JmanRN80

Well they finally released the board. I am in going to COT May 21st!! Anyone else?

I'm in also with a May 21st COT date. I also got my first choice as JBSA as an ER/Trauma nurse. I'm glad the wait is finally over on knowing.

I was told the same thing, that there was a split on the board decision and that we should hopefully know by the end of next week 10/13. I know we are tired of waiting. This was not the issue last year. Still wish everyone good luck!

The last update I got this week is that there was a delay and expected release date is anywhere between 9/20 and 9/22 tentatively. Once again this the military we are talking about.

I know the boards meet quarterly typically, but each board has a reduction of what they are looking for and specialty. I would contact your recruiter, especially if you work in a specialty outside of clinical or OR nursing.

I was told that our boards were underway this week and notification would be 9/12. That was the last update I received earlier this week.

I submitted my packet back in June for the current selection board as an Emergency/Trauma nurse. I have received two updates as of now. First the 2018 board meets on 8/22 and results should be posted by 9/12. Second, I was told my application was pulled into a selection committee to fill the remaining current 2017 spots. So all I am doing is just doing the waiting game that the military loves to do. Anyone else hear anything different?

For my packet, I had 2 interviews. One was a face-face and the other was phone. In the face-face, I was sent to a base and met with the chief nurse of that facility. We would sit down and have a talk about our multiple aspects of life. During this discussion the Chief nurse will ask specific questions to see if you belong in the USAF or if you have what they are looking for. They go over expectations from you, career paths, family life, and what your goals are. I was fortunate to do this process twice, not by choice, and both were great experiences. The phone interview for me, entailed a shorter and more to the point discussion detailed around my specialty. I was asked specific scenarios that would follow AHA guidelines, and then asked about my goals. I was also given the oppurtunity to ask questions for my own sake as well. I forgot to mention with the face-face interview was able to get to tour the bases, and hospitals and get to how their facilities operate. If I was to say if there was anything that made me nervous it would of been the phone interview, and that is mainly because that interviewer is asking specific questions and scores you on how well you answer those questions. You never get the chance to be face-face to sell yourself. Remember these interviews are for you to sell you qualities just like in the private sector. They score you on a scale of "do not select" to "definitely select". I hope that is helpful for you from my perspective.

Update for anyone, my recruiter emailed me and told me that the boards meet 8/22 and preliminary results should be released on 9/12. Good Luck Everyone!!!

Yeah, my recruiter said the same thing also. I have just over a year of level 2 trauma in the chicagoland area.

So I have worked in 2 EDs so far and at both places we have give the RN's a set of 4 preassigned rooms and place pts in the rooms as the pt come into the ED trying to do rotation whenever possible. However, at my current FT ED we are stepping away from this assignment and will assign pts to nurses based on acuity of the pt. This process was termed the "free for all". The logic explained to us was that this would allow us to develop our newer nurses by managing the acuity of pts they get assgined. As they progress they can take a ESI 1 or 2 pt without the worry of their other pt load or being assigned new pts as the remaining nurses would take on the lower acuity. On the flip side I see this as a way for the more seasoned nurses to get either overwhelmed with the higher acuity pts or be being slammed with lower acuity pts and causing a skew in the pt/nurse ratio. Has anyone out there worked in a assignment setting like this before? What were the struggles or Pros/cons of this system? Is it still being used or was it scrapped from the table eventually? I would love to hear any feedback.

Well I finished all my interviews this week. I just have to review my preferences one more time for assignment and then submit my packet. All I can say is just do what you can to forget about it while the boards meet and make their decisions.

Good luck!

In the ED I like to think that we take chaos and make it become organized chaos. After that we take the organized chaos and try to make the pt stable to be able to be on the floors. We act as a detectives in situations with no information provided sometimes to figure out what is wrong with a patient. We work hard to make sure that the ABC's are intact. We have to organize the chaos that EMS brings us and those that walk in the front door. We get both the truly sick patients and patients that think the ED is there primary care doctor. We have to be the eyes and ears for the phsycians at times when the ER becomes overwhelmed with really sick pts or pyschiatric patients which is another handful of its own. We have to decipher the truly sick from those that are stable, we manage the codes and traumas. Yes we start IV's, we take vitals, we put in foleys and NG tubes, but we also give lifesaving meds, and meds to make people get better. Until someone truly spends time in the ED, it is hard to truly understand all that we go through.

As an applicant for the Air Force Nurse Corp 2018 I thought I would open a public thread for people to talk and ask questions. I was non-select in 2017 due to lack of time in a trauma center, but reapplying again for this FY2018 as ER/Trauma RN. This time I got some more certifications and experience under my belt and ready to move forward.