jfratian

jfratian DNP, RN, CRNA

Adult Critical Care

Major, U.S. Air Force Reserve - Staff Nurse Anesthetist

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All Content by jfratian

  1. Air Force Reserve Questions

    jfratian replied to starmickey03's topic in Government, Military

    Your deployment job should pretty much reflect your reserve unit's mission; ask the unit. There are ground deployment jobs for patient movement/coordination and outpatient clinics. There are...

  2. NICU RN too Air Force Reserves

    jfratian replied to NicuRn1187's topic in Government, Military

    There are NICU active duty jobs (very few), but I'm not sure if there are any reserve NICU jobs. I should tell you that NICU is being phased out. Currently deployed NICU nurses, along with peds and...

  3. future FNP, Looking for advice

    jfratian replied to NYMurse91's topic in Government, Military

    I'm not an NP so can't say anything about the mentoring/training for new grads. I would say contact healthcare specific recruiters from all three branches about a year out from graduation; it takes...

  4. future FNP, Looking for advice

    jfratian replied to NYMurse91's topic in Government, Military

    Speaking from experience, all three branches are equally slow, needlessly bureaucratic, and disorganized; the extent to which you experience these features depends on who is your recruiter. However,...

  5. Would I have trouble finding a position in Air Force OB?

    jfratian replied to Alexiapaige0001's topic in Government, Military

    They are still taking new OB nurses, but all branches are slowly planning to phase-out active duty slots for pediatrics, OB, NICU, and other non-operationally related specialties. Nobody knows the...

  6. Army Nurse Corps or Navy/Air Force After BSN

    jfratian replied to ohwhyshai's topic in Government, Military

    As far as the racial/gender thing, I can't really comment as I have neither consideration. I can say that my current direct boss is a black woman. The current AF surgeon general is a white woman and...

  7. Air Force FY 2019

    jfratian replied to Jessica73's topic in Government, Military

    If you need money ASAP, take the accession bonus and/or loan repayment. If you can afford to wait about a year after you join, then wait for the retention bonus...refuse the loan repayment and...

  8. Air Force FY 2019

    jfratian replied to Jessica73's topic in Government, Military

    JBER (Anchorage) is pretty doable for a first base and is considered OCONUS. The others are much more rare for new AF nurses to get, but I have heard of it happening on

  9. FY2020 Army Nurse Corps

    jfratian replied to ReconMedic's topic in Government, Military

    Mbabs84, your personal experience with those forward surgical teams can be very variable. I would highly recommend you talk to several people at your first base to get their experiences before...

  10. Air Force FY 2019

    jfratian replied to Jessica73's topic in Government, Military

    Rhonda, having worked both sides of the fence myself, I take exception to most of that. The higher "twice as much" pay in the AF is debatable...but you probably did get a raise if you're from...

  11. Primary Care Nurse Parctitoners in the Military?

    jfratian replied to RNeuro's topic in Government, Military

    I've not heard of a primary care NP in the Air Force; primary care in the Air Force is handled either a family medicine clinic (most patients), an internal medicine clinic (sicker patients), or a...

  12. L&D nurse trying to commission into Air Force - advice appreciated!!

    jfratian replied to obnurse406's topic in Government, Military

    I would definitely do clinical nurse if I were you. AFIT FNP applicants have to get 1 year of outpatient clinic experience. You might very well start off in an outpatient clinic as a clinical nurse....

  13. RN to Air Force

    jfratian replied to joepro7's topic in Government, Military

    The ICU training program is located in both Phoenix and San Antonio. If CRNA is your ultimate goal, you'll delay your goal by about 3 years coming in as a med surg nurse. That's how long it takes to...

  14. RN to Air Force

    jfratian replied to joepro7's topic in Government, Military

    Your experience is a bit dicey...not sure if it will count. It will be up to the ER nurse consultant (who is a Lt Col who will interview you) whether or not your experience qualifies. If it doesn't,...

  15. RN to Air Force

    jfratian replied to joepro7's topic in Government, Military

    The AF absolutely takes ICU and ER nurses with less than 2 years experience; the requirement to join as a specialty nurse (ICU, ER, OR, etc) is 1 year full time experience. In fact, I have a O-1 that...

  16. Army vs Navy Nurse

    jfratian replied to SevenEroRN's topic in Government, Military

    I also thought it was worth pointing out that DHA just started posting DHA jobs for this next assignment cycle. That means that while stateside, you will eventually have your pick of any CONUS...

  17. Army vs Navy Nurse

    jfratian replied to SevenEroRN's topic in Government, Military

    I say this as an Air Force nurse: Special duty assignments are very limited in number in any branch. From conversations with Navy nurses, the only nurses on ships are those on the 2 hospital ships...

  18. RN Considering Air Force or Army

    jfratian replied to COMtnRN's topic in Government, Military

    If you're referring to the CSP (consolidated special pay), which is a type of retention bonus, the AF also offers the $35K per year for people who sign 6 year deals. Also, from my perspective, almost...

  19. Civilian RN to Army nurse

    jfratian replied to TravelRN17's topic in Government, Military

    TravelRN17, I believe you need 2 years of full time ICU RN experience for the Army to take you as an ICU nurse. Otherwise, you'll have to start in med-surg and apply for the ICU nurse training...

  20. Civilian RN to Army nurse

    jfratian replied to TravelRN17's topic in Government, Military

    Kateboss, I suspect that you may be leaving significant money on the table in a variety of areas. You should talk to your chief nurse about retention bonuses and the Active Duty Health Professions...

  21. Civilian RN to Army nurse

    jfratian replied to TravelRN17's topic in Government, Military

    So...$160,000 would be the total value of all my current pay and benefits. That's exactly equal to the civilian contractor next to

  22. Civilian RN to Army nurse

    jfratian replied to TravelRN17's topic in Government, Military

    My example is SFO bay area. My PSMC in the bay is $105,000; the civilian contractor working next to me makes $80/hr...so ~$160,000 per year. If I wanted to, I could take $35,000 per year in...

  23. Civilian RN to Army nurse

    jfratian replied to TravelRN17's topic in Government, Military

    You're on point with the frustration of the general bureaucracy. I agree you do work more hours...especially deployed. However, I think '1/3' of the money is a bit of an exaggeration. I don't know...

  24. RN Considering Air Force or Army

    jfratian replied to COMtnRN's topic in Government, Military

    Yes I'm an AF ICU nurse. I would apply at the 6 month mark. Getting the CCRN before you apply makes you a much stronger

  25. RN Considering Air Force or Army

    jfratian replied to COMtnRN's topic in Government, Military