St.BaptistRN

To the nurses serving in the military, what's the best or most interesting job/assignment that you've gotten to do?

Either way, going back to your original, I’d start with a fun assignment like Germany or Hawaii if you can. Let’s say you can get into ICU with as few hoops as possible. You’ll still start out as a 66H (med surg) and have to do your time there. By the time you’ll be ready to get into ICU course and work there, it’ll be time to PCS. So, you’d start at the highest acuity ICU in the entire military, then leave before you get to enjoy it

Reach back out to me after you make more posts. My experience has been…interesting. I’m AF, not Army, so I have a different, perhaps skewed perspective.

I’m currently at BAMC, spent a long time in a few of their ICUs. PM me if you want my personal take on it.

Jordan, currently at my hospital, it’s seven 12 hour shifts every 2 weeks. Deployment rates vary, especially given how current events have shifted priorities. Historically it’s you can go for a 6ish month deployment every 2 years with 1.5 years off. personally, I’ve been deployed once, was going to go again, but was taken off d/t injury. And did a Covid mission for 1 month.

I’m current active ICU USAF, feel free to private message, I can discuss the overall experience

Has anyone used a handheld Doppler (like the one used in pulse checks, etc) as a guide for IV placement? I heard another nurse talk about it and found a 1995 article by Whiteley et al, that validates this concept. I’m interested in piloting this skill on my unit, since it appears effective and possibly more accessible than ultrasound guided IV placement. Any thoughts on this? Doppler.pdf

I’ve been away from ICU for about 8 months. I got burned out and work let me take some time and work admin. They’re now gonna start easing me back into ICU. I’ve noticed some anxiety being back on the floor that I didn’t have before and it’s bothering me. Any suggestions on how to be comfortable in the unit again?

No, getting my BSN did jack to make me a better RN. Just checking boxes with it. One of my coworkers has his MSN. That’s not what makes him smarter than me though. It’s his bachelors in math that does that.

I started as a diploma back in 2013, got my BSN about 2 years later. I think it’s big education forcing this to make more money. It’s just raising the bar to do the same job. A MSN might get a few extra bucks, but on the floor we all do the same job (good and bad). Unless you’re an APRN, you’re still a regular nurse from the patient’s and doctor’s perspective.

What the heck? There’s now a test just to get into nursing school? No idea if it’s out there, but Kaplan all the way

For those of us feeling the effects of Covid on the health care system, what is the best thing you have learned from this challenge? Since a lot of us have had to step up and fill new roles & responsibilities, are there any skills to share? I learned CRRT on the Prisma Flex during this, and have seen new ventilator types

I took it in 2017. It was one of the more challenging exams that I've done. I used the Exam Secrets book. It was the only book dedicated to the test at the time. I wasn't too big a fan of it as it was cumbersome to follow in some sections. Good luck

To the SRNAs/CRNAs that went to USUHS, where is a good place to live during the didactic year at Bethesda MD? I hear that base housing has a long waiting list and an even longer commute, and that rent and housing is expensive as heck. I've got a wife and two large dogs, and an O-2 pay grade. Any suggestions on affordable/safe housing, with a reasonable commute?

I’ve been a nurse for nearly 7 years now, and spent the whole time in ICU. I loved the rush of a fresh CABG and an unstable patient. However, I’m getting older and more run down. Plus, I want my wife to be able to settle down and not have to work. It seems like life is getting much more expensive, and I can’t support the life I want as a bedside nurse. Thus, the only way out is up.