I've recently applied to the navy for a career as a medical assistant. Is there anyone out there who can give me some advice on what to expect, what the job is like etc. I've tried the search but to no avail.
Thanks
Caroline
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Sweet Caroline
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Doc
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Sweet Caroline
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voodoo sprout
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There seems to be a fair bit of interest in the MA branch around here at the moment, so I'll just stick up some general MA info so hopefully everyone will be happy 
. Of course if there's anything else people need to know, just ask away! So without further ado, introducing.....
Everything you always wanted to know about the MA, and probably a lot you didn't!
First off, application. This is the same as for most branches in the Navy with the standard tests, but it's worth bearing in mind that this branch has the highest pass mark in the entrance exam for ratings (still not that hard though). Basic training is also exactly the same as for everyone else, the only exception being that the sickbay staff don't scowl at you quite so menacingly.
When you get the trade training things become more interesting; it's split in half into what is currently 20 weeks of common core done alongside the army and RAF, followed by 19 weeks of Naval single service all of which is based around Keogh Barracks in Aldershot. Of course the first week of common core is not stop admin, faffing about, getting bored, and getting used to being on a pongo base. And no matter how much they try to tell you it's a tri service establishment, it always has the feel of an army barracks and most of their rules apply. Being a phase 2 trainee you still get a fair bit of hassle (the accommodation sergeant major loves brasso'd drain covers, and black air vents are just asking to be polished), room inspections are most mornings and there are a couple of parades per week. One survival tip, the accommodation sergeant will supply almost anything you need for cleaning, ironing boards, hoovers etc. All too often I see people sharing half a rag and a broken mop between two courses, even while there's a stack of the things sitting in a storeroom if someone had the initiative to ask. Remember the old adage, Pusser provides!
Weekends from here on in are almost always yours though so all but the most desperately broke tend to go home on Friday after getting thinned out. Complications can arise if you get pinged for guard duty though which can really mess up your evening, but it doesn't happen that often. The vast majority of the instructors are decent people though (fortunately most have a good sense of humour too - and it makes all the difference believe me ) so it doesn't take long to get used to it. Getting used to the hygiene standard of some of the RAMC chaps can take a little longer however... 
Once medical training gets underway the pace picks up a great deal, the first aid course is civilian accredited (which is useful for naff all seeing as it'll have expired by the time you're be able to leave the mob) and interesting, and is then followed by a fairly extensive anatomy and physiology block. Many people find this difficult, but the Navy chaps are usually alright, just pay attention and do your revision and you'll be fine. There are various clinical bits and pieces thrown in to break it up, but it's a bit dry most of the time. For the rest of the common core you'll be working in smaller groups, covering acute care (basically advanced first aid, sticking various needles and tubes in plastic dummies etc), pharmacy, environmental health, computer administration, and sickbay duties. This takes 12 weeks, and then you go on a 6 week placement, which at the moment is spent in a Navy/Royal Marines sickbay. Second survival tip - there is a fitness test after this, and currently there is a horrific failure rate as everyone spends the 6 weeks sat on their backside without doing any phys. Which is great until they get back and have a warning slapped on their training record, and get put on remedial PT sessions in the evenings until they manage to pass it again. So for your own sake, make sure you keep your fitness up, it'll make life so much easier when you get back to Keogh. But that aside, there's another week of admin and faffing around, and then you're into single service. Huzzah!
This bit I can't give much detail about as the course has just been modified, and is still being tweaked, chopped and changed as we go through so hopefully by the time the next groups come through it might make more sense. In essence though, it will cover a fair bit of medical administration (this really is mind numbingly boring - death by powerpoint as you've never known it before), with a couple of Naval general training thrown in to remind you about the pointy end and the blunt end of war canoes, and much to everyone's horror, a full kit muster by your course petty officer
. Thankfully this is topped off by an adventure training package which promises to be blimmin good fun, and a 3 day exercise on a training ship, putting everything together with casualty handling, first aid and what have you, in realistic environment. Ever wondered how to stick an airway into someone while wrapped around a ladder in an unlit engine room? Now's the time to find out!
