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Critical Care Nurse. 2007;27: 22
Copyright © 2007 by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
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Letters to the Editor

Navy nursing of today

We want to comment on the June 2006 editorial, Welcoming New Graduates: Some Lessons Learned (2006:11). As Navy nurses with more than 65 years of combined Navy experience, we realize how far Navy nursing has come and we are very proud of Navy nursing’s rich heritage. As we approach the 100th anniversary celebration of the Navy Nurse Corps in May 2008, we are proud to share with readers how the Navy Nurse Corps now prepares new nurses. The personal experience described by Dr Alspach in the editorial is certainly not in keeping with how we currently nurture our new graduate Navy nurses.

The Navy Nurse Corps has formal orientation programs in place that support new graduates while fostering mentorship, leadership, collegiality, and personal growth. The Navy’s 3 largest medical centers located in Portsmouth, Va; San Diego, Calif; and Bethesda, Md each have a 12- to 16-week nurse internship program. The overarching objectives of the nurse internship programs are to provide ongoing support and education necessary for a smooth transition to the role of a Navy nurse through mentorship and a formal orientation in conjunction with didactic and clinical experiences. The internship is targeted for new nurses with less than 6 months’ clinical experience and they are oriented to both the nursing profession and to their role as a Naval Officer. The programs consist of classroom lectures, weekly group seminars, and bedside clinical orientation. Classroom lectures include physical assessment, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, ethics, and nursing interventions.

Nursing education and training experiences do not end with the nurse internship program. Navy nurses are given numerous opportunities to expand clinical knowledge and gain leadership skills. We are committed to advanced education for all nursing specialties at all levels. Navy nurses all have bachelor degrees, 32% have master’s degrees, 1% have a doctoral degree, and we currently have 160 nurses in full-time graduate or doctoral education programs.

Navy nurses hone their clinical skills while providing quality health-care to all our patients and their families receiving care in our military treatment facilities at home, and at the same time they are trained to be ready to deploy anywhere, any time. With the current operational tempo related to the global war on terrorism, including humanitarian support missions, we are deploying more nurses than ever before—more than 750 in the past 2 years. Navy leadership is using all avenues (ie, Essentials of Critical Care Orientation, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Trauma Nursing Core Curriculum, En Route Care Course, and the Navy Trauma Training Center in Los Angeles, Calif ) to ensure that our nurses are well trained and prepared to provide the very best care for injured casualties on the battlefield. We are proud of those Navy nurses who came before us and mentored and trained us and we are building on that foundation as we train and mentor our new graduate nurses in the Navy Nurse Corps today.

John J. Whitcomb, RN, PhD, CCRN
Commander
 Kimberly J. Newell, RN, MSN, CCRN
Commander
 Mark G. Marino, RNc, MSN
Lieutenant Commander
 Nurse Corps, United States Navy

Nurse Corps, United States Navy

Nurse Corps, United States Navy





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