Military Nursing and You

December 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you considered joining the military? Well, then you are not alone! Approximately 1.4 million people were reported to be serving on active duty in 2009. With all of these people serving the United States, it is obvious that nurses will be in high demand. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nursing currently has the highest number of job openings in the medical field.

Since the Veteran’s Health Administration, also known as the VA, was founded in July of 1930, it has focused on the health and care for those who serve their country. With more than 150 VA hospitals nationwide serving more than five million, the VA is one of the largest hospital systems in the United States. With more than 60,000 nurses, the VA employs the largest number of nurses in the world.

Becoming a military nurse can certainly jump start a great career. As a military nurse you will have the added benefit of being able to see the world and make a difference. Whether you are stateside or travel with troops overseas, there are plenty of opportunities to help those who bravely serve. One of the benefits of serving as a military nurse is having access to some of the most advanced technology available.

Financially speaking, serving the military is a step in the right direction. Not only does the salary compare to or exceed civilian wages, as a member of the armed forces you will also receive 30 days of paid vacation. Along with a full retirement once you have served for 20 years, the military will take care of you. If you are already a registered nurse, the military may even have a loan repayment program available for you. Add on a signing bonus and the decision to join just becomes that much easier.

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Nursing and Agnes Jones

December 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Many people around the world have taken a hand and given their lives to being in the medical field. Many more today are making the path into a number of these challenging jobs. Nursing is a field that has assisted the medical community since the beginning of time. The founder of nursing education was Florence Nightengale, who helped change the standards of sanitation for the medical community. Another impressive nurse, who studied underneath Nigthengale, was a woman by the name of Agnes Jones.

Jones was the first nurse at the Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary who was trained as a nursing superintendent. She was formally trained at the school set up by Nightengale in 1862. She was a very dedicated, hardworking, and intelligent student. Jones was such a dedicated student that she won special praise from Nightengale.

After Jones graduated, she was invited to the Brownlow Hill Workhouse to help lead an experiment by William Rathbone. She accepted, and in 1865 she went to help in the endeavor. The task was taking care of the poor people whose working situation was purposely made harmful to deter them from coming to work. The working situations were worse inside the workhouse than they were outside. Jones made an amazing effort to make sure the experiment succeeded, working herself to the bone to take care of the workers.

Jones worked extremely closely to the poor in Liverpool: close enough that, unfortunately, she contracted typhus fever and died at age 35. Typhus was a very extreme epidemic that impacted the poor during the time period. Nightengale later mourned the loss of her prized student. In Jones honor and in gratitude to what she contributed to nursing, a window in the Anglican Catherdral was devoted to her and a statue was built in the Oratory, remembering Jones as an amazing nurse who had an incredible impact on nursing history.

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United States Navy Nurses

December 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In 1908, the Nurse Corps was created by Congress as an addition to the U.S. Navy. At that point, 20 women were chosen to be the first to officially serve as female sailors, even though for almost 100 years prior to that both men and women had been nursing on naval ships and in hospitals.

Just before WWI, the Navy Nurse Corps had grown to 160 women. These women did more than just care for the sick and wounded. On top of their medical tasks, they were expected to train nurses, both land-based in the U.S. and overseas, as well as enlisted men serving as medics. Once the United States entered WWI, the Nurse Corp received a large expansion for both its enlisted and reserve officers.

By the end of the war, 19 nurses lost their lives. More than half died from the flu, which was deadly at that time. One thousand five-hundred and fifty nurses had served overseas and at Naval hospitals at home. Once soldiers were being processed home, the nurses were given assignments on board ships and on ground teams to aid the wounded. After WWI the number of Navy nurses died down to fewer than five hundred until the start of the second world war.

WWII brought nurses to serving regular service on hospital ships, and an educational increase was also impacted because of the status increases. They acted and spoken toward the same way officers would be, and wore similar attire to ranking Ensign to Lieutenant officers. In 1920, the Army first recognised nurses as regular commissioned officers, during which period the corps grew to almost eight hundred who served actively and nine hundred who were a part of the reserve corps. Any soldier will testify to how vital nurses are, especially during war time conflict.

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Military Nursing Career A Tremendous Opportunity to Contribute

November 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Czech nursing students.
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A military nursing career isn’t for everyone. If you are a person who doesn’t like adventure, great pay, unlimited career opportunities, not to mention the chance to improve the lives of other people, then indeed, being a military nurse isn’t something you should consider. Additionally, you also get the chance to help your country defend its freedoms and principles. Again, not for everyone. But if you are the person who is attracted to all of the above, then you should be knocking on the door of your local military recruiter or nursing school first thing tomorrow.

Although it has been over 150 years since Florence Nightingale first began walking from bed to bed during the Crimean War, her famous lantern held high as she tended to wounded soldiers, many of the same principles at work in 1854 are still in place today. The central and most critical work of a nurse is still the care and "nursing" of patients. Nursing is still a people-centered work, just as it was for Nightingale. And although the technology used by nurses to care for patients is radically advanced from the crude tools at hand in the 1800′s, military nurses still must make use of a blend of common-sense and compassion in order to meet the needs of those they care for.

Military nursing offers the skilled and motivated professional ample opportunity to pursue their passion for nursing while also making a tremendous income. You’ll also have the unique opportunity to travel the world, something not afforded non-military nurses.

The benefits of a military nursing career are also unique within the nursing industry. These include education benefits, which can be quite lucrative. For example, a military nurse can continue on to receive a master’s degree in nursing, with as much as 75% of the cost being paid for by the military. This degree is required in order to be considered for promotion to the rank of major or higher.

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Becoming a Military Nurse has lifelong benefits

October 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
TEL HASHOMER, ISRAEL - AUGUST 04: A military ...
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Ok, you’ve decided to enter the field of Nursing, now what?  Where do you continue your education?  How much is that going to cost?  What kind of job or will I get a job when I graduate?
If Nursing is your field of choice, becoming a Military Nurse might be a great way to achieve your professional goals while traveling the world and avoiding messy school loans.
For those that become a Nurse while working in the military, the advantages are many and may be a benefit throughout your working career.
The military tends to train their people in a fashion that is methodical with a hint of perfection.  Becoming a Military Nurse means that you will be given the best tutelage, by instructors that are vested in your long-term success.   With many ‘casualty’ scenarios in place, those training and working as a Military Nurse will be well equipped to enter any surgical trauma center upon completion of their military service.
While many young people go to college and earn their degree, they often spend years paying off student loans and living at or near poverty until they reach their 30′s.  Young people that are thinking of becoming a Military Nurse are likely to see parts of the world they never dreamt they would see.  While many Military Nurses are working and living overseas, even basic training offers cadets and trainees the opportunity to experience a different part of their country.
And then there are the long-term advantages.  For many that become a Military Nurse and make a commitment to several decades of service, they are able to retire by the age of 40.  For those that spend just a few years as a Military Nurse before entering the regular workforce, there are no student loans to pay, and many hospitals are eager to hire these health-care professionals who have a wealth of experience.

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