Yes absolutely. I would never put myself in a position where I have someone's life in my hands and I don't feel confident about it. I will def keep you updated with everything and I really do appreciate your feedback.
Interest in SOST! Lot of questions!
Boy, do I have some uncomfortable experiential information to give you...
Medicine is called "practice" for a reason, my friend. If you ever get to the point where you feel confident treating a patient who is actively trying to shuffle off their mortal coil, lemme know.
For all your SOST specific questions, make sure to check out the previously shared episodes from Ones Ready- contact information included in the show notes.
Happy hunting!
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2012
- Messages
- 348
MCAS, I've been retired too long to give specifics on current SOST happenings, but I can give some thoughts if you like. As far as med surg vs ICU/ER as a new grad, you will get lots of different opinions (as you can see from this thread). Myself, I went from school to pediatric bone marrow transplant, an ICU-like environment then ICU and ER. Never worked a day of med surg and am now in my 21st year as an independent CRNA.
Not saying others don't have valid points about med-surg work as you can learn a lot but there are many roads to your goals.
If you are really interested in joining the AF, see a recruiter but nothing is guaranteed. The needs of the AF come first. Hit me up if you have other questions
Not saying others don't have valid points about med-surg work as you can learn a lot but there are many roads to your goals.
If you are really interested in joining the AF, see a recruiter but nothing is guaranteed. The needs of the AF come first. Hit me up if you have other questions
I appreciate your response. And yes, I'm in touch with two recruiters right now, one for officer to flight nurse, and one specifically for special forces. I think ultimately I'll go the flight nurse route first and then after I get experience with that if I still want to I can try to apply for SOST. I just want to be able to help save as many lives as possible and play a vital role in life support, and I think SOST will help me achieve that more than flight nursing would. I'll definitely hit you up with any more questions, I appreciate it.
Devildoc
Verified Military
Not sure what AF flight nurse is, are you interested in CCATT? I have a colleague who is a flight nurse with Duke Life Flight who is a reservist on a CCATT team, I can connect you if you'd like.
Flight nurses are aircrew on Medical Evacuation flights (Aeromedical Evacuation in AF lingo).
CCAT were not considered aircrew when I was in.
Devildoc
Verified Military
Thanks.
In the Navy world I was an enroute care RN, so that tracks. I was aircrew-qualified and did POI/casevac stuff or transfer to a higher echelon of care. Our critical care flight team were more like CCATT but a little different.
(caveat, my data is 16 years old) CCATT had a daily schedule in the hospital, on-call periods and didn't have a sortie requirement which is why they were not aircrew (I disagree with the AF on that one).
Coming as a paramedic for 25 years, former Army medic in 90s, time spent as an USAR and SWAT medic, most of this time, an educator and FTO, I applaud you RNs.
We just left a local level 2 trauma ED and the waiting room is a 12 hour wait, 98 percent of the pts are absolutely bullshit and there's at least 11 crisis pts that require the 1 on 1 watch.
A long time ago, I contemplated doing paramedic bridge to RN but I have a difficult time with ass aches in the field, I enjoy the autonomy of paramedic level street medicine and frankly, dealing with ass aches for hours would kill me.
Props to you all. You are the ones that run the EDs.
We just left a local level 2 trauma ED and the waiting room is a 12 hour wait, 98 percent of the pts are absolutely bullshit and there's at least 11 crisis pts that require the 1 on 1 watch.
A long time ago, I contemplated doing paramedic bridge to RN but I have a difficult time with ass aches in the field, I enjoy the autonomy of paramedic level street medicine and frankly, dealing with ass aches for hours would kill me.
Props to you all. You are the ones that run the EDs.
policemedic
Verified SWAT
I taught with some CCATT cats (see what Indid there?) at USUHS. Great clinicians with an awesome mission.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2016
- Messages
- 579
Something to consider as well, a lot of people in the Air Force consider themselves flight medics and flight nurses by simply working in the Flight and Operational Medicine Clinic. If someone says they’re a flight nurse/medic, I’d verify that they mean an actual aviation position doing critical care vs working in the clinic. Can’t tell you how many EMT-B’s I’ve had to correct when they call themselves a flight medic because they run flight physicals on pilots and aircrew. Just a small AF cultural thing that many don’t know.
MCAS,
I’m not SOST, or even Airforce, but I’m a nurse about to graduate from the Army’s CRNA program this summer. Ultimately, you have to make the decision that works best for you, but I’ll give you my 2 cents.
I don’t think you can go wrong with gaining your critical care experience as a civilian before you join the military. A couple of reasons why I feel this way:
-You’ll more than likely be exposed to sicker patients on a more regular basis. (Not saying military hospitals don’t see sick patients, but the volume and acuity usually doesn’t compare to a civilian hospital).
-You can focus 100% of your energy on learning how to be a nurse. As opposed to learning how to navigate the military AND nursing.
-You’ll have more control. Needs of the Airforce come first…you may or may not get assigned to a unit/location that you want.
-You can go directly into critical care as a new grad. To my knowledge, if you come into the military as a new grad, you have to do your time in med/surg. I’d pursue ICU right out of the gate if that’s your goal. I agree with @TLDR20 on this one.
-The Reserves are always an option.
Again, you can’t go wrong either way. There are a ton of pros to joining the military as a nurse right after school, and a lot of cons about being a civilian. The military produces really great nurses with tremendous experience. I came in as a civilian with 11 years of experience-all in ICU, ER, and flight, and I’m thankful for those experiences.
Best of luck!
-AJG
I’m not SOST, or even Airforce, but I’m a nurse about to graduate from the Army’s CRNA program this summer. Ultimately, you have to make the decision that works best for you, but I’ll give you my 2 cents.
I don’t think you can go wrong with gaining your critical care experience as a civilian before you join the military. A couple of reasons why I feel this way:
-You’ll more than likely be exposed to sicker patients on a more regular basis. (Not saying military hospitals don’t see sick patients, but the volume and acuity usually doesn’t compare to a civilian hospital).
-You can focus 100% of your energy on learning how to be a nurse. As opposed to learning how to navigate the military AND nursing.
-You’ll have more control. Needs of the Airforce come first…you may or may not get assigned to a unit/location that you want.
-You can go directly into critical care as a new grad. To my knowledge, if you come into the military as a new grad, you have to do your time in med/surg. I’d pursue ICU right out of the gate if that’s your goal. I agree with @TLDR20 on this one.
-The Reserves are always an option.
Again, you can’t go wrong either way. There are a ton of pros to joining the military as a nurse right after school, and a lot of cons about being a civilian. The military produces really great nurses with tremendous experience. I came in as a civilian with 11 years of experience-all in ICU, ER, and flight, and I’m thankful for those experiences.
Best of luck!
-AJG
Thank you so much for your response. I think ultimately I'm going to end up going right into ICU as a civilian while being in the reserves to get somewhat of military experience before going active. I'll get my 2-4 years of ICU experience while in the reserves, then go active and try for SOST and hope for the best.
