SallyA781

A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor-FDR

You will definitely need your BSN, you cannot be an officer without it. It has become very competitive to get a commission as a Navy nurse, particularly if you don't have any experience. You can try the enlisted to officer route, as briski3 suggested, but do bear in mind it is no way a guarantee that you will be accepted to an officer program. The HM rating school is similar to a EMT-B/CNA, it is about 16 weeks long and does teach some nursing skills, but nowhere near what an LVN or ADN would cover. You would likely need to be enlisted for several years, have excellent evaluations, and get several promotions before being considered for an officer program. As far as deployment goes, nurses don't deploy as much as other rates, but it will probably happen at some point. You likely wouldn't do long ship-based deployments unless you choose a specialty that is needed on ships, such as critical care or CRNA, and generally those positions are sought after. Nurses also don't do the sea-shore rotation that most other rates do, I have been in for 9 years and am on my 4th tour, I've never done sea duty but I have had one 6 month deployment to Afghanistan. Most nurses work in hospitals. The Navy does work with you and your spouse for co-location, the nice thing about nursing is that most bases need nurses, so you can really be stationed anywhere. I am dual military and my husband is in the Air Force, we've been able to co-locate so far. When you do go and talk to a recruiter, try and find a healthcare officers recruiter specifically, not the generic recruiter in the mall.

-No, the designations are not binding. You can hold up to three subspecialty designations at one time, but the detailer/assignment officer/senior nurse can and often does ignore them when it comes time for your placement. I agree that an advantage of the Air Force is you get locked into a specialty, but that's only an advantage if you know what you want to do, you don't get tired of that specialty, and you don't want to explore other areas. In the Navy, I've found myself working in areas I never thought I would, and really liking them, so personally I like the way the Navy does it.

The Navy does have a designation for pediatric nurses, the designation code is 1922. I actually started out for my first two years working on an inpatient pediatrics floor, and eventually moved to the pediatric ICU for about 9 months before I transferred. The peds floors only tend to be in the bigger hospitals, so if you end up in a medium-sized facility or clinic, then unless you work in the peds clinic, you don't necessarily get to stay in peds. They also have programs for pediatric nurse practitioners, although they are competitive. So, it's not impossible, just luck of the draw.

If your goal is to be stationed in Europe, especially Germany or England, Navy is not the way to go. The Navy does send a few nurses to the hospital in Germany, but those are few and far between, especially for active duty. European duty stations for the Navy are mostly in the 2 bases in Italy and 1 base in Spain. There are more opportunities to be in the Pacific, Japan/Okinawa/Guam. You'd have an easier time getting stationed in Germany or England if you were in the Air Force or Army. If you do get commissioned, specialties don't matter as much, they tend to just put you where they want to put you. With that said, Mother/Baby/L&D nurses are always needed in the overseas billets. ER nurses also tend to be needed.

I can't stand suctioning trachs or trach care, but I oddly enough I find suctioning endotracheal tubes satisfying. Don't ask me why, I just feel there is a difference.

If you truly want to be a field medic, or more involved with combat operations, joining as a nurse corps officer would not be your best course of action. The ones actually on the front lines caring for wounded people under fire are the enlisted corpsmen (Navy) or medics (Army). Many Navy nurses do not even go on ships; mostly they are stationed at Navy medical treatment facilities, or smaller clinics. When you start out, you will most likely be assigned to an in-patient unit, and work is very similar to being a nurse in the civilian world. After a few years, your duties become more admin/leadership related, unless you are picked up for an advanced degree program and become a nurse practitioner or CRNA. Even then, there is usually a ton of administrative work! Some Navy nurses do deploy with either the Marines or as individual augments with the Army, although these deployments are decreasing. When you're with the Marines you learn more field stuff and may take care of more traumas, but truthfully that is a small percentage of the time for the vast majority of Navy nurses. Air Force may have more opportunities for flight nurses, Navy has some but they are few and far between. Hope this information helps!

I must have a similar voice as the wife of one of the docs I used to work with, because he did this to me during night shift more than once. A few times I was so tired/confused I naturally answered, "love you too." We probably had some rumors about us going around...

Very true extroverts probably aren't spending a lot of time on the internet! The biggest difference between introverts and extroverts is in how you re-charge. Introverts can be just as personable, pleasant, and certainly can have friends and enjoy being with other people. After a point, however, they need to retreat to their own place to read, watch TV, play with their pets, read blogs on the internet, etc., and be away from people to reset themselves. Extroverts, on the other hand, gain energy from being around other people in social settings. -INTJ all the way. Nursing educator and in the military.

[quote=macawake;8092985 Negative feedback can be useful and productive. Delivering it in a way so that the other person will rationally contemplate and evaluate it is however, a bit of an art. It’s not always easy. Good post RubyVee! -It is an art indeed! I think it would be really helpful if preceptors and unit managers could learn techniques in delivering positive and negative feedback, critiques, mentoring, coaching, etc. It would also be great if only those nurses who were truly interested in mentoring were assigned and properly trained as preceptors, instead of constantly being volun-told at the last minute that you are precepting someone today.

It's random, but I cannot handle any sort of bleeding from the male genitalia (circumcisions, vasectomies, confused pts pulling out catheters with balloons fully intact, etc.) I'll usually pass out. During TNCC, when we got to that section I knew it was coming and I started to feel the ringing in my ears, lightheaded so I just pretended like I was going to the bathroom like nothing was wrong, went into the bathroom and passed out and came back to class, as far as I know no one was the wiser!

Well, to be fair, it isn't just nurses who are held up to a higher standard. The CEO down the street probably would have just as much, if not more, of a negative backlash. A great example is Donald Sterling, the LA Clippers coach, who was banned from the NBA for racist remarks.