tRN4L

I am going into the OR too! I have questions for both of you!! Have either of you heard anything about the actual NTP portion or just where you are going after?? I can PM you my facebook if you want to connect!

AF COT 18-01

I also go to COT in October! Did you both find the facebook group?

Well we will be working together then! I was actually a little bummed too, especially since I am going down there alone and I feel like the AFB is more of a community but SAMMC is an awesome hospital. I am actually doing the NTP program for the OR - I have a years experience in rehab and a neuro/telemetry floor but no OR experience yet.

I am going to try to PM you now. Let me know if you don't see it- I know this site has like weird rules for how much you need to post to PM!

I can't answer most of these, but I did just find out I will be getting sent to the OR at SAMMC! So - for number 4- I just found out this past week that I was selected, that my scroll was approved and that I am supposedly going to COT on October 2. I definitely wish that I had mentioned something to my managers sooner. You may just want to mention to them that you are waiting on orders but expect to be going soon. This way it gives them a heads up. Having given practically no notice, the next two weeks are going to be quite awkward at work for me.

Congrats! I also heard. I will be attending COT in October.... very excited, more so nervous to quit my relatively new job lol

Last year we found out at the end of August. My recruiter has been really good about updating us on this years board and his most recent email said hopefully this week :) to be honest, I keep telling myself it will probably be in September.

Thank you so much for your answers. I guess now the fun begins in fixing some things and moving my package to fully qualified!

Hello- I am currently in the application process for Air Force NTP and have hit a bit of a bump in the process. My recruiter has been very helpful along the way but also seems to not necessarily know the answer to this question. If any military nurses can shed some light, I would greatly appreciate it. Does rehab nursing count as " experience" or would only nursing in an acute care setting? I now have about a year in rehab and a few months hospital experience. If I wanted to apply for fully qualified, would I need a full year of hospital experience? I really appreciate your answers. I realize this seems like a question that should be aimed at a recruiter but my recruiter seems kind of stuck in whether or not its in my best interest to just have me apply for FQ or if I am not actually fully qualified yet. Thanks in advance for any responses!

Hi! I am currently a relatively new nurse and hoping to become an air force nurse myself. To become an a nurse in the air force, you need to have a BSN. Once earning a BSN and becoming licensed, you would enter in as an officer. Earning a commission is competitive, even more so for new grads. If you go in as enlisted, they do have a nurse enlisted commissioning program which would allow you to go through nursing school on them.. but I am sure this is super competitive too. It is probably smartest, if you really want to be a nurse, to finish your BSN and then apply. Also, the age requirement for medical officers is higher than that of enlisted and you definitely make the cut- I think it is like 42 or something for medical officers, I am not sure for enlisted. Another thing you may want to look into in the navy nurse commissioning program. From what I have seen, the navy offers nursing scholarships for your BSN program and a commission on the other end. I have never been enlisted so I can't speak much for that. I do have close friends who are enlisted though and once in the military, enlisted or officer, the needs of the military come first. So where you are placed and how long you are away really will depend on your enlisted job, missions your assigned to, etc. You get 30 days of leave a year but can deploy, etc. I would imagine it is pretty hard to balance being active duty enlisted and in nursing school. Just do your research before deciding on anything! Good luck with everything and the stress of nursing school is totally worth it in the end :)

your welcome! Good luck!

Nutrition is a big part of it and cardio. I didn't need to lose weight for meps but I wanted to shed some nightshift poundage and I lost like ten pounds in two months just eating like almonds, fruit, veggies and quest bars for snacks, lean meats and veggies for meals and doing my normal workouts. Not sure when you're physical is but honestly the fastest ( not healthiest) way to lose weight is doing the keto diet....

Hey! So yes they are doing that new program- I needed a waiver which luckily I was granted, but we just both decided I should go through meps for a better chance. It wasn't too bad- you just need to be polite and expect it to be run like a military establishment- because it really is. Also for the interview, it's more like Air Force based questions than nursing for NTP and I personally had a good experience with mine last year. From reading posts, it seems like everyone met with someone who was easy to talk to. You will be just fine :) just really have solid reasons for joining the Air Force, being a nurse in general- stuff like that. I may be getting my ACLS through my job before then and I have a few like little certifications from work but then just BLS, my license and my degrees. I actually asked about getting ACLS cerified last year to be more competitive and the CNO interviewing me told me just focus on the NCLEX. So I wouldn't stress too much over certifications- you are applying for a new nurse position! Good luck with the rest of your year :)

It's really hard to say exactly what the board looks for. Last year a couple hundred applied and something like22 applicants were selected for med surg unfortunately. I'm a big believer that if you keep pushing for something, eventually it'll work out. So I'm hoping with some more experience that will be the case- but even now I'm planning on applying FQ within the year if I don't get into the NTP. I would reccommend finding a job in a civilian hospital as soon as you can and just racking up experience. Also, if you are prior military or from a military family that helps. I'm sure that taking the NCLEX last minute wasn't super helpful, but at least my license was able to be attached to my packet at the last minute- but again, I really don't know if that helped or not. The board meets at end of June/beginning of July and last year released the names in beginning of August. My recruiter said this year they're supposed to meet around June 20 and release dates in mid July... but I wouldn't count on mid July lol