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Thanks to all for your help! I love you guys!

Does anyone know about the other questions I had like going into the specialties? Thank you everyone for all your help and advice!

I was hoping to have some questions answered. Thank you for offering! I would like to join the Airforce, but was hoping to be able to go into Labor and Delivery. I have been an RN for 2 years, and have critical care experience. I realize at first I will need to work in a medical surgical floor, but was wondering how competitive are the specialties? How likely will I be allowed to go into the field I want to go into? thank you for your help!

thats too hard for someone else to make the decision for you! because ultimately it's your career, and your life, just think about it, make some pros/ cons, and decide!

I am trying to make some big decisions about joining the Army (or possibly the USAF), and am looking to my very helpful all nurses for assistance!! I love this community of nurses and have been helped many times by everyone! Hopefully someone can help me again. I am a registered nurse with 2 years of experience, 1 year in telemetry and 1 in CCU, my husbands job is flexible and mobile, and I have started thinking about Army nursing. Many of the changes in lifestyle would greatly suit us, we are young, and don't mind traveling, and I am interested in all the education the Army offers nurses. However, I have always been interested in specialties of nursing. Med/surg is wonderful, but I have always needed something else. I have greatly appreciated working in the CCU, however I am hoping that if I am accepted, after my 1 year of Med/Surg that is required in the Army, I can apply for the OB/GYN 16 week nursing course; any my recruiter says they are very easy to get into. Me being the skeptic, I would like some input. **Has anyone actually tried to apply for the specialties? **If so, what were some of the requirements to be a candidate? ** Does anyone know how many nurses they accept to the programs a year? There are several specialties including OB/GYN, Critical Care, Perioperative, Psych, Public Health, and ER. **Are they very competitive? Or is it really like my recruiter says, where after a year you tell your supervisor you want to apply, and its a done deal? (I have a hard time believing that!) **Also does anyone know how the night shift/ day shift thing works when there's no differential for working then? I think my only fear of the Army is being stuck in a position I don't want to do for several years, when in the civilian world I could have just applied for an OBGYN internship and got a job doing what I wanted to do. However, putting it in perspective-the service to my country and all the education benefits may outweigh me "getting my way." ANd perhaps I just need to deal with being a med/surg nurse for a couple years. Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Every response is so helpful and dear to me, thank you, as always, RN, BSN

I am trying to make some big decisions about joining the Army, and am looking to my very helpful all nurses for assistance!! I love this community of nurses and have been helped many times by everyone! Hopefully someone can help me again. I am a registered nurse with 2 years of experience, 1 year in telemetry and 1 in CCU, my husbands job is flexable and mobile, and I have started thinking about Army nursing. Many of the changes in lifestyle would greatly suit us, we are young, and don't mind traveling, and I am interested in all the education the Army offers nurses. However, I have always been interested in specialties of nursing. Med/surg is wonderful, but I have always needed something else. I have greatly appreciated working in the CCU, however I am hoping that if I am accepted, after my 1 year of Med/Surg that is required in the Army, I can apply for the OB/GYN 16 week nursing course; any my recruiter says they are very easy to get into. Me being the skeptic, I would like some input. **Has anyone actually tried to apply for the specialties? **If so, what were some of the requirements to be a candidate? ** Does anyone know how many nurses they accept to the programs a year? There are several specialties including OB/GYN, Critical Care, Perioperative, Psych, Public Health, and ER. **Are they very competitive? Or is it really like my recruiter says, where after a year you tell your supervisor you want to apply, and its a done deal? (I have a hard time believing that!) I think my only fear of the Army is being stuck in a position I don't want to do for several years, when in the civilian world I could have just applied for an OBGYN internship and got a job doing what I wanted to do. However, putting it in perspective-the service to my country and all the education benefits may outweigh me "getting my way." ANd perhaps I just need to deal with being a med/surg nurse for a couple years. Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Every response is so helpful and dear to me, thank you, as always, RN, BSN

you will need the information to pass your boards. Thats what nursing school is, preparing you for your boards. L&D will be on there, OB will be on there, everything will be on there. Get over the fact you will be looking a ho-has, as many men have done before you. My floor is almost entirely males, and they all were able to get through it, just as you will. Mature, and realize this is all learning to pass your boards, and decide if this is the right field for you. No matter what career choice you make, there will be classes you do not care for that will be a part of your major, with this career, you will definitely always have a job! and thats more than i can say for others. Good luck!

"I'm not sure why you would jump to finding a new job right away from the info you have posted" I guess I know that right now I am still too new to receive 3 pt's, but soon enough it will occasionally happen to me too, and it just feels incredibly unsafe. Thats why I'm trying to figure out if there are any options out there I can try to impliment onto my floor, or if I should try to move on to a new job, as much as I like a job- I like my license more and I just know it's not right to have these really critical patients 1:3. Thanks for all the feed back from everyone- I am trying to make a decision on what to do.

I have been an RN for 2 years, and recently started a new job in a Critical setting. I am a part of a 24 bed Medical CCU. It is a very fast paced unit where we have high acuity patients such as Sepsis, induced hypothermia pts, CVVHD, and Intubated, ect. The typical nurse:Pt ratio is 1:1 or 1:2 which I believe is normal. The question I have though, is occasionally nurses on my unit will be trippled if it is later in the shift (no one ever starts out trippled). After working for 4 months this still has not happened to me, but it makes me uneasy. I understand the management's persepctive, as well as the nurses perspective on that issue, it must be very difficult to staff this place, when at some times half the floor may be 1:1 ratio. (therefore 2 pt's is considered being trippled) and I always help out others when they get 3 pt.s Is this normal? Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to get around this problem, it's not like other nurses can float to the ICU like they can on the floor (which was often an option when I was a floor nurse). Should I look for another job? Perhaps I can wait a year to not look so bad.... has anyone else faced this issue and if so, have any suggestions I could bring to my boss? Ultimately I would like to remain here and see if there is a good idea our unit could try. I would appreciate any suggestions, thank you my fellow nurses!!

I have been an RN for 2 years, and recently started a new job in a Critical setting. I am a part of a 24 bed Medical CCU. It is a very fast paced unit where we have high acuity patients such as Sepsis, induced hypothermia pts, CVVHD, and Intubated, ect. The typical nurse:Pt ratio is 1:1 or 1:2 which I believe is normal. The question I have though, is occasionally nurses on my unit will be trippled if it is later in the shift (no one ever starts out trippled). After working for 4 months this still has not happened to me, but it makes me uneasy. I understand the management's persepctive, as well as the nurses perspective on that issue, it must be very difficult to staff this place, when at some times half the floor may be 1:1 ratio. (therefore 2 pt's is considered being trippled) and I always help out others when they get 3 pt.s However, is this normal? Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to get around this problem, it's not like other nurses can float to the ICU like they can on the floor (which was often an option when I was a floor nurse). Should I look for another job? Perhaps I can wait a year to not look so bad.... has anyone else faced this issue and if so, have any suggestions I could bring to my boss? Ultimately I would like to remain here and see if there is a good idea our unit could try. I would appreciate any suggestions, thank you my fellow nurses!!