Why is Army medic experience not valued for New Grads applying for ER jobs?

[armyemtbsn]

I am a recent graduate from a BSN program and have been trying desperately to find an ER job in Central Ohio. I have been an Army medic for over six years including a tour in Iraq as a flight medic. I also have worked the past three years as an aid on a med-surg floor. I have done 2 interviews for ER jobs but the result was the same, "you have no nursing experience".While I'm not saying that veterans deserve special treatment, I am frustrated because I feel some of my experiences may outweigh those of any other nurse. Please let me know how to sell my army medic experience and get my career started on the right path.

[Ristosix]

This is a dated thread, but I decided to bump it because the issue touches home and I'm writing my Resume' as of this moment. There is a lot of great advice, for those of you who haven't had the chance working as a medic in the service it's outlined as such:

The stage is set with one Provider generally a PA, that is holding a practice license that we honestly soak up as much as we can. After that there is a group of about 20 enlisted team members (medics) that have at the base EMT-B and maybe one or two with some ACLS, they play all types of roles in the patient care setting from triage to left-side table-documentation-airway management-package and handoff to dust-off. The goal is to care for at point of injury --> stabilize --> move to higher echelon of care. The majority of the facilities are made with sandbags plywood and have a grounded generator thats filled every twelve hours. 24 shifts are normal, showers are a luxury, and we generally run on coffee and gatorade.

Inside the walls we erected we have anywhere from 2-6 beds setup with crash-carts. We have the capabilities of managing airways with blind insertions / intubating, bleeding control, Infections, IV-Therapy, Hypothermia, Poisoning, DKA, ACLS, PALS, Abdominal Wounds, and very grosse-damage-control-exploratory surgery. Most facilities are not boxed sealed and sterile, which leads to drugs, a guerilla set of antibiotics, alphas, betas, OPIODS, NSAIDS, fungal, bacterial, epi, sedatives, the list goes on. Take a few tough-boxes and a couple of guys in the middle of nowhere and you have a glorified Level IV Trauma Urgent Care.

That sounds all and wonderful, but what we don't have most of the time is the luxury of this on our backs, as we go fumble around in the mud with a group of 40 individuals that we are responsible of care for. I was attached to an infantry unit I had the pleasure of knowing each of my potential patients personal lives / their families, managing there vaccines to OMG SHTF woah!, how'd that happen. Most of which is ditch medicine / how can this tool be used for three different scenarios. We provide some pretty top notch medicine with little to nothing for equipment, an EKG? HA! Thats a god send, I'm lucky if I have a source of O2 during a penetrating chest injury.

Congrats...I've done it, and I'm one of the many like you. That doesn't mean were hot ****, or that we can even puff out our chests. We have another tool-set that we can bring to the team, which in itself...is nerves of steel during the most chaotic moments. I dont think I need to paint a picture...we save some, we lose some, and we never give up on any. The average person won't be able to comprehend this because they haven't experienced it themselves, don't be so ignorant to try and make them comprehend what we've done or will do...don't ever wish such a thing on someone. Be humble that you've been blessed with the ability to bring what you know to a team who can thrive and learn from you, but thats not all of it. Learn, you were given two ears and one mouth...do the math. RISTOSIX / OUT.