Be all that you can be? Not so fast. Part 2—Bridging the Gap from Former Military Medic to Nurse

Late last week, part one of this two-part blog talked about a myriad of challenges that returning veterans face upon returning to civilian life, especially when pondering a return to college.  Often the veterans will be older than their classmates, and they might even face the added difficulties of physical impairments such as hearing loss, joint damage and post-traumatic stress disorder, which can significantly impact their educational journey.  This article specifically focuses on a phenomenon that uniquely faces military occupational specialty (MOS) 68W – Health Care Specialist, otherwise known as a Combat Medic, which is that the closest civilian job equivalent lies somewhere between a lesser paid EMT technician and the higher paid paramedic, but that many ex-medics do not have the educational qualifications on paper to advance their careers in the civilian world.

U.S. Army Spc. Brandon A. Reiter, a native of Cascade, Mont., and a medic attached to the 212th Combat Support Hospital for support of a medical assistance mission, uses an auto-refractor to estimate a patient’s prescription at the village’s cultural and community center. More than 250 pairs of eyeglasses were distributed by the optometrist and general practitioners during 3-days at the village in Chernista, Bulgaria.

While researching this trend, I discovered a thread on allnurses.com where a former Army medic challenged the California State Board of Nursing and won the right to sit for the NCLEX-PN^® exam.  From that point on, this person took his license to another state, enrolled in an LPN-to-RN Associate’s Degree program, and graduated with the right to sit for the RN exam in only one academic year.  However, it is not always that easy for everyone to become and LPN/LVN or RN, which is why the federal government is stepping in.  “Starting in 2011, [the federal government] paid more than $102 million to nursing schools and other training programs so they could better align military medic training with accredited nursing programs.  These programs aim to train medics as nurses and physician assistants.”  In February 2013, the White House released a report titled, “The Fast Track to Civilian Employment:  Streamlining Credentialing and Licensing for Service Members, Veterans and their Spouses,” and also in 2013, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing released  analysis titled, “A Comparison of Selected Military Health Care Occupation Curricula with a Standard Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse Curriculum.”  Using these reports and aid from the federal government, states like Arizona and Texas have passed legislation that allows the creation of specialized training programs that acknowledge military members’ training and experience while obtaining education to transition them to the civilian workforce.

In Arizona, nurse educators are rising to the challenge by creating a standardized Military Medic-to-LPN bridge program outline.  Gateway Community College in Phoenix is going to pilot this 12 credit hour program, and it will help military members who have some, but not all of the LPN requirements, bridge their military medic knowledge and education to become the equivalent of a licensed practical nurse.  The four-month-long program, which is a mix of eight didactic credit hours and four clinical hours, is expected to receive approval from the Arizona Board of Nursing soon and will be prepared to admit students in February 2014.  According to Margi Schultz, PhD, RN, Director of Gateway Community College Nursing Division, “We are excited to provide credit for experiential learning; it is wonderful that there will now be a way to do that with this new initiative and working with the team of educators from around the state brought such great ideas to the table.”  Dr. Schultz believes this program will “be strengthened by the use of seasoned LPN faculty. The ultimate goal will be to move these students into a concurrent enrollment program to achieve their RN, BSN, and then the sky’s the limit!”

Another innovative example listed in the Modern Healthcare.com article is in Texas, at San Antonio College which has “launched a program in January [2013] that allows Army combat medics, Navy hospital corpsmen and Air Force medics to earn associate’s degrees in nursing in one year and [will then]fast-track them toward four-year degrees elsewhere. … The community college program is part of the state’s College Credit for Heroes initiative announced in 2010.”

As more states recognize the contribution that military medics have made on the battlefield by giving them credit in the classroom other hurdles will emerge.  For example, both research articles cite the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorders among military medics, especially when there are triggers like “crowded classrooms and chatter in foreign languages.”  According to an article in the Minnesota Daily, Pamela Reid, a recent animal science graduate who served in the Marine Corps for four years, said the difference in life experience between veterans and other students is obvious.  Like several other students, Reid did not enroll in college immediately after high school and said she noticed differences between some traditional students’ and student veterans’ dedication to their education. “It was kind of difficult to understand other people’s kind of lackadaisical take on attending classes.” Veteran students also benefit from their campus chapter of the Student Veterans Association, a student group that provides support and assistance to veterans and their families.  Zach Benson, the association’s new president, said he got involved with the group his first day on campus and has kept coming back. “It’s been a good place to go and sit down and talk,” he said.  Also, because many of the students involved in the group have been deployed, they can talk about situations other students can’t relate to.  “There’s closeness between us from experiences we’ve shared,” said Reed Eichele, the group’s secretary. “We do have our own little support group, a tight little community of friends.”

Because veterans have been exposed to many experiences most of the general public will never encounter, University of Minnesota nursing students will work within this patient population at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, thanks to a $5.3 million grant the school received, which will allow 20 more nursing students to be admitted this fall. Helen Pearlman, nurse executive at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, notes “There’s a real fellowship that develops when you’re in the armed forces…that can continue at the VA” and hopes that allowing more nursing students to participate in hands-on work at the VA will draw more nursing students to pursue a career working with veterans.  Similar programs exist through the VA Nursing Academy (also known as VANA), which has about a dozen different partnerships between accredited nursing schools and VA Medical Centers throughout the country, according to the VANA website.

Teddy Roosevelt once said that “A [person] who is good enough to shed…blood for [our] country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards,” and that is the bare minimum that we owe these brave men and women medics.  Together, the efforts listed above that aim to improve the healthcare needs of the nation’s veterans, and the efforts aimed towards improving the education of this nation’s veterans, are a step in the right direction.  One can only hope that this article might inspire you and your nursing programs to consider increased outreach and recruiting efforts aimed at enrolling discharged military medics, as well as creating more “ex-military 68W to nurse” bridge programs.  And of course, it would be magnificent if these soldiers persevered through nursing school to eventually attain positions of influence within the VA Administration to truly transform and make the standards of education and of care even better for our men and women who have served our county so valiantly.