Published Mar 20, 2015
JohnRossi
4 Posts
how hard is it to switch from med/surg to psych in the air force??? I'm going in through NTP in one week and have a goal/dream of being an Air Force Psych DNP. I know it's a long road, but curious about switching from med/Surg to psych to get the 2 years needed experience before applying to school? Thanks!!!!
jfratian, DNP, RN, CRNA
1,618 Posts
It's not hard, but you do have to wait and put in the time. They generally make you do 2 years of med-surg prior to specializing. After that, you can apply (not very competitive) for the psych fellowship at Travis AFB. I believe it's 6 or 8 weeks. The issue is that you only have 3 bases to go to with that specialty (San Antonio, Travis, and Elmendorf). After that, you have to put in more time (generally 2 assignments or 4-5 years) before you can do AFIT (the much more competitive program that sends you back to school full-time).
Thank you for the info!!! One more question. Do you know about the AGCNS option?
Yeah, I work with an AFIT grad who did the adult-gero CNS program. Same thing as NP: you have to do your time and apply. The benefit is that med-surg is all the experience you need to apply. You don't need a specialty fellowship first.