What is the best duty station for a new grad nurse who wants to transition into ICU as soon as possible?

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What is the best duty station to transition into ICU?

Hello everyone! I am about to graduate nursing school and will be commissioning into the Army Nurse Corps through ROTC. My ultimate goal is to do CRNA school, so my sights are set on getting into the ICU as soon as possible. I have heard that as a new grad nurse I will be required to begin in a medical-surgical unit and will have to wait a bit of time before being able to take the ICU course. 
My question is: what duty stations are best for a new grad nurse who wants to get into the ICU as soon as possible? My top three choices right now are Fort Sam Houston, TX;  Tripler AMC, HI; and Landstuhl, Germany. However, I am willing to change these if any of these don’t provide good opportunities to transition into the ICU or if other stations that I haven’t listed here are better. I would love input from nurses who have been stationed at these medical centers, or any other medical centers, who can give me some good, relevant information! Thanks so much! 

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hey there! I’m an active duty Army ICU nurse. I did my medsurg time at Tripler and loved it. My take is medsurg is roughly the same at whatever MTF you go to, so you might as well do medsurg in Hawaii! The extra year of medsurg is rough, but you’ll gain experiece in a charge nurse/preceptor role. 
 

I would try to get BAMC after the ICU course. The acuity/volume at BAMC is unmatched. As of now you have a 1-year ADSO for graduating the ICU course.
 

You’ll find that most military ICU RN’s are thinking about the CRNA route. Once you get in the ICU world you’ll have no problem finding someone who will help guide you along the process (CRNA shawdow hours, GRE, biochem class, when to apply).

Just an FYI you can check the VA website and see how much time you need to get a certain percent of the GI BILL. For example 18 months past your ROTC obligation is 70% 

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40 minutes ago, Rhody16x said:

Hey there! I’m an active duty Army ICU nurse. I did my medsurg time at Tripler and loved it. My take is medsurg is roughly the same at whatever MTF you go to, so you might as well do medsurg in Hawaii! The extra year of medsurg is rough, but you’ll gain experiece in a charge nurse/preceptor role. 
 

I would try to get BAMC after the ICU course. The acuity/volume at BAMC is unmatched. As of now you have a 1-year ADSO for graduating the ICU course.
 

You’ll find that most military ICU RN’s are thinking about the CRNA route. Once you get in the ICU world you’ll have no problem finding someone who will help guide you along the process (CRNA shawdow hours, GRE, biochem class, when to apply).

Just an FYI you can check the VA website and see how much time you need to get a certain percent of the GI BILL. For example 18 months past your ROTC obligation is 70% 

Hello, and thank you for responding! Your response was very helpful. When you say “18 months past your ROTC obligation”, do you mean that my first 4-year contract wouldn’t qualify me at all for the GI bill? I can’t seem to find that on the VA website, so if you could show me where that would be great. Thank you! 

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

That is correct, your first 4 years will not count for GI Bill. 
 

https://www.armyg1.army.mil/post911gibill.asp#westpoint

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