Here follows a 13 week placement in hospital, either at terrorford (sorry, Derriford) in Plymouth, or Haslar in Portsmouth. I think Haslar goes to much the same plan, but at Derriford at least you get moved around the wards every one or two weeks, and get into theatres, A&E, cardiac care etc as well as the more mundane wards. For most people the highlight is a week on the ambulances, at Derriford this is split half hald between patient transport and A&E ambulances with the Westcountry Ambulance Service.
After this there's a couple of weeks of final exams and a bit of genito-urinary medicine (basically the various things that go wrong with sailors reproductive organs after visiting foreign ports - lovely stuff), and the much dreaded chief's kit muster (this is more picky than anything in phase 1, so make sure you prepare your kit well while on your placement). Then, much delight as you qualify as an MA first class, complete with mini passing out parade. But you're still not quite unleashed on the big wide world yet, there is a 3 month placement usually on board a ship where you will be working albeit as an addition to the regular medical staff, and under supervision while you find your feet and get used to the job.
Unfortunately I'm startign to run out of time here so I'll have to knock out chapter 2 when I get a chance, but at any rate, that's a rough guide to training. More soon!
[/u][/b]
. Of course if there's anything else people need to know, just ask away! So without further ado, introducing.....Everything you always wanted to know about the MA, and probably a lot you didn't!
First off, application. This is the same as for most branches in the Navy with the standard tests, but it's worth bearing in mind that this branch has the highest pass mark in the entrance exam for ratings (still not that hard though). Basic training is also exactly the same as for everyone else, the only exception being that the sickbay staff don't scowl at you quite so menacingly
.When you get the trade training things become more interesting; it's split in half into what is currently 20 weeks of common core done alongside the army and RAF, followed by 19 weeks of Naval single service all of which is based around Keogh Barracks in Aldershot. Of course the first week of common core is not stop admin, faffing about, getting bored, and getting used to being on a pongo base. And no matter how much they try to tell you it's a tri service establishment, it always has the feel of an army barracks and most of their rules apply. Being a phase 2 trainee you still get a fair bit of hassle (the accommodation sergeant major loves brasso'd drain covers, and black air vents are just asking to be polished), room inspections are most mornings and there are a couple of parades per week. One survival tip, the accommodation sergeant will supply almost anything you need for cleaning, ironing boards, hoovers etc. All too often I see people sharing half a rag and a broken mop between two courses, even while there's a stack of the things sitting in a storeroom if someone had the initiative to ask. Remember the old adage, Pusser provides!
Weekends from here on in are almost always yours though so all but the most desperately broke tend to go home on Friday after getting thinned out. Complications can arise if you get pinged for guard duty though which can really mess up your evening, but it doesn't happen that often. The vast majority of the instructors are decent people though (fortunately most have a good sense of humour too - and it makes all the difference believe me
) so it doesn't take long to get used to it. Getting used to the hygiene standard of some of the RAMC chaps can take a little longer however... Once medical training gets underway the pace picks up a great deal, the first aid course is civilian accredited (which is useful for naff all seeing as it'll have expired by the time you're be able to leave the mob) and interesting, and is then followed by a fairly extensive anatomy and physiology block. Many people find this difficult, but the Navy chaps are usually alright, just pay attention and do your revision and you'll be fine. There are various clinical bits and pieces thrown in to break it up, but it's a bit dry most of the time. For the rest of the common core you'll be working in smaller groups, covering acute care (basically advanced first aid, sticking various needles and tubes in plastic dummies etc), pharmacy, environmental health, computer administration, and sickbay duties. This takes 12 weeks, and then you go on a 6 week placement, which at the moment is spent in a Navy/Royal Marines sickbay. Second survival tip - there is a fitness test after this, and currently there is a horrific failure rate as everyone spends the 6 weeks sat on their backside without doing any phys. Which is great until they get back and have a warning slapped on their training record, and get put on remedial PT sessions in the evenings until they manage to pass it again. So for your own sake, make sure you keep your fitness up, it'll make life so much easier when you get back to Keogh
