Aloha,
I'm in the process of joining the military as a nurse. Particularly a family nurse practitioner. Anybody has any advice or anything to say about military nursing as a family nurse practitioner? Not too many. I've been told by the navy recruiter that I am able to join now as a Navy reservist and obtain a commission as a Ensign, an equivalent to a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force. Yes the navy has different names for their ranks by tradition. Then, I could get active duty recall when it's within 6 months of my graduation from my masters FNP program and get a Lieutenant Junior Grade rank (1st Lieutenant) since I would have my masters in nursing. Experience in the military, will definitely give me the experience I would never get in the civilian sector. So I feel special.
While in the navy reserves, the recruiter would get me into the Medical In Training (MIT) program. This will allow me to continue school full-time and get a monthly salary of reservist pay (about $750 a month as a Ensign in the navy reserves). All military branches pay the same base salary because it's all about what rank you are and years of experience. This program will also entitle me to other extra pay I believe. I would go to officers training for only 2 weeks in Rhode Island to learn about the military, navy, and how to put on a uniform basically. No bootcamp since I'm not going to be enlisted, I'm going to be an officer in the Nurse Navy Corp. Two hospital ships: Comfort & Mercy. One is based for the Pacific fleet in San Diego and the other is the Atlantic fleet based in Portsmith in the east coast. I chose the Pacific Fleet to stay on the west coast.
After getting active duty recall, I would have a 4-year commitment and get paid well actually. Alright, all this sounds great. Just one barrier. I lost my proof of citizenship in the December 2008 house flood while I was away in New York City! :( Now I have to cough up $380 for a replacement. I guess since I absolutely need it, I will have to get it and pay big for it. I'm glad my girlfriend is alright with all this military joining and stuff. She'll support me all the way! Whoohoo! I believe that is also important in making decisions like this. After 4-6 years of active duty, I may come back to Hawaii to work as a nurse practitioner and go back to the Navy reserves to be based at Pearl Harbor. Cool huh?
Hello I'm a male Registered Nurse (RN) and I'm currently in school at University of Hawaii at Manoa for my masters in Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). I love technology. This blog is more of a personal one with some others. Which is to blog about my life, tech related stuff, and health related issues. I will try to be as accurate as I can with the health related issues and be prudent enough to use evidence-based practice.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A man, a student, a nurse, a tech lover.
Aloha everyone,
Well it's imminent that the fast pace of growing technology now days is ever so, well...FAST. Is it me or is the cell phone industry growing more popular because of the availability of "smartphones" able to do nearly everything a laptop can do wirelessly? Well it seems the health care industry is also shifting gears to get ready for the tentative date of 2015s requirement that all medical records need to be in electronic form, including outpatient small clinics. This my friends, is not only cool, but more efficient, secure, available, green, and easier to use in the health care setting. However, I've heard about long time nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other health care workers hating the new system and it's requirements. That's got to change! Now days everything is on the internet, including journals and news. So I believe we healthcare workers must be willing to make efficient use of the available and future technologies.
Let me give you an example. The Apple's iPhone 3GS is the best smartphone from Apple that is capable of doing nearly everything you need: calls, media entertainment, web browsing, texting, tweeting, facebook, myspace, medical resource applications, etc. Now the rumored Apple tablet is supposedly imminent this month and it is suspected that new gadgets will be revealed at the January 27 event that apple is holding called "Latest Creation". Wow, I'm very excited actually. Just recently in Fall 2009, I bought my very first mac, then Macbook Pro 15" with the "middle specs" of 2.66GHZ at the student price with the free ipod touch. Then it was like a gateway drug that led to other Apple stuff. I needed a bigger monitor to read my PDF files and do research and papers, all at home. I found a solution. A refurbished 24" Apple cinema display to connect to my macbook pro. Then it led to getting a apple tv which I love to watch movies and other media. I used handbrake to rip my purchased DVDs and store it on the Apple TV. Then it led to a mac mini that I got as a gift, the latest 2.53GHZ mac mini that syncs well with my MBP since I won a subscription to Apple's MobileMe. Along with this, I switched from T-Mobile to AT&T to get the iPhone 3GS. All this seems like a lot but hey, I actually make good use of all these things nearly every single day.
Now they're coming out with a Apple Tablet that would be good as a laptop as it can do new iWork touch processing. Sort of like a large iPod touch but with 3G capability rumored to be on Verizon's network. This is also attractive to my technology enjoyment. As I try to keep up with the technological advancements, I'm able to do homework on the computer and internet with ease and I am always up-to-date with future developments that could possibly help me in my future work as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Also, it's entertaining to see all these cool new gadgets come out. :) I realized now though, since I have many of the new gadgets, I must calm down and stop obtaining these cool things such as new computers. I thought to myself though, that getting a new cell phone if I could afford it isn't that bad. Hence, Google's Android phones are coming out fast and better than ever. Especially their new Nexus One sold only on the Google online store. They're coming out with a version for Verizon's network but that's later in the earlier half in Spring 2010. This phone may actually urge me to switch form AT&T to Verizon because of these cool Google phones that can do a lot more things freely. Also, the network may be better as Verizon is known to be and it's good too that my girlfriend has Verizon and she wants to stay on that network so we can get a family plan!
