Military Nurses

Forbes listed Military Officers as the most stressful job for the last 3 years.
One is keenly aware of how stressful it can be to serve in the military, risking ones
life every day, whether or not on the frontline, one life is often in danger and the job
requires one to be concerned for others when your own life might be in danger.
Military jobs come with more stress than the above, enlisted personnel:

travel frequently
sleep disorders
elevated stress hormones
increased risks of diabetes
irritable bowel syndrome
heart disease.
their work exposed to public scrutiny

they have very little say about how they spend their time

they are separated from their families months to years at a time

they endure heavy physical demands basic training, which include not just
war but aiding in natural disasters

Bullying and psychological abuse from peers and supervisors happen more
frequently in the military than in other industries.

Soldiers can also be prone to post-traumatic stress disorder and other

problems

Most contracts are 6 years or more

Salary and Benefits
One advantage of being a registered nurse is that they can command a salary of
between about 27,950 and 40,950 per year. In addition to this salary, many
nursing positions offer a signing bonus. This bonus can be contingent on other

factors such as the length of time the position is held. However, if a nurse is planning
on staying put for a while, she can expect to earn between 3,250 to 6,500 as a
signing bonus. The higher end signing bonuses are not unusual to military nursing
positions.

Rent free for those living in single barrack accommodation, also known as a
Mess, includes all utility bills. A furnished two-bedroom property for an officer
is between 114 and 453 per month, and between 75 and 242 per month
for other ranks. Alternative accommodation on and off base is also available
at lower rental costs than the UK average. Together with subsidised on-base
catering (around 28 per week for three good quality meals a day), this helps
increase your disposable income.

Military personnel are entitled to six weeks of paid holiday each year, plus
public holidays.

Military personnel have excellent private healthcare and dental care. Not only
is this a free service, but its readily available at a moments notice.
Specialists are always around to provide the care and treatment you need.

Posted abroad, the military will cover your relocation costs. On operation,
theyll also cover your accommodation costs, food costs and you may also
qualify for additional allowance.

Servicewomen have two basic maternity options: return to work after a period
of maternity leave or leave due to the pregnancy. Generally, servicewomen
qualify for up to 26 weeks of statutory maternity pay. They may also qualify
for additional maternity entitlements.

Servicemen are also entitled to a two week paternity leave.

Burnout
One disadvantage of being a registered nurse is related to the fact that there are
many vacant nursing jobs. This translates into a high patient load and long working
hours. Being a registered nurse can be physically and mentally taxing. There is also

a burnout associated with patient care due to attachment to patients and

subsequently watching them die. This is especially true in positions where the nurse
cares for the same patient for an extended period of time such as in hospice.

Job Security
There is a high demand for registered nurses all over the world and this is expected
to grow exponentially as we make our way further into the millennium. There will be
an estimated 800,000 open nursing positions before 2030 as opposed to 100,000 in
the beginning of the millennium. This means that demand will be high and supply for
registered nurses will be low.
Flexible of home and location
Nurses can work a variety of flexible schedules. Since patient care needs to occur
around the clock, many nurses may work several twelve hour shifts per week. It is
also very common for nurses to not actually report to work at a specific time but work
what is referred to as "on call". This means that they will be paid just for being on call
and they receive a higher rate of pay if they actually have to go in. In addition to
being able to choose from a variety of schedules, nurses can work in several
different places as pool nurses or travel nurses. Travel nurses go where they are
needed when they are needed. There is also the possibility of securing a nursing
position in a foreign country for a short or long period of time.
Illnesses
The first few years of working as a nurse in a patient care facility comes with more
cases of personal illness than usual. This is true for anyone that's new to working
in hospital or doctor's office. Having to have frequent direct personal contact with
people who are sick lends the immune system to an onslaught of germs it never had
to fight all at once. It's best to expect that the first few years of working as a
registered nurse will mean more cases of things like stomach viruses, the flu, and
common colds, not to mention the other communicable diseases that are common to
medical facilities.

Military sexual trauma.

Nurses' awareness of MST as a specific type of sexual assault within the military
culture and sensitivity to the physical and psychological symptoms are important
aspects of care. Nurses must treat the physical and emotional components of sexual
assault in all settings; however, referral to the veterans administration programs and
resources is key for the woman veteran to receive the specialized care developed by
the healthcare system. Women veterans who have PTSD from MST and combat
exposure are prone to depression, suicide and substance use/abuse. Nurses must
not fear asking the woman if she is having suicidal thoughts or has a plan and intent
to follow through with the plan. MST and PTSD may result in internalized anger,
shame, self-blame, helplessness, hopelessness and powerlessness. Patient safety
is of utmost importance. Assessing Patients for Sexual Violence, A Guide for Health
Care Providers (2009) is a useful resource for nurses. The National Center for PTSD
(2009) newsletter on the topic of MST includes a list of research studies. The work of
Benedict (2007) and Corbett (2007) provide additional personal accounts of women
soldiers who were in the Middle East conflicts. The nurse's referral to specialized
services to treat MST and PTSD with evidence-based therapies is a crucial first step
in the resiliency and well-being of these brave women who have served in all
branches of the U.S. military.
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) nurses have worked at
the sharp end of military life throughout the last century of military nursing. Nursing
officers, registered nurses, healthcare assistants and student nurses of the QARANC
deliver a high quality, adaptable and dedicated nursing care wherever the Army
needs it.
Army nurses and healthcare assistants can find themselves in medical regiments
and field hospitals dealing with a myriad of different casualties, many with poly
traumas.
Postings vary from Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHU), primary health care,
field hospitals, medical regiments, instructor posts (both military and academic

courses), recruiting, management and staff (administrative).

