Highly Qualified Military Veterans Solve Healthcare Hiring Challenges
##**Seamless Transitioning for Veterans**##
Veterans are highly trained and experienced in many healthcare specialties. In many cases, their skills are immediately applicable in the workplace. In other cases, the employers may need to provide job-specific training – but the veterans’ skill levels are already so high that they absorb the training quickly.
Even younger junior military servicemembers are frequently responsible for maintaining and securing very expensive equipment, or for large amounts of money. Many have small group leadership experience, determined daily plans, and delegated tasks.
##**No MOS Confusion Here: Healthcare is Healthcare**##
The Military Health System (MHS) delivers healthcare to active duty and retired U.S. military personnel and their dependents. It is a partnership of medical educators, medical researchers, and healthcare providers and their support personnel worldwide. The primary mission of the MHS is to provide health support and medical care to more than 9.6 million Department of Defense beneficiaries worldwide. MHS executes a $50 billion budget, and maintains a workforce of more than 176,000 active duty and civilian medical personnel and over 66,000 reserve medical personnel. It operates 65 hospitals, 412 clinics, and 414 dental clinics at facilities across the nation and around the world.
An interesting comparison of the lives of a civilian emergency room (ER) nurse and an Army intensive care unit (ICU) nurse can be found on the Army website. A video contrasts the lives of two nurses: Jason Driver, an ER nurse at Marina Del Rey Hospital in California, and Captain Christina Herriott, an Army ICU nurse at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in Fort Bliss, Texas. The two professionals shadow each other for the day at their respective employments. Driver finds himself wishing he had some of the equipment and training tools found in the Army hospital, calling their equipment “top-notch.” He marvels at the computer charting equipment, which allows nurses to view notes, flow sheets, labs, and radiology reports even in a deployed setting to ensure patient continuity of care.
After seeing the “constant motion” of Driver’s ER setting, Captain Herriott observes, “We’re both alike in the sense that we both strive to make sure our patients are safe. We’re both take-charge people. We make sure our patients get taken care of.” She goes on to explain, “In the Army, we’re expected to take charge…that’s not a requirement in a civilian hospital. As a soldier, you leave the hospital and you may be done on the ICU, but you’re still a soldier. All day. Every day.”
Driver calls Captain Herriott “cool, calm, and collected,” remarking that she “has leadership skills built within her.” He goes on to declare, “Captain Herriott definitely has a very strong future ahead of her. I think she could leave the military and work at any hospital in the United States of America, or even the world.”
It’s well worth the time to review veterans’ resumes with healthcare experience. Chances are, they’ve worked with diverse groups in challenging settings, become familiar with advanced technical equipment, and possess knowledge and field experience that’s directly transferable.