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.

The program was very doable, finished August of ‘15. The only course I had an issue with was Public Health. That one was a nuisance. Other than that, the program gets my seal of approval. Relatively cheap ($10ish when I did it), no clinical, own pace. Would recommend. Easy to do it and work full time.

Sounds like you have your stuff together, you should be fine. Do get your CCRN though. I applied to both Army and AF since they were only each taking about 12 ICU nurses that year. I got accepted by other and went AF. Benefit to AF: shorter deployments, but more frequent. Army has more inpatient hospitals and ICUs than AF. That being said, you'll get about 8 hospitals you can go to as AF ICU nurse. Army also has higher ICU bonus pay than AF (35K vs 20K). For the application though, Army had a heck of a lot more paperwork than the AF.

For the Chief Nurse, be able to think critically, creatively if needed. You may be presented a scenario and asked how to respond.

Hello to all interested USUHS 2020 applicants. I noticed that the call for candidates came out a little while ago. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or news to share as the deadlines approach and the selection board starts?

I left because I joined the Air Force to pursue CRNA. I do miss St Joe and living in WA. They were planning on starting an LVAD program when I left, so I was disappointed I missed out on that. Either way, it’s a good hospital, it was a culture shock and being there definitely exposed me to new ideas and made me more flexible.

I didn’t do a residency, aside from a brief orientation, as I came in experienced. The staff were always nice, leadership approachable. I do think they were chronically short staffed, at least as far as ICU goes. They are a union hospital, and during my tenure there, they had to adjust their break schedules to meet union obligations. I think I signed a contract of some sorts. I came from nonunion background, so I was indifferent to that sort of system.

I worked there for 1.5 years in the CVICU. It was an interesting experience, often short staffing with a lot of floating to their PCU. Work on your cardio, as the stairs are faster than the elevators, which were often out of order

Definitely ICU. I've spent a lot of time floating to PCUs. Often understaffed because of how draining it is. You get 3-4 patients that are sick enough to require a lot of foot work, and they're awake enough to require a lot additional attention. To me, it's the worst of ICU and med-surge combined.

Does anyone know about additional developmental opportunities for nurses in the AF? I've looked into AFIT & CCATT, but are there any other schools or TDYs? The Army has things like Pathfinder and Airborne, does the AF have anything similar?

To the USUHS alumni out there, what is a good biochemistry to take? I want to apply in 2019 for the 2020 class and found out that the deadline is 31Jun2019. However, I am deploying for 6 month in October and won't get back until early May 2019. So, is there a good biochem that is completely online (no clinical/lab) that doesn't require an organic chem prereq? I was considering the Berkley option, but I'm not the biggest fan of the in person final being worth 60% of the grade. Does anyone have any other options to consider?