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New incentives for Army nurses

Fort Sam Houston, Texas — Of all the life-altering war wounds a soldier can come home with, burns are about as painful and disfiguring as they get.

Burns hurt intensely for a long time and rehabilitation is slow and excruciating because the skin forms thick, tight scars that freeze the simplest movements.

Working in the burn unit, where one witnesses so much suffering in the course of healing, requires its own measure of endurance.

“It’s rewarding but draining. You know that what you’re asking them to do is going to hurt them in the short term but that it’s necessary for the long term. That’s tough love, we all know they have to do it,” said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, chief of the Army nurse corps and deputy Army surgeon general for force management.

In that position, Pollock must manage the Army’s chronic nurse shortage while continuing to ensure the standard of care that wounded soldiers require. Being short-handed adds to the workload of nurses already under stress by the demands of a job that is physically and emotionally difficult.

Still, she and others say, nursing is one of the most rewarding jobs in the Army because the bond between nurse and patient is unique.

“There’s a sense of family,” Col. Carol McNeill, deputy commander for nursing at Brooke Army Medical Center, said of her choice to make Army nursing a long career.

“Here we still have one common goal, a set of common values, we all know each other and it’s an honor to take care of these patients, our wounded warriors,” McNeill said.

The Army is counting on McNeill’s brand of dedication and enthusiasm — and some sizeable monetary and educational incentives — to keep current Army nurses and attract new ones.

There are more than 3,200 active-duty nurses, which is about 250 fewer than the Army needs, especially in the ranks of lieutenants and captains, Pollock said.

The Army’s requirement that its nurses have a bachelor’s degree eliminated some 32,000 people in the past year as potential recruits, she said, pointing out that in the private sector a person can become a registered nurse without a college degree.

The Army also relies on civilian nurses, including those in the Army Reserve and National Guard and nurses who come in under contract, but it’s still not enough to keep the nurse corps at full strength.

At BAMC, for example, McNeill said she has to compete for nurses with Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base as well as a dozen local hospitals in San Antonio.

The Army’s bid for nurses reflects a national trend: According to a 2005 report by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the nursing shortage will reach 800,000 by 2020.

“At some point when we were celebrating the first Gulf War, the Army got smaller and the nurse corps got smaller faster than anyone else. When you get told you need fewer people and there’s a decreased demand on recruiting, they can gear down because their mission is lower,” Pollock said.

That, coupled with a dearth in credentialed faculty membersmakes the national pool of people with the right skills for the Army even shallower.

Army leaders hope to attract nurses into the ranks by appealing to their patriotism — and their pocketbooks. Here are some of the incentives on the menu, though some bonuses are currently on hold, pending resolution of a defense budget stalemate:

• Up to $38,000 annually for repayment of qualified educational loans.

• A bonus of up to $30,000 for new officers in exchange for a four-year service obligation, or a $15,000 bonus for three years.

• A $10,000 bonus and six-year obligation is also available in combination with the loan repayment option.

• Scholarships through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

• Nursing students ineligible for ROTC can serve as Army nurses upon graduation from a bachelor’s of science in nursing program, earning a $5,000 bonus upon enrollment, another $5,000 at the start of the second year or upon graduation for those enrolled for only one year, plus a $1,000 stipend for each month enrolled full-time.

• A stipend of $1,319 monthly for Army Reserve nurses or new Reserve accessions without a bachelor’s in nursing to complete the degree in no more than 24 months.

• A critical skills retention bonus for targeted year groups of $20,000.

• Incentive pay for nine nurse specialties: perioperative nursing (66E); critical care nursing (66H8A); emergency nursing (66HM5); obstetrics/gynecological (OB/GYN) nursing (66G); psychiatric/mental health nursing (66C); medical-surgical nursing (66H); community/public health nursing (66B); nurse midwife (66G8D); nurse practitioner (family, adult, OB/GYN, women’s health, psychiatric/mental health, or pediatric) (66P).

Captains with a minimum of 38 months and no more than seven years of active commissioned service who want to become RNs can get the right degree through the Army’s Funded Nurse Education Program.

Eligible enlisted active-duty soldiers can complete a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing through the Army Enlisted Commissioning Program, become a registered nurse and be commissioned in the nurse corps. The program funds up to $9,000 in academic costs per academic year.

Soldiers interested in learning more about the Army nurse corps can go to http://www.usarec.army.mil/AECP/index.htm.

SEE ALSO: Shortage of Army doctors

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DISCUSS: The shortage and incentives