Currently Army nurses are based and deployed in the UK, Germany, Cyprus,
Canada, Poland, Brunei, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
What are we?
The Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) consists of officers
and soldiers made up of the following career employment groups (CEG)
Nursing Officer - Adult
Nursing Officer - Mental Health
Soldier Nurse - Adult
Soldier Nurse Mental Health
Student Nurse Adult or Mental Health
Healthcare Assistants
Where do we work?
Ministry of Defence Hospital Units (MDHU)
Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey
Queen Alexandra's Hospital Portsmouth
Derriford Hospital, Plymouth
Friarage Hospital, Northallerton
The Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham
We also provide Primary care to the Army in Northern Ireland, Canada, Germany
and Cyprus.

Field Units
The QARANC can work within Field Hospitals and Medical Regiments (Regular
Army) as well as in a variety of Army Reserve medical units.
Staff & Command
There are opportunities for both QARANC Officers and Soldiers to work in a Staff
and Command setting, such as Training, Development, Manning Recruitment and
Personnel.
Training & Education
There are QARANC Officers and Soldiers working in the Healthcare Assistant
Training School, Birmingham City University and Army Training Centres.
On Operations
The QARANC serve wherever there are deployed troops. We serve on operations
world-wide and provide primary and secondary nursing care to the British Army
Sisters in Arms: British Army Nurses tell their Story by Nicola Tyrer
Soon after the fall of Hong Kong in 1941, a Japanese officer confronted a British
Army matron whom his colleagues had bound, beaten and abused. Her self-control
did not falter.
"Do Englishwomen never cry?" asked the officer. "Not," the matron replied, "when
they have work to do."
The 12,000 Queen Alexandra nurses who served at the battlefronts of the Second
World War were schooled in old-fashioned virtues of personal restraint and
emotional control. For the historian, the implications of this reticence are obvious.
But in Sisters in Arms, Nicola Tyrer triumphantly recreates the terrors, privations,
agonies and excitements of these remarkable women through letters, diaries and
official reports.
As Tyrer shows, the vocabulary of restraint - with the pain between the lines remains powerful and moving.

Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was founded on March 27,
1902. From the outset its personnel were distinguished by social "niceness" - the
corps was almost exclusively middle class - and their smart appearance. QAs wore a
uniform in part designed by the Queen. At the start of the Second World War, the
uniform was stocked by Harrods and Hector Powe, Edinburgh's best tailors, and
included a white parasol with a red lining. It was so expensive that the government
only paid half the cost.
It would take several years of active service before the rules were relaxed to allow
QA nurses to wear battle fatigues. A prospective QA could still be asked at interview
if she played tennis. Girls of "the right sort" knew how to behave. Although the
Second World War proved the QAs' finest hour, it tested notions of good behaviour to
unforeseen limits.
During the course of the war, the nurses endured shipwreck, gang rape, near
starvation and gruelling physical and mental abuse, alongside the daily atrocities of
life at the front. Some 236 nurses died, many of them victims of Japan's attacks on
hospital ships.
QAs dispatched to Hong Kong in July 1940 would become the first women in British
nursing history to be taken as prisoners of war. Nurses in Hong Kong, Singapore and
across the Far East experienced at first hand the cruelty of the Japanese army. As
the war drew to its close, they tended the inmates of concentration camps and
liberated prisoners of war. They also nursed the Japanese.
So demanding was the work that they were given stimulant drugs to keep them
going. "The big question," one QA remembered, "was: 'How can I cope without
showing fear?' I'm a nurse. I'm here to help people."
Tyrer's account is often intensely moving. There are occasionally frustrating silences
brought about by the stiff-upper-lip style of the nurses' correspondence or their
reluctance to discuss painful experiences. The grit and vim that helped win the war
never deserts them. "In those days," one remembers, "there was greater emphasis
on self-control."

But it is not all tight smiles and stifled sobs. There are moments of Boy's Own-style
derring-do.
In February 1941, Sister Margot Turner was shipwrecked twice in a week off the
coast of Singapore. The second time, she spent nine days adrift on a raft. She
stayed alive by eating seaweed and collecting tiny quantities of rain in the lid of her
powder compact.
There are also anecdotes that remind us how young and sheltered these girls were.
QAs were strictly chaperoned by their matrons: curfews were enforced and they
were discouraged from forming romantic attachments, particularly with married men
and those not of officer rank.
Girls together, they indulged in the dormitory pranks and cosy camaraderie of Enid
Blyton's boarding-school stories.
On extremely rare occasions, the wartime QA was blessed with too much of a good
thing. Nurses with the British Liberation Army in Normandy in the late summer of
1944 had readier access to Champagne than water. "I can't use Champagne," one
complained, "I'm trying to clean my teeth."
Despite its horrors, it was an experience few nurses would have forgone. Leaving
liberated Italy, one QA was pleased to have "discarded all the paraphernalia with
which we surround ourselves in any civilised country", and found "how unnecessary
it all is to true happiness". It is a statement characteristic of this vanishing sisterhood,
here splendidly recalled to life.