AFhopeful

Learned this the hard way in a patient's room after I had been told in nsg school by an older nurse to dilute everything!! So glad the valium crystalized on me right away and I was like uhhh that doesn't look right. Now I look up EVERYTHING just to make sure, and even when I have abx/other Iv meds running I look up whether meds can be given with whatever is running. IV acetaminophen for example!!

That also depends on when you will be taking the NCLEX. I graduated Dec 2012, took NCLEX Jan 15, comissioned Jan 31 and went to COT in march. I had to commission before Feb 1st or they were going to give my spot to someone else, which means if I had taken the nclex after January I would have had to wait until a later COT date. It'll probably be the same chain of events for you =] Good luck on selection!

It probably won't hurt you and will definitely help in the long run. Promotions to Major/Lt. Col rely heavily on advancing education and gaining certifications. I don't believe you have to take the specialty pay either if you find out it isn't in your best interest for what you want to do with your career!

You get something called an Incentive Specialty Pay, it binds you into the specialty for a certain amount of time though. Say you wanted to join the Air Force and then transfer into the ER. You wouldn't be able to do that until the contract from the specialty bonus is up. Essentially you are telling them you will stay with that field for the extra money. I don't have a lot of hard facts on it, but it would be something to ask your recruiter about or even your gaining base if you know what base that is.

The Air Force has the nurse transition program for new graduate nurses, and when searched on this board, there is a lot of good information that comes up. I am not sure for MEPS, but you are reimbursed for travel time to get to COT.

You can but it would take 2-4 years to be eligible apply for the fellowship, and they are apparently very competitive right now.

There are two ways of joining the Nurse Corps as a direct accession. You can join Fully Qualified (1 year+ experience) or as a New Graduate. If you join as a new graduate you will be placed in the "Nurse Transition Program". This currently is a ~9 week program in different civilian locations (one military location). Due to cut backs in the Armed Forces, they don't hold boards very often anymore. Unfortunately you just missed the cut off for this years New Grad/NTP boards. Every MTF (medical treatment facility) is going to be different on the schedules/everyday life, the floors, etc. As a new graduate you start as an O-1, if you have experience they do take that into consideration. Right now it is VERY competitive, but it looks like you have all the qualifications that would make you a great applicant. To be honest, I would contact a health professions recruiter. They will know when the boards are held, what the Air Force needs, and how to start the application. As far as flight school and the ER/ICU fellowships, the AF wants new graduates to have a couple good years of med/surg experience under their belt (the other option is OB/L&D which doesn't eliminate anyone from those fellowships!) before applying. During my NTP I heard Active duty flight nursing isn't fully staffed right now and turnover is high so it's easier (grain of salt) to get in, but the fellowships for ER/ICU are pretty competitive. There is a lot of good information already on this board so a bit of searching and reading can probably answer many questions you have.

You'll need a health professions recruiter, not an enlisted recruiter. Health profession recruiters will know what the Air Force needs, when the boards will be, and how to put together your application. You can use: Contact Us: Find a Recruiter - airforce.com to find a recruiter in your area.

It could be. I know they weren't going to send anyone stationed at lackland to the Sammc location anymore, but maybe they aren't running a course there due to the decreased number of new graduates they are accepting.

I'm sorry I don't know that. I would guess you would know well enough ahead of time to make arrangements though. She knew her first duty station when she found out her NTP date. I'd say keep working on doing great in school and passing the NCLEX, everything else should fall in place since they have already budgeted a spot for you.

There are only four sites right now, three are civilian and one is military. Tampa fl, Cincinnati, oh, and Scottsdale, az are the civilian ones. The military one is out of lackland at sammc. Your ntp slot is based on when you graduate. I just talked to a rotc ntp nurse here and she said she knew when she was going to ntp and her base last October.

From what I know is you commission as soon as you have fulfilled all the requirements to (graduated/licensed/ROTC obligations). The ROTC nurses here in NTP graduated in December and commissioned in February or so and we started NTP in April. You will most likely be going straight from NTP to your first duty station because the first year will be part of the nurse-residency program, you will be cut orders telling you when and where to go. I received my orders via e-mail and they are very clear. All of us here will be reporting to our permanent duty station after NTP.

I found out the duty station I would be at when I was accepted into the Air Force. At NTP We do 12 hour shifts and shorter shifts depending on the area we are in. As a new grad you are limited to being an OB nurse or med/surg nurse. My AFSC is 46n1 as a new grad med/surg nurse, I'm not sure what the OB one is since it is a specialty. Once you know your base and they know you are coming you should be contacted by a sponsor who will be able to tell you more about what you'll be doing at the hospital. PT is on our own time and not regulated, at least here anyway.

long day, double post

Hi! I'm currently in the Cincinnati NTP and it's a lot of fun. We have a few ROTC grads here and from what I've been told none of them received the bonus, but they were on scholarship. They send new grads to the big military hospitals, some of the ones I've heard people going to are Elemendorf, Travis, Nellis, Eglin, Langley, Wright-pat, Keesler, and Lackland (SAMMC I think is the hospital). This is because your first year as a nurse (from the date you enter active duty) you're in a "nurse residency program" which is more orientation and making sure you learn your job well before you're up for deployment. They are all in civilian hospitals except the one in Texas. The other three will be Cincinnati, OH, Scottsdale, AZ, and Tampa, FL. It's 9 weeks total and here at the university hospital we go through different rotations to hone in our "med surg" skills including some exciting days in the ED. Even those going the OB nursing route will complete NTP.