jfratian

That recruiter is misinformed. https://www.airforce.com/careers/healthcare/obstetrical-nurse It's all over the Air Force official website. I would ask to see the DAFI (department of the air force instruction) that says an MSN isn't acceptable. You can definitely bring in their supervisor. Typically there is a 'supervision' option in the telephone tree when you call a healthcare recruiting office. Likely there is no other recruiter, because the Air Force typically only has one nurse corps recruiter for a given geographic region.

CCATT is definitely a better overall gig in my opinion. The flight/AE training requirements are way over the top and frequently lead to burnout. The actual job is far less fulfilling. I can't tell you the number of nurses we get transferring out of flight nursing units. The flight nursing role is essentially being a flight attendant; there's very little clinical care going on. The med techs do what little patient care there even is. The patients are walkie talkies who take their own meds. They're often pysch holds these days. The flight burnout I mentioned leads to chronically short staffing that puts huge strain on the rest of your life. CCATT is really the equivalent to civilian flight nursing/air evac. It is actually focused on patient care. There are so many CCATT teams that you really aren't utilized enough to get burned out that often.

FYI, if you join the military as an RN you will not be able to start serving as an NP just because you get the degree/certification. You have to apply later for a competitive board for the NP position; there are far fewer NP slots than RN slots.

The app takes 6-12 months. Most apply 1 year before graduation. After graduation, you won't be able to do the residency any more.

No military branch accepts nurses without a properly accredited Bachelors or graduate degree in nursing. It's been that way for decades. I assume the Navy's DUINS program is the same way. I would bet that the intention of mentioning any other degree is that it may be considered for initial rank.

Most major hospital systems have new grad RN residency programs these days. They all have some similarities, but generally speaking most VAs and military hospitals will lack the acuity you will see in a major university teaching hospital. The Air Force only offers the new grad program for active duty. If you want to do reserves, you'll have to have 1 year of experience first; new grads aren't accepted.

I would highly recommend you join the facebook group "Georgia CRNAs & SRNAs." The majority of licensed CRNAs in Georgina are in that group. Likely you'd have far better luck than on AllNurses.

The nature of the reserves is wait around for something to happen. There are few meaningful deployment opportunities for anyone right now. A lot of CCATT and AE deployments right now is just hanging out in Germany or Qatar and moving non-combat related injuries and mental health. Your recruiter won't know much of anything. They are often former aircraft mechanics without the faintest clue of anything medical. You do get a tax free housing allowance based on your home of record when you deploy or go on orders for long periods. You can easily Google "BAH for (insert location)" to see. You can Google your pay. Most experienced RNs come in as O-3s/Captains. Add ~$300 for food allowance, and the a BAH $2000-$3500, and you have your total pay.

Flight nursing is the most time consuming RN job in the Air Force Reserve by far. It requires at least double (more than that in the beginning) the normal reserves time commitment. You have minimum flight hours and a lot more training courses. Basically you spend nearly the entire first year on active duty (full time) orders. Flight nursing is essentially being a flight attendant with a light sprinkle of patient care on top. The patients are all walkie talkie med-surg types. Lots of people quit or transfer to less time consuming roles within the reserves once they realize the time required. That's why there are big sign on bonuses and tons of open slots. CCATT is way different. You're not considered air crew. You are soley focused on ICU patient care. As a result you have few training requirements aside from two two-week courses and one one-week course every few years.

I'd recommend a supervision model that enables full scope of practice (I.e. you do your own lines, blocks, and preops with the ability to phone a friend). Billing and actual practice are not always the same thing, but it can be a clue to point to the culture of a place. You always want to talk to CRNAs that work there. Supervision and Medical Direction/ACT are usually entirely different things in practice. Typically a true anesthesia care team (ACT) involves involves 4 CRNAs being supervised by a physician anesthesiologist; they bill medical direction (QK code) and the physician receives 50% of billing from the 4 rooms in exchange for meeting the 7 TEFRA requirements. Supervision has far less physician involvement and avoids TEFRA requirements. Typically one or two physicians serve as 'board runners' and handle breaks and emergency backup. The physician bills 'medical supervision' (AD code) and supervises more than 4 rooms (often as many as 6+) with less billing per case than QK. Overall, I would try to ensure you get the support you need while still maintaining your skills across a variety of case types. I know many Kaiser CRNAs who haven't done blocks, preops, or lines in years, and it really limits the jobs they can take. You don't want to be job locked into a low paying role you hate.

If CRNA is the ultimate goal and you want to do it as quickly as possible, you should wait to join the military until you become a CRNA. The ~$200k in debt can easily be paid off by a hard-working CRNA within the first year. If you are OK slowly making your way from student to RN to CRNA over 8-10 years, then I would recommend ROTC at a civilian RN program. You can use one of the military CRNA schools and be debt free.

Basically, go on Air Force website and use the "Apply" button to contact a recruiter. The application takes close to one year. There is a big difference between flight nurse and critical care air transport (CCATT) or ground surgical team (GST) nurse. Flight nurses are basically flight attendants for med-surg patients that need to be moved long distances. CCATT nurses are closer to the civilian standard of 'flight nurses.'

Not zero but certainly not very likely that you'll get any one base in particular, especially locations with fewer positions like that. If you will be extremely unhappy if you don't get one of your top choices, then I'd say joining isn't for you. You're more likely to spend 2 to 4 years in Texas or North Carolina (2 large Army facilities).

I have this coversation with NPs a lot. Now I personally had a graduate nursing degree prior to CRNA school, as did about 25% of my class. None of us got any credit. Important for non crnas to know that the many of the DNP non clinical courses are actually anesthesia specific and are hard to get constructive credit. And you still have to do a doctoral project in anesthesia even if you've done one before in another nursing discipline. It is uncommon for anyone to get more than a few classes worth of constructive credit.

I'm not sure what you mean. There is no real shortcut for non-crnas with other graduate degrees in nursing to become CRNAs. It A quick Google search shows: Barry has 2 CRNA tracks if you go to their website: one non CRNAs who do a 36 month doctorate and the other for master's prepared already licensed CRNAs to earn a doctorate. South has the 36 month doctorate for non-crnas. They allow constructive credit for up to 4 courses if the applicant has a doctorate in another nursing discipline. That's really not much in the scheme of a 9 semester program.