is equal to 30 Contact Hours. Whichever way it is measured, you will still be taking the same number of courses.

Yeh, in recall, either on the ce broker or ceu professor site they state you won't be audited cause you're CEUS are input into the data bank as they're completed so once you've obtained your 24/26 credits per time frame you're cleared - which makes sense. Why audit someone who's demonstrated up front they're already complaint. Either way, you shouldn't hear from the board once you've completed your ceus if they're automatically reported to ce broker.

Forgot, I got the ceu professor Florida provider number from their site - they had a link for it. So I assume other ceu providers do the same.

I searched the Florida board of nursing site, google, ANCC, and nursing blogs and could find no list of Florida board approved ceu providers. I did see accounts on nursing forums of ceu providers falsely claiming to be board approved, no shock there (where there's a will there's a buck). I finally emailed the board of nursing before investing my time let alone money. I received a prompt response from Serina McGlockton, was referred the to cue broker CE Broker and this is what I found out. Provider verification is handled through the CE broker not the Florida board of nursing. Once into the ce broker site (Bing/Google it): click on quick links Florida course (left side page) > choose profession > select advance search (bottom left) > select option desired (you need the Florida provider number [50-????] to verify the provider) > input appropriate data. According to the CE broker rep I spoke with, although approval is course by course - if the Florida board approves a provider, all their ceu courses are accepted even if the course may not be listed on the CE broker site, which many are not. Florida ceu requirements from Florida board site: All Florida-licensed RN's and LPNs are now in a 24-month renewal cycle and must complete 24 hours of appropriate continuing education during each renewal period: One (1) contact hour is required for each calendar month of the licensure cycle, including two (2) hours on Prevention of Medical Errors. HIV/AIDS is now a one-time, 1-hour CE requirement to be completed prior to the first renewal. Domestic Violence CE is now a 2-hour requirement every third renewal. This two-hour DV course is in addition to the required 24 hours of general CE Domestic Violence:Section 456.031, Florida Statutes was revised in 2006 to require the two-hour domestic violence (DV) course be taken as part of every third biennial re-licensure or re-certification. This means: If you were already licensed in 2006, the DV requirement is due within 6 years (2012) and then every 6 years thereafter If you were licensed in 2007 or after, the DV requirement is due within 6 years of the licensure date and every 6 years thereafter The following materials are also considered for Florida ceus (I have no clue about verifying approval for these): Nursing practice areas and special health care problems. Biological, physical, behavioral, and social sciences. Legal aspects of health care. Management/administration of health care personnel and patient care. Teaching/learning process of health care personnel and patients. Subjects at an accredited education institution that are taken and are advanced beyond that completed for original licensure. Personal development subject matter, must include application of content as it relates to improved patient care. --------------------------------------------------- *Useful notes for Florida So every third cycle you need 26 not 24 credits. I chose ceuprofessor.com cause they had a package deal that suited me and it turned out to be pretty user friendly. Couple days and I was done and I think they're forwarded to the board as soon as you pass each test. Another spin you might run into is that when I input the Florida board number from the ceuprofessor site, it didn't pull up ceuprofessor as the provider but Magellan Group LLC with no mention of cueprofessor nor did the ceuprofessor site mention Magellan upfront - but a google search connected the two and Cebroker verified as much. Once you've passed a course the Megellan Group does show up on your completed ceu page. Yet another spin is that the ceu professor site offers an option that conveniently breaks down courses into categories, one of them being Florida mandated courses. However, they list 14 mandated courses while only 3 are mandated by the Florida board - Hiv, domestic violence, and medication errors. Hope this post saves one nurse the hours it took me to figure things out.

Reentry is "entertaining" enough having current licensure, therefore having passed boards. My basic problem solving approach is to create a hierarchy of the easiest, cheapest, quickest, least invasive, most reversible, least damaging procedures - and take them in that order first. Off the cuff, something like the following: The first thing I'd verify is if you could even take NCLEX, having graduated so long ago. If you can't take the NCLEX and therefore can't get licensed, there's no point in taking a refresher course. If you can take the NCLEX, It'd makes sense to go that route first. Even if you fail, you've gotten your feet wet and you've loaded your brain in that direction. Once you pass the NCLEX, if you can't get a job and get feedback cause it's no experience, then a refresher course with clinicals may help - and you might gain some confidence and make some useful contacts. If you have to go back to school, many courses have a shelf life - particularly labs. You'll have to find out what you have to retake and how long it will take (given courses are often offered in sequence or only certain semesters). Probably no matter what you do it may not end up being like starting over but it's probably going to feel that way for a lot longer time than you'd like. You might think about looking for some volunteer or aide work in an area of choosing as well. That would give you a better feel before you make a long term investment regarding the direction you're thinking of taking, gear you up for job hunting, make some contacts, and perhaps even provide some shortcut or set up a potential job in advance. Most of all, make a start and expand - thinking is entertaining but you have to do something to change something.

My first post in this forum. Nice general followup on something I'd kind of wondered about. Got mine in the mid 80's cause the hospital I worked at paid fifty cents an hour extra for it as did others pay sufficient to at least pay for itself. I kept it till it expired in the late 90's cause basically nobody was paying for it by then (apparently there are still some exceptions). As for credentials, I've seen some aides without a high school diploma who were more therapeutic with patients (and staff) than some psychiatrists. The words and the music are two different things.