I am currently a junior in college majoring in nursing with not too much longer to go. After graduation I would like to join the Air Force Nurse Corps. I have been researching this for a while now but I can't seem to find any information on the actual life of an air force nurse, specifically. The air force site is very vague and leaves out alot. If there are any air force nurses out there who would like to share their experiences, please do tell.
not an af nurse, but uncle was navy nurse about 8 years ago and he worked on AF bases, he said that from his experience the AF nurses had less to do hands on with paitents then the other branches, he said that army and navy had the most patient contact from his experience.
but this is his experience from 8 years ago, if its any sort of help.
also i know that from my years around the af, i see generally see nurses in triage, and talk to them if i phone up family practice and the doc has no appotiments and you need medication. generally when you go in you see med techs then a doc or PA. (esepically in the last 10 years or so)
best of luck which ever route you go, we need more nurses in general
My last two supervisors in the AF were nurses. They were Captains and were certified in critical care. As Lieutenants and Captains, you will be able to do a great amount of hands-on nursing; however, if it is an outpatient setting, there will not be much hands-on. That is, to say in a primary care type clinic, there is not a lot of need for skilled nursing care. Technicians will do a lot of the type of work where physicians do minor procedures involving instruments, suturing, etc. There are several routes where an AF nurse could be assured of working closely with patients for as long as possible. One is in critical care and emergency services. Another would be in gastroenterology. Also, any other specialties where procedures are done where the patients require conscious sedation. By the time a nurse is a Captain with around 8 years time-in-service, they will be expected to prepare themselves for positions of leadership and will be offered the opportunity to obtain ther MSN. Nurses who are Major and above sometimes can place themselves in positions where they can do a small amount of direct nursing care but you will almost never see a LtCol or Col doing any type of patient care. Contact me offline if you'd like some more info. For the record, I was stationed at a base with a very small hospital with 25 inpatient beds and at a former Medical Center with 100+ beds.
I have to tell you that if you want hands-on trauma care then go Army, then Navy, and finally AF.
I was married to an AF nurse and watched her tear herself up trying to meet the paper guidelines of meeting gates, i.e. staff, HQ MAJCOM, Pentagon, PMEs,then a war comes along and they want her to have field skills.
I am impressed with the Navy Hospital ships and their Humanitarian work. The Army's mobile hospitals are great. One AF nurse team gets my gold stamp is the critical care teams that air EVAC patients to the hospitals.
Right now if they haven't finished it they'll have all medical doing training at FT Sam Houston Medical Center when they close down Wilford Hall (clinic status).
