What's it like being a Navy Nurse?

[TopazLPN, LPN]

What's it like being a Navy Nurse?

How much control do you have over your work schedule? How many shifts a week/month do you work? 12 hour shifts only? Do you alternate between night and day shifts? Is your pay hourly or salary? Do you have to work overtime or on-call? How much down-time do you have as a Navy nurse?

How long are you stationed in one place/what is a typical length of tour/billet? When do you get to travel overseas? Does the work compare to civilian jobs or are you a vaccination machine?

What kind of opportunities to advance your career do you have?

Can you change units or specialties? How competitive is it to become a critical care Navy nurse? Will the Navy pay for you to get your Masters as an NP or a CRNA?

As a new nurse entering the Navy, what kind of additional support/mentoring/training will be available to me while I am still new and learning? Are new nurses welcomed by other navy nurses?

[DanznRN, RN]

Going to try and answer your questions using your post as a guide. However, I noticed your name is topazlpn, just so you know the navy does not use lpns, the army does though. Anyway, your questions.

How much control do you have over your work schedule?

That depends, just like anywhere else when you are new, you are subject to the scheduling officer. You can request things, but don't expect to get extra special treatment.

How many shifts a week/month do you work?

In most units you work 12-hour shifts, although some areas do 8s, especially if you are a clinic nurse. You work 3 during week and 4 the next, so you work about 14 shifts a month, that's not an absolute though. Generally it's 14-15 a month.

Do you alternate between night and day shifts?

Most places yes. How many of each changes form place to place. Right now, my wife is doing 6 weeks of days and 6 weeks of nights. I've worked in places that were 4 and 4, 8 and 8, it just depends on your unit.

Is your pay hourly or salary?

Everyone in the navy, actually military, is paid a salary. It is based on your rank and years of service. You also get paid for housing, if you don't live on base, and a stipend for food.

Do you have to work overtime or on-call?

In short, once you join a military service, including the navy, they own you. Are you scheduled for a 12 and the next shift is short, you could stay for an extra 4 and then someone may have to come in early. There is no protection in the military like the civilian world. There is a loose regulation that a nurse can't work more than 16 hours without at least 8 hours to sleep. My wife got caught by a flood while we were in italy, she worked for 48 hours with about 10 hours sleep, they couldn't get anyone in. I got caught by another flood and was there for 32 hours, like I said they own you. On-call you better believe it and no there is no extra pay for that.

How much down-time do you have as a navy nurse?

What do you meant by downtime? Do we have days off, sure. If you think about it, we only work half the month, we have every other weekend off and get 30 days vacation per year. If you really break it down, we work about 6 months out of the year, unless you're deployed then you work for 6 months to 1 year straight. It depends on your perception.

How long are you stationed in one place/what is a typical length of tour/billet? When do you get to travel overseas? Does the work compare to civilian jobs or are you a vaccination machine?

Tours of duty/ billets are 3 years in length. You can extend at a place, built you have to have a great reason why. You can go overseas after your first tour. You are by no means a vaccination nurse. We have fully functioning hospitals in the navy, we do it all and then some.

What kind of opportunities to advance your career do you have?

Tons of ways to do it. Your guaranteed your first 2 promotions, after that you have to start working for it.

Can you change units or specialties?

This is an ever changing thing in the navy. We all technically start as med-surg nurses, jack of all trades. From there you can specialize, I came in to the er back in '97 and have never left critical care. Spent 2 years in an icu, but I'm er all the way. It's getting harder to do that, but if you get/ have a certification in a particular area, that helps.

How competitive is it to become a critical care navy nurse?

You want to be an icu nurse, then you have to speak up and tell someone. Is it going to happen tomorrow, no, but it will happen. The navy is in need of critical care nurses so the more they have the better. Remember, there's a war going on, so critical care is a premium.

Will the navy pay for you to get your masters as an np or a crna?

Yes, I'm currently in school getting my master's as an acnp and cns. However, the navy only recognizes/ uses certain nps, I'm not one of them. So I'll be a cns as far as the navy is concerned. I'll do the np thing on my own time, but the navy's paying for it, same with crna. My full-time job for the last year has been to go to school and I'm getting paid for it the whole time.

