Most professional

militaries A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

employ specialised military nurses. They are often organised as a distinct

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

corps.

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

formed the first nucleus of a recognised Nursing Service for the British Army during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

in 1854. In the same theatre of the same war, Professor

Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пирого́в; — ) was a Russian scientist, medical doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847), one of the m ...

and the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna originated Russian traditions of recruiting and training military nurses – associated especially with besieged Sevastopol (1854–1855). Following the war Nightingale fought to institute the employment of women nurses in British military hospitals, and by 1860 she had succeeded in establishing an Army Training School for military nurses at the

Royal Victoria Military Hospital The Royal Victoria Hospital or Netley Hospital was a large military hospital in Netley, near Southampton, Hampshire, England. Construction started in 1856 at the suggestion of Queen Victoria but its design caused some controversy, chiefly from ...

Netley Netley, officially referred to as Netley Abbey, is a village on the south coast of Hampshire, England. It is situated to the south-east of the city of Southampton, and flanked on one side by the ruins of Netley Abbey and on the other by the R ...

, Hampshire, England. In 1898, after the Spanish-American War, the United States added 1,500 nurses to their military personnel (Brooks, 2018). A year later in 1899, the Surgeon General recognized the importance of these nurses and established a "reserve group" of nurses with specific criteria to prepare for future wars. Military nurses are similar to floor nurses in that they spend most of their time providing direct patient care. Patient assessments, medication distribution, interventions and documentation are part of their daily work. These nurses are needed at all military bases, active war zones, clinics and front lines – not always on United States territory.

Well-known nursing corps

* U.S. Army Nurse Corps, a special branch of the

Army Medical Department (United States) The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches (or "Corps"). It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the m ...

Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC; known as ''the QAs'') is the nursing branch of the British Army Medical Services. History Although an "official" nursing service was not established until 1881, the corps traces its heritage ...

, a specialist corps of the Army Medical Services of the British Army *

Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps The Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC) is a Corps of the Australian Army. It was formed in February 1951 from the Royal Australian Army Nursing Service. A Corps Badge was introduced in 1951 with the motto ''Pro Humanitate'' (for Humanity ...

* U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, a staff corps of the United States Navy * U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps *

Military Nursing Service (India) The Indian Military Nursing Services is a part of Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) of the Indian Army, first formed under British rule in 1888. An officer in the Military Nursing Services is granted Permanent Commission or Short Service Commi ...

Educational Requirements

According to Nguh (2020), for nursing officers to serve in the military it normally requires a Bachelor's degree in Nursing. For example, a branch known as the Air National Guard, allows an individual to join as enlisted and work as a Aeromedical Evacuation Technician while finishing their BSN degree. The military branch will pay for the individuals BSN and after graduation the nurse can earn a salary as a 2nd Lieutenant contingent upon successfully passing their nursing boards.

Challenges to working as a military nurse

Nurses can often experience challenges when delivering care to patients when they do not have the appropriate supplies, medicines, and equipment that is normally available in American hospitals A study was conducted in Camp Bastion Hospital in Afghanistan, where 18 British Armed Forces nurses were interviewed. These nurses serves in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014 and it was found that nurses often experienced many psychological stressors such as lacking family support, suffering from mental health issues, experiencing separation anxiety, missing their families and friends, feeling unprepared and not able to take care of seriously injured patients, and nurses found it emotionally difficult taking care of terminally ill patients.

References

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