Real deal of army nursing....

[swanita]

Hi everyone,

Before i begin, I HAVE done a search on this & didn't find exactly what i was looking for.  Right now I'm an RN working on a surgical unit & currently upgrading my education to a BScN, which will be done by next summer.  I'm also in the infantry reserves & have been for 9 years.  I've been considering going reg force as army nurse for a while now but one thing holds me back....what is it REALLY like working as a nurse with the military? Are you constantly posted around?  Is there lots of boredom associated with the job (can't handle too much boredom)? What other aspects of the job are there?

I'm asking because i want the real deal before i make a hasty decision.  The unit i work on is VERY busy & i need that kind of pace to keep myself going.  Too much of doing the same thing makes me ansy.  I hope someone can help me out here.  I also am planning, if possible, to take one of my clinicals with a nurse posted at Denison armoury in Toronto.

Thanks!!

 

[Fraser.g]

Swanita,

First of all welcome to the forum. With your contributions and if we get one more nurse aboard we will have 50% of the CF nursing population here .

There are several good discussions that may help you with your decision:

Military Nurses
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/4249.0.html

Initial posting
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/25799.0.html

and flight nursing
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/26482.0.html

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, there are few bed side nursing positions left in the CF. The majority of NOs work load is aimed at quality assurance and ensuring the Medtecs maintain their skill set as a clinical training officer. This means paperwork!!! The CF is striving to get more nurses onto wards in their specialty area to maintain their skill set but the Memoranda of Understandings are still being written in some cases.

I hope this clarifies and assists you in your decision.

Good luck

GF

 

[swanita]

It sorta helped, but still need to know if it's a more boring job in regs than if I stayed in the civvie world.  Is it all paperwork? How much hands on is there in dealing with patients?  This will be a big factor in determining whether I make the "big switch" from reserves to regs.

Thanks for those links, I have read through most of them prior to my posting here.

 

[Fraser.g]

As stated above, most of your time is spent ensuring that the rest of the forces maintains their clinical base. You may get the occasional practicum in a clinical setting but I would not plan on your entire career being at the bed side.
You may also try and get a posting in flight nursing but that is where allot of NOs want to go so the competition is tough.

My advise is to stay the the MO, transfer to the Medial reserve and get on in a critical care area as your civi employment.Then when a good task comes up you will be good to go. Your clinical skill set will be up to date so you will not have to do refresher training on the clinical side or at least a limited amount.

I do not mean to bash the skill set of our regular force counterparts but the reality is that there is a limited amount of beds here in Canada and DND has seen fit to farm out most if not all the medical requirements to the civilian sector. Yes Blue Cross is convenient but sucks for maintenance of our skill set IMHO

GF

 

[Dale Turner]

Hey RN RPN,

    You know I have the utmost respect for your CF and medical knowledge. but what gives the CFMG the impression that NO's are the best people to maintain medtech qualifications. A nurse has a slightly different responsibility and realm of cas. care than the medtech on the ground. Would'nt it make more sense to have WO to be in charge of medtech quals/skills and let the NO's practice their practical skills of nursing and possibly policy making?

Just a thought.


DT

 

[Armymedic]

but what gives the CFMG the impression that NO's are the best people to maintain medtech qualifications. A nurse has a slightly different responsibility and realm of cas. care than the medtech on the ground. Would'nt it make more sense to have WO to be in charge of medtech quals/skills and let the NO's practice their practical skills of nursing and possibly policy making?

Cause that is one of the roles they fill. Nursing Officers in the Reg force fill all manner of employment including as unit training officers (which are responsible for overseeing training of all mbrs of the unit). Also they work as platoon and company commanders, Ops officers, unit DCOs and adjutants...all manner of work which directly impact on where and how Med Techs work...they are officers first, Nurses second.

Only a small percentage of employment would actually be > 50/50 hands on patients/admin. And I know a slough of Reg force nurses who don't do patient care at all.

Swanita,
There is no one in the CF that can nor will guarantee you that all you would do as a NO in the Regs is take care of patients, but I can guarantee if you do join you'll continue to have enjoyable experiences in the CF, as an officer and full time member of the forces.

 

[Gunner98]

Nurses are not the only ones looking after Med Techs - the Med Branch set up two CWO positions at the top, one to act as sr advisor to DGHS and one to advise on Med Tech issues for the Branch.  The Senior Pharmacist(s) play as much of a role at the HQ level, as the NOs do at the unit level, to influence the role of the Med Tech through OTC exams etc.

Swanita - Nurses have many excellent positions & opportunities- egs. within the Field Hospital, thru DART when/if it deploys, and on operations. 

If you PM me I can fwd your email onto several senior nurses who have enjoyed a mix of clinical, hospital, operational and staff positions. Getting all of your answers here is one avenue.  The CF H Svcs Gp Nursing Advisor (CJC) was an OC (Tmt Coy) in 1 Cdn Fd Hosp at Petawawa.

 

[Armymedic]

If you PM me I can fwd your email onto several senior nurses who have enjoyed a mix of clinical, hospital, operational and staff positions. Getting all of your answers here is one avenue.   The CF H Svcs Gp Nursing Advisor (CJC) was an OC (Tmt Coy) in 1 Cdn Fd Hosp at Petawawa.

Good resource above, I suggest you take him up on it.

 

[swanita]

Thanks gunner....I've sent you a PM.  I also want to say thanks to everyone who's replied as well.  Valuable input received...if there's more please keep it coming.  I do realize that if I did go regs, I know it won't be 100% hands on patient care.  But as long as I'm not only doing paperwork for the remainder of my career (with nothing interspersed in between) then I might give it a shot.  I have loved, and still do, being in the reserves and teaching on courses.  And I'm always ready for taking courses myself, as I've been doing since I graduated college.

Thanks again!!

 

[Dale Turner]

Gunner98 & Armymedic,

      Fair nuff.  It's hard to see the big picture from my tiny little barracks buried under Hamilton's smog.

DT