Military nurse

Recruitment poster, World War II

Most professional militaries employ specialised military nurses. They are often organised as a distinct nursing corps. Florence Nightingale formed the first nucleus of a recognised Nursing Service for the British Army during the Crimean War in 1854. In the same theatre of the same war, Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna originated Russian traditions of recruiting and training military nurses - associated especially with besieged Sevastopol (1854-1855). Following the war Nightingale fought to institute the employment of women nurses in British military hospitals, and by 1860 she had succeeded in establishing an Army Training School for military nurses at the Royal Victoria Military Hospital in Netley, Hampshire, England.

Civilian and military nurses while similar have very different and unique outcomes and advantages. be commissioned as an officer work in a college, professional, and collaborative environment with physicians and other health care professionals be able to pursue professional military education designed to hone nursing and leadership skills. Is military nursing for you? : Nursing2020. (2015). LWW. https://journals.lww.com/nursing/fulltext/2003/01001/is_military_nursing_for_you_.5.aspx

Military nurses have the option to move around the world often, this is something unique to military nursing. Military nurses also have the opportunity to work with the most up to date and groundbreaking technology offered in the medical field. Where you work as a military nurse is also something different, you can work in the field in what are called field hospitals right on the battleground during a war or in a military hospital on a military base. Military nurses can work in the Army, Navy and Air Force branches of the military, while most nurses will not come in danger there is the potential to be in harm's way via active war, bombing, shooting, attacks, and other wartime threats.

Requirements All branches offer active duty (full time) or reserve duty (part-time) positions. Basic requirements for each branch are as follows:

Have a current license to practice nursing

Be a BSN graduate of an accredited school of nursing to qualify for active duty, a BSN is preferred but not required in the reserve situations.

Active duty military nurses are Officers in the military. After completion of their BSN and passing the NCLEX examination, these RNs must go through an officer training program as part of their Commission as a military officer.

Be a U.S. citizen, foreign nationals who are legally residing in the United States may be eligible.

Practice

Military nurses treat active duty military, retired military, and dependents. Military nurses are often deployed in humanitarian efforts around the globe, and are occasionally utilized for domestic disaster situations(Registered Nursing.org. 2020).

Military nurses utilize Evidence Based Practices (EBP) in their practice on a daily basis (Hoffman, Roy, Zabokrtsky & Hatzfeld. 2020).

EBP promotes and improves not only care of the patient, but promotes military readiness and mission readiness to the latest standards (Hoffman, Roy, Zabokrtsky & Hatzfeld. 2020).

Benefits

There are many benefits to joining military nursing. Wojciechowski (2019) discussed those benefits which includes a "GI bill, student loan repayment, and a monthly income". Monthly income of a military nurse can often be much more than what any civilian nurse would make. Registered Nursing (2020) states that military nurses can expect to make anywhere between $6000 to $23000 per month, depending on their length of service and the department they work within. There are also a myriad of other benefits that include health insurance, home loans, life insurance, legal assistance, and retirement benefits (Registered Nursing, 2020). Apart from monetary benefits, there are also benefits that afford personal growth. Wojciechowski (2019) discussed the many results of military nursing, such as gaining leadership experience, assertiveness, confidence and preparedness, as well as team building skills. Dreater and Jong (2003) discussed the access military nurses have to "cutting edge technology" and the ability to travel the world, often being placed in a multitude of clinical settings. Kwiggancsu

Well-known nursing corps

• U.S. Army Nurse Corps, a special branch of the Army Medical Department (United States)
• Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, a specialist corps of the Army Medical Services of the British Army
• Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps
• U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, a staff corps of the United States Navy
• U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps
• Military Nursing Service (India)

References

5. Hoffman, M., Roy, D., Zabokrtsky, D., & Hatzfeld, J. (2020). The Value of Evidence-Based Practice in Military Nursing. Military Nursing, 185(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz190

6. Registered Nursing,org. (2020). Military Nurse. Retrieved from https://www.registerednursing.org/specialty/military-nurse/