Any Army Nurses in the Reserves and Active duty?

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 13:30:40 -0500

I am doing a branch brief on the ANC and wanted to know what are some branch talent priorities of this branch?

day of life as an army nurse? Progression throughout the career? Daily duties as a army nurse?

Also the difference between a reserve nurse and active duty nurse? And the pros and cons as well.

Response by SGT Mark Estes made Nov 21 at 2018 2:54 PM

SGT Mark Estes — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:54:59 -0500

A guy in my old reserve unit went to school to be a nurse not through the army then after getting his license he went active duty as a nurse.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Nov 21 at 2018 3:08 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 15:08:46 -0500

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2018 3:28 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 15:28:23 -0500

I was an RN in the Reserves and now active duty CRNA (anesthetist). Enjoyed my time in Reserves, monthly drills and two week annual training (places like Germany, Bolivia, Hawaii, South Dakota, San Francisco area). Active duty paid my way through anesthesia school, daily life doing surgical and obstetric anesthesia. Can be assigned field unit duties, FTXs, and deploy to austere environment. Regular nurses can be in slots that don’t do direct patient care of they like leadership, management, more FORSCOM related stuff.

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 21 at 2018 6:28 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:28:14 -0500

Just a heads up. The senior nurse from 6th Brigade stated that the active duty nurse mission has increased from 145 to 185. She said the chances of a nursing cadet going reserves in this climate is almost zero.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Nov 21 at 2018 7:03 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 19:03:35 -0500

1LT Private RallyPoint Member ensure you ask about what PROFIS is and the effect that has on daily life.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Nov 21 at 2018 7:41 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 19:41:36 -0500

1. ANC favors "go to war" skillsets. ER, ICU, OR, CRNA, Med-Surg are your core skill sets you need for a CSH.

2. Unless you're a direct accession with prior clinical experience, you are going to start as a vanilla 66H MedSurg nurse. You will have opportunities to specialize later. If you commit to more time, the Army may also pay for advanced schooling.

3. Typical day for TDA side ANC officer is working your shift in the hospital. Army training is interspersed between shifts. Unless you're PROFIS you won't go to the field much. mTOE side nurses split time between clinical work in the local MTF and Army training. As a line nurse you will go to the field.

4. Career progression usually follows this generic path:
- 2LT - staff nurse
-1LT - staff nurse/specialization
- CPT - staff nurse/CNOIC/special assignments and duties
- MAJ - CNOIC/grad school/advanced practice
- LTC - section chief/advanced practice/advanced leadership/program chief/command staff
- COL - chief nurse/command/senior leadership and staff roles

Response by MSG Frank Kapaun made Nov 21 at 2018 8:04 PM

MSG Frank Kapaun — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 20:04:29 -0500

Be careful, the Army Nurse Corps eats their young.

Response by LTC Donell Kelly made Nov 22 at 2018 2:34 AM

LTC Donell Kelly — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 02:34:15 -0500

Cadet Nishimori, I’d say the same thing to you that I’d say to any potential/currently enrolled nursing student. First of all, congratulations on looking at serving your country! I salute you!
Second of all, the saving grace for my ANC & civilian nursing careers were: 1) a sense of humor closely aligned with a sense of irony along with a concept of the “big picture,” as in is this critically important, vs is this “command by crisis?” In the cases when admin/HQ were going down the crisis road, when it wasn’t, it was critical to remain both calm AND willing to speak up in your patients best interests. As nurses, we have an obligation to remind the decision-makers when what they’re proposing as a solution HARMS your patients. Third,, it is essential that you take any/all opportunities to further your education. As an RN & then an NP @ my local VA, after my initial AD ended in ‘73, I was allowed & encouraged to attend in house educational meetings. As an NP we were REQUIRED to attend 3 separate meetings/week that presented pt cases while we were were having either morning coffee or lunch. It was both educational, but even more important, collegial. When you’re discussing &/or presenting cases, it reinforces your research skills, AND also builds strong bonds with your fellow providers, because all too often the discharge plans DID NOT include such basic things as requesting ADL aids (O2, WC, walkers, bedside commodes, diapers, home health aids & follow up RN visits for RX & pt/family teaching). Yep, we nurses used to do all that, but so often plans were interrupted/delayed with sometimes catastrophic results. Fourth, remember when I talked about a sense of humor, irony & perspective? ALL of those things go into being both an RN & an ANC. By the way, go to YouTube for videos on whatever gets you laughing; builds both your immune system & your resilience! Good luck to you & Happy Thanksgiving!