Well it's imminent that the fast pace of growing technology now days is ever so, well...FAST. Is it me or is the cell phone industry growing more popular because of the availability of "smartphones" able to do nearly everything a laptop can do wirelessly? Well it seems the health care industry is also shifting gears to get ready for the tentative date of 2015s requirement that all medical records need to be in electronic form, including outpatient small clinics. This my friends, is not only cool, but more efficient, secure, available, green, and easier to use in the health care setting. However, I've heard about long time nurses, doctors, pharmacists, and other health care workers hating the new system and it's requirements. That's got to change! Now days everything is on the internet, including journals and news. So I believe we healthcare workers must be willing to make efficient use of the available and future technologies.
Let me give you an example. The Apple's iPhone 3GS is the best smartphone from Apple that is capable of doing nearly everything you need: calls, media entertainment, web browsing, texting, tweeting, facebook, myspace, medical resource applications, etc. Now the rumored Apple tablet is supposedly imminent this month and it is suspected that new gadgets will be revealed at the January 27 event that apple is holding called "Latest Creation". Wow, I'm very excited actually. Just recently in Fall 2009, I bought my very first mac, then Macbook Pro 15" with the "middle specs" of 2.66GHZ at the student price with the free ipod touch. Then it was like a gateway drug that led to other Apple stuff. I needed a bigger monitor to read my PDF files and do research and papers, all at home. I found a solution. A refurbished 24" Apple cinema display to connect to my macbook pro. Then it led to getting a apple tv which I love to watch movies and other media. I used handbrake to rip my purchased DVDs and store it on the Apple TV. Then it led to a mac mini that I got as a gift, the latest 2.53GHZ mac mini that syncs well with my MBP since I won a subscription to Apple's MobileMe. Along with this, I switched from T-Mobile to AT&T to get the iPhone 3GS. All this seems like a lot but hey, I actually make good use of all these things nearly every single day.
Now they're coming out with a Apple Tablet that would be good as a laptop as it can do new iWork touch processing. Sort of like a large iPod touch but with 3G capability rumored to be on Verizon's network. This is also attractive to my technology enjoyment. As I try to keep up with the technological advancements, I'm able to do homework on the computer and internet with ease and I am always up-to-date with future developments that could possibly help me in my future work as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Also, it's entertaining to see all these cool new gadgets come out. :) I realized now though, since I have many of the new gadgets, I must calm down and stop obtaining these cool things such as new computers. I thought to myself though, that getting a new cell phone if I could afford it isn't that bad. Hence, Google's Android phones are coming out fast and better than ever. Especially their new Nexus One sold only on the Google online store. They're coming out with a version for Verizon's network but that's later in the earlier half in Spring 2010. This phone may actually urge me to switch form AT&T to Verizon because of these cool Google phones that can do a lot more things freely. Also, the network may be better as Verizon is known to be and it's good too that my girlfriend has Verizon and she wants to stay on that network so we can get a family plan!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
A New Year 2010!
Wow it has been a very good 2009 year. I graduated in Spring 2009 from University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Nursing with my bachelors of science in nursing (BSN). Soon after, around 6 weeks I received my RN license! Then I got into the Family Nurse Practitioner program at the same university I graduated from. Couldn't find a job as a new grad so I did flu shots for an agency. I also got hired as a graduate assistant to help me with my tuition and make some money on the side.
My girlfriend Kathryn was still in Kauai and she was working hard to look for jobs in various hospitals who were willing to hire new grads. However, at this time of economic hardship, it was pretty much like, NO LUCK for both of us. Some of our classmates did get jobs, but that was probably because they did their last semester of complex nursing at the unit or they know someone, or they worked on the unit as a nurse aide for a long time while in undergrad nursing school. She's making money for the time being at a movie theater in Kauai and she's making more than a NA!
Anyway, I've noticed I was the only one who pursued graduate school soon after getting a BSN. People thought I was crazy and I think of myself as the same. While everyone else is making money, becoming officers in the military, I decided to do the crazy thing. Continue to grad school and stay as a poor college student with federal loans. It's the good thing my graduate assistantship job in the simulation learning lab is waiving my tuition and giving me a monthly $800 stipend + medical/vision/dental. It's something, right? You're damn right it is. Sometimes I think it's not enough money aside from the benefits, so I did some flu/H1N1 shot administration in schools and around the community for an agency on the side. Though I'm getting my tuition waived, the admin fees, books, gas, food, cell phone bills, and truck maintenance really add up to making me go over than what I make even with the student loans no matter how hard I try to save it to use it for school supplies and travel to school. I drive a V6 toyota tacoma 2004 and it really eats gas. I could take the bus but from where I live, the buses that go closes to the university leaves before 6AM! WTF? Well, I'm working hard to finish school again.
I'm looking into the Air Force or Navy active duty as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Anybody has any thoughts?
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