Navy Nurse

I am retiring after 22 yrs in the military in August. I am now 43 and plan on working maybe 10 more yrs at a civilian job and then calling it quits. Looking forward to lots of golf and travel.

Really depends on what their motive for going into nursing is. If it is for money the answer is no, but there are reasons that I would recommend nursing. It beats mowing lawns or getting shot at the local convienence store.

Hey Rick, My name is Larry. I have been a nurse for the past 16 years. I am from Texas but am in the Navy stationed in Guam at this time. I retire in August after 22 years in the Navy. I have worked in many areas of nursing and have a few initials after my signature. I am also a Personal Fitness Trainer. I am the Clinic Manager of a busy clinic. In my off hours I moonlight doing my love in Nursing, NICU nursing. I plan on attending school when I get back to Texas to finish my Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Degree. I have also written a funded research grant and was the priniciple investigator in research for the Navy. It is nice to meet ya'll. Hope you have a great day.

As I read this board, I constantly here the following: 1) CEO's make too much money 2) We must unite 3) Take a stand 4) Nurses are underpaid 5) We need better working conditions 6) Nurses really have power Before you take part in a strike (which probably will not accomplish any long term changes) or participate in a million nurse march (which is useless), why don't you organize these large groups of nurses and start buying hospitals. Then you could have nurse run hospital that take care of patients and nurses and doesn't care about big profits. That would truely be taking control of your profession.

Chris alot of what you have said is true, but I have to disagree a on couple of issues. Respect is earned, I don't care what kind of degree you have, you have to perform and prove you know what you are doing. Granted, there are different degrees of power and respect, what you are discussing is positional respect. People respect you because of your position not what you can do. The other issue was your last comment about the more education then the better clinician you become. Well I don't know many PH.D nurses who are clinicians. Most are researchers or educators. Most of them I know are poor clinicians (skill wise). They may make nursing better for me, by research, but they are not better clinicians.

I have made this post in the past but will reinterate the issue. The Phillipines is the largest exporter of Nurses in the world. To enter the profession in the Phillipines is seen as a way to get out of the country. Some of their schools are excellent, but some when the demand gets higher seems to by pass some of the education requirements. They have to pass board exams in the U.S. just like all the other nurses. In some cases if they don't pass the boards they will work as aides. Wildtime, I don't know what state you are from, but in Texas there are laws that prohibit employers from paying different wages to employees based on race. Granted they may stop the wages from going up, but they enter at the same pay levels. Also, most of the Filipino nurses I know do not bring there families to the states, they send money back home to the Phillipines. They make as much money in a month as to what most Filipinos in the Phillipines make in a year.

Hey Buck, There are some BSN Programs that are tailored for people to obtain their BSN while giving credit for other degrees that they have, Regents College is one that comes to mind first. Maybe some of the nurses from these types of programs don't have the clinical skills as you do, but to link all BSN programs together is wrong. I graduated from an ADN program first and those two years were intensive clinic studies. I can also provided you with proof that the ADN Program I attended had a 98% first pass rate on the State Boards. Diploma Programs are hospital based so if anyone is trying to create revenue it would be the hospitals. They can use their students as a labor force and get government education funds funneled into their facilities. I think the initials should be used to identify the accomplishments of the individual. I for one was proud to be able to add the BSN after the RN title. I worked hard and earned it. Besides you should be happy be able to live in work in a city that has the largest hospitals in America and is always on the cutting edge of medical research. Take advantage of your surroundings.

Hey Buck, There are some BSN Programs that are tailored for people to obtain their BSN while giving credit for other degrees that they have, Regents College is one that comes to mind first. Maybe some of the nurses from these types of programs don't have the clinical skills as you do, but to link all BSN programs together is wrong. I graduated from an ADN program first and those two years were intensive clinic studies. I can also provided you with proof that the ADN Program I attended had a 98% first pass rate on the State Boards. Diploma Programs are hospital based so if anyone is trying to create revenue it would be the hospitals. They can use their students as a labor force and get government education funds funneled into their facilities. I think the initials should be used to identify the accomplishments of the individual. I for one was proud to be able to add the BSN after the RN title. I worked hard and earned it. Besides you should be happy be able to live in work in a city that has the largest hospitals in America and is always on the cutting edge of medical research. Take advantage of your surroundings.

Haji, I guess the first thing I would ask you would be why would you want to go back in the Navy. You are already getting retirement pay and with the civilian jobs paying good right now, I don't understand why you would give that up. Especially to become an Ensign (hehe). I don't know why the age limits are different but then again there are in education level and knowledge level differences into which service you can get into also. Usually the Navy will give you 1:1 credit for your years in service for the age waiver and I know for a fact that they do age waivers for people to come in. They make you sign papers stating you will not be eligible for retirement benefits. Contact the Navy Nurse Corps in Washington D.C. for more on the guidelines. Don't just take the word of any recruiter, there are ways to get into the system. Finally, the Navy, in most Nurses opinions, does not have a nursing shortage. Good luck

Send me your questions. I have been in the Navy for 22 years and moonlighted in the civilian world too, so I can give you some views on both. Tim, I don't have anyone tell me when to eat or get up. Each sector has their rules to follow and believe me, there are people that you work for that tell you when to come to work and when you can go home.

Following my previous post, I do not understand why this happens in civilian nursing. Most civilian nurses are in areas that they plan on staying in. There is no real competetion to move up unless you desire to. Most pay raise are length of time raises and doesn't have anything to do with performance. It does appear that most nurses forget that at one time they were students also.

It is interesting that this happens. I can give you one opinion as to way it happens in the Navy. When you join the Navy as a Nurse you are instantly in competetion with other nurses. We get annual fitness reports that play a hug part in promotions. Granted your first few years in the Navy are not that big of a deal but after 4 years it becomes very stiff competetion for rank and recognition. Of course with more rank comes more power and more money. It is not good enough that you are an excellent clinician, you also have to go above and beyond the call of duty, thus leads to back stabbing and other undesirable means of being in the top 1% of the nurses at your command. This is what leads to that kind of behavior among the Jr. Nurses, among the Sr Nurses it is a threat to their power, whether it is actual or a perceved threat. They treat the young nurses bad, because "that is the way we were treated." I personally don't agree with any of this type of behavior, just offering a little insight.

Even under "Safe Haven" you can be sued in civil court. I have seen it used a few times in my career. You can also file variance reoprts with your risk manager. The hospital has to answer these and can be especially useful when inspectors are coming through.

You might as well get used to Filipino Nurses being around. They are the largest group of foreign nurses in the states and they are producing more and more nurses each year. As soon as some states and the government relaxs regulations there will be a flood of them come into the U.S. It is a very popular field in college because it offers opportunity to get to the U.S.

You might as well get used to Filipino Nurses being around. They are the largest group of foreign nurses in the states and they are producing more and more nurses each year. As soon as some states and the government relaxs regulations there will be a flood of them come into the U.S. It is a very popular field in college because it offers opportunity to get to the U.S.