AF seeks to fill nursing shortfall by educating enlisted

AF seeks to fill nursing shortfall by educating enlisted
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, February 12, 2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force needs nurses.

The service has 3,463 slots, but just 3,195 nurses, a shortfall of 268, according to Col. Donnalee Sykes.

Sykes is a registered nurse as well as director of Air Force nursing services, and chief of the education and training division, in the office of the Air Force Surgeon General.

To help alleviate the shortage, the Air Force is offering enlisted airmen the chance to earn their nursing degree and become an officer in exchange for a four-year commitment as a nurse, said Col. Vickie Moore, also a registered nurse.

The nurse commissioning program hopes to select 40 candidates this fiscal year — 30 for those who need two years of schooling and 10 for those who only need one year to earn a nursing degree, said Moore, chief, nurse utilization education branch, Air Force Personnel Center.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60635

she's a student nurse training at my hospital.She's been to Iraq 4 times.I asked her,kind of joking,if she remembered my son.She thought for a minute,and said"sandy blond hair and a cowboy skull tattoo?"I broke out in tears and hugged her.Bless these nurses who are truly devoted to their patients.