Nursing officer initial posting

[babycake21]

Hi everyone,
I have am a BScN Nursing student, and have applied to the military for paid education, to work as a nursing officer upon graduation. I have gone through the application process and have now been moved ahead to testing. My question is for current Nursing officers; I'm curious how the inital posting process works, where you are posted and what kind of actual work you do? I have been told after graduation you go through basic training and all that, but what are the posting opportunities afterward?
Thanks

 

[honestyrules]

Well,

I'm not part of the medical corps, but basically, you have no input on where you'll actually be posted after basic training. A lot of new members are expecting (I call that wishful thinking) that they'll be posted close to home/family.
It's certainly not the case. You'll most likely go where there is a need for you/your position and training opportunities. :snowman:

 

[Blackadder1916]

Your questions have been asked and answered a number of times on this forum, do a little searching and reading first.  To start off here is a particularly relevent post in The "Nursing Officer" Merged Thread.

 

[babycake21]

thanks, I realize the whole "wishful thinking" some people must have. Thats not how i feel. Im pretty open to being posted anywhere... My curiosity is where there are needs for nurses, generally speaking.

As per relevant previous posts, i've been reading them since yesterday and gathering all the information i can, including reading the thread you suggested, i apologize if you feel my post is redundant.

 

[honestyrules]

Babycake,

Keep in mind that on almost every military bases there is either a "base hospital" or a dedicated medical section. If not, or after hours, there is an deal with some local hospital to provide support. So if you don't mind going places, you'll be served. Start googling to look at bases, but the final decision will come from the career manager. Some units are "base-side", so located in hard buildings, and some are "field-units", which are more flexible, have military vehicles/tents and deploy to the field on exercises., which deploy-able assets. Some combat units are getting "triage units", which are UMS (unit medical services) and act as first-line...they refer more complex cases to the base-hospital, and give tylenol/motrin/advices/cold-package/advices to the "simpler" cases.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Well,

I'm not part of the medical corps, but basically, you have no input on where you'll actually be posted after basic training.

Not quite true.  Mbrs are asked their posting preferences and usually provide 3 choices.  While the 'needs of the service' will outweigh the desires of the mbr, saying you have no input is not quite true.

] A lot of new members are expecting (I call that wishful thinking) that they'll be posted close to home/family.

Certainly cases where this is true!

You'll most likely go where there is a need for you/your position and training opportunities. :snowman:

Not sure about now, but in recent years, NOs that had just completed initial classification training were normally posted to one of 5 major locations to complete their next training and OJT/skills enhancement.  I can't remember which ones exactly, but it seems to me they were Esquimalt, Edmonton, Petawawa, Valcatier and Halifax.  This was to facilitate the continued development of skills after BNOC, some of which was not possible to do at small, remote(r) locations.

Also unless things have changed, they did a program (which name eludes me) that basically put them out at the civie hospitals doing rotations thru the different wards/departments getting varrious skills completed and signed off.  This was after completing the BNOC in Borden.  When not doing that, they were employed at the CF H Svcs C they were/are posted to.

 

[babycake21]

thanks everyone, very helpful!

 

[CombatDoc]

Babycake,

Keep in mind that on almost every military bases there is either a "base hospital" or a dedicated medical section. If not, or after hours, there is an deal with some local hospital to provide support. So if you don't mind going places, you'll be served. Start googling to look at bases, but the final decision will come from the career manager. Some units are "base-side", so located in hard buildings, and some are "field-units", which are more flexible, have military vehicles/tents and deploy to the field on exercises., which deploy-able assets. Some combat units are getting "triage units", which are UMS (unit medical services) and act as first-line...they refer more complex cases to the base-hospital, and give tylenol/motrin/advices/cold-package/advices to the "simpler" cases.

Delaven, you've already stated that you're not medical and since you're giving out misinformation I respectfully suggest that you stay in your proper lane.  Let me clarify a few points.

Every base will have a CF Health Service Centre i.e. primary care medical clinic.  The three big Army bases in Valcartier (Quebec City), Petawawa and Edmonton will also have a Field Ambulance unit to which the medical personnel on that base - including the base clinic military personnel - belong. The CF hospital structure has been dismantled and no longer exists domestically in Canada, only as an expeditionary capability as the 1 Canadian Field Hospital.  There are no "deals"  with local hospitals, although many clinicians may choose to get hired on a casual basis on their own time i.e. moonlighting.

There are no such thing as "triage units", I think what Deveren is referring to are Unit Medical Teams (UMT) which are linked to a particular unit on base e.g. 1RCR, 3PPCLI, 2R22R, etc.  UMTs consist of a Medical Officer and Medical Technicians - Nursing Officers are generally not part of the mix.

The current desire is for you to consolidate your clinical skills after completing your training.  The Career Manager and needs of the CF will determine where you eventually get posted, but chances are good it will be one of the big three Army bases or one of the two Naval bases.  I suspect that eventually Nursing Officers will all belong to the Field Hospital, like we do for specialist physicians, but we shall see.  The majority of clinical care that Nursing Officers provide is during operational missions, or while maintaining their clinical skills in civilian institutions (Maintenance of Clinical Readiness). 

my $ 0.02.  Do we have any NOs who can elaborate further?