As a new nurse entering the navy, what kind of additional support/mentoring/training will be available to me while I am still new and learning? Are new nurses welcomed by other navy nurses?

Unlike the civy world, we don't really eat our young, we need them. We have all been in the position a new nurse has been, so there is a lot of mentoring done. There are only about 3,000 navy nurses, so it's pretty elite and we are proud of that. Therefore, we make certain that all nurses are at the same standard, lots of support.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions. Been a navy nurse for 10+ years and counting.

[LoraBug73, BSN, RN]

Dan,

Would you say that the pay and opportunity for being a nurse is better in the military or the civilian world. I graduate in spring of 2011 with my BSN. Thanks

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

The 1st few years the civilian world pays more, but in the long run the military pays more. As a new nurse your base salary would be 2655

Housing around 1000-1200 depending on where you live

Food 223

Total 3878- 4078 per month. Housing and food are tax free.

Your yearly income would be 46-48 K or 22-23/hour based on a 40 hour work week.

Also you will have free medical & dental.

[spongebob6286, BSN, RN]

Do nurses need to undergo the BMT and take the asvab? When will the training starts?

[CPGator06, ASN, RN]

Hey thanks for the information everybody, I have one question though, I've been accepted to NYU's nursing program and I really want to go, but the price is pretty steep at about 50K/year. I'm really considering going into the navy so that they will pay for my two years of nursing school. I spoke to a recruiter and he told me that basically for every year the navy nurse pay my schooling I owe them a year of commitment. I have no problem with that. Now the base salary for a navy nurse officer is about $2400/month, which is about 25K per year plus $1400/month housing allowance and $300/groceries. So you make about 40K/year. If I were to get deployed to another country. Would I get overseas pay or hazard pay on top of my base salary, if so how much?

[njack017]

Don't you also make more money though as an officer..or is the 46 K- 48K what an officer would get paid.

[daisy758, BSN, RN]

I am graduating this May with my BSN. I have done searching over the internet to find out specific details between the Navy Nurse Reserve and Active duty. But I can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for.

I contact a recruiter this last Tuesday, but haven't heard back yet.

I'm curious what the chances of getting stationed overseas are as a nurse on active duty. And if I sign up for active duty, will I live somewhere else? What kind of training to they do for new graduates? Would it be more beneficial for me to sign up before I graduate or after I graduate? If I was to live on a base... what is that environment like... no one in my family has ever been in the military.

Just being female... I am curious if I am going to have to cut my hair or can I just tie it back?

[MKcuriouslove]

Hi I am new to this area of nursing. I spoke with a recruiter but wanted to get personal information from someone who experienced the ncp. I want to start the program Jan 2012 and after two years of school be active as an officer for 5 years. I already hold a ba in biology and have been told that that will put me in an officer position. What would a typical active year look like for me. And if I want to get my masters degree would I get it within the 5 years or after the ncp program? I have a lot of questions...

[FarawaySoClose, BSN, DNP, RN]

MK, are you pursuing your BSN through NCP?

[GFzalez, BSN, RN]

I know this is an older thread but do NPs get paid more than staff nurses in the military?

I am interested in joining the navy but I would like to get my DNP first hopefully start next fall 11' for three years, and I would like to have the loans from grad school paid off by the military. I have seen the military pay scale for officers but I haven't seen any distinction between NPs and floor nurses, (maybe I'm just not looking in the right spot)

Thanks

[The Tiki]

GFzalez said:

I know this is an older thread but do NPs get paid more than staff nurses in the military?

I am interested in joining the navy but I would like to get my DNP first hopefully start next fall 11' for three years, and I would like to have the loans from grad school paid off by the military. I have seen the military pay scale for officers but I haven't seen any distinction between NPs and floor nurses, (maybe I'm just not looking in the right spot)

Thanks

You will not find the difference in pay in the pay scales. The difference in pay is set through bonuses when you renew your contract. NPs typically get higher bonuses than RNs.