. But that aside, there's another week of admin and faffing around, and then you're into single service. Huzzah!This bit I can't give much detail about as the course has just been modified, and is still being tweaked, chopped and changed as we go through so hopefully by the time the next groups come through it might make more sense. In essence though, it will cover a fair bit of medical administration (this really is mind numbingly boring - death by powerpoint as you've never known it before), with a couple of Naval general training thrown in to remind you about the pointy end and the blunt end of war canoes, and much to everyone's horror, a full kit muster by your course petty officer
. Thankfully this is topped off by an adventure training package which promises to be blimmin good fun, and a 3 day exercise on a training ship, putting everything together with casualty handling, first aid and what have you, in realistic environment. Ever wondered how to stick an airway into someone while wrapped around a ladder in an unlit engine room? Now's the time to find out!Here follows a 13 week placement in hospital, either at terrorford (sorry, Derriford) in Plymouth, or Haslar in Portsmouth. I think Haslar goes to much the same plan, but at Derriford at least you get moved around the wards every one or two weeks, and get into theatres, A&E, cardiac care etc as well as the more mundane wards. For most people the highlight is a week on the ambulances, at Derriford this is split half hald between patient transport and A&E ambulances with the Westcountry Ambulance Service.
After this there's a couple of weeks of final exams and a bit of genito-urinary medicine (basically the various things that go wrong with sailors reproductive organs after visiting foreign ports - lovely stuff), and the much dreaded chief's kit muster (this is more picky than anything in phase 1, so make sure you prepare your kit well while on your placement). Then, much delight as you qualify as an MA first class, complete with mini passing out parade
. But you're still not quite unleashed on the big wide world yet, there is a 3 month placement usually on board a ship where you will be working albeit as an addition to the regular medical staff, and under supervision while you find your feet and get used to the job.Unfortunately I'm startign to run out of time here so I'll have to knock out chapter 2 when I get a chance, but at any rate, that's a rough guide to training. More soon!
[/u][/b]Fluffy bunnies - Grrrrr!
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jockladfaejockland
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Ha ha ha. Just like that eh.
Yeh my sister is an MA serving in Yeovil right now, she loves her job, its probably a very wise choice! I didnt like hearing about some of her training though, which involved working at derriford and cleaning the arses of old men that couldnt do it themselves. But she says you get used to it and dont even think about it in the end.
Hey Doc question: were you a MA Cdo? Cause i know you worked a lot with the Royals.
Yeh my sister is an MA serving in Yeovil right now, she loves her job, its probably a very wise choice! I didnt like hearing about some of her training though, which involved working at derriford and cleaning the arses of old men that couldnt do it themselves. But she says you get used to it and dont even think about it in the end.
Hey Doc question: were you a MA Cdo? Cause i know you worked a lot with the Royals.
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Doc
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Doc
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jockladfaejockland
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hi,
I am hopefully joinng as a MA in July, i have passed the selection and i am just awaiting my entry dates which seems to be taking forever to arrive. It was September last year when i had finished selection. There was a years waiting list when i applied.
I went down to portsmouth last summer during Trafalgar 200 and spoke to MAs there, came out after with a numb head i got so much information. I asked to see the sick bay of HMS Illustrious and the medical officer took me down to the sickbay and waked up the MA, he then showed me round the sickbay and its equipment. He also showed me the mess, where they sleep, shower, eat and the small gym, was good. Anyways i was wondering if someone could answer a few questions for me.
Will a qualification help at all later in my career? I am studying BND Public Services which is about the Armed and Emergency Services.
When you undertake the MA training are you doing the City and guilds qualification or is that something you can do later? I thought you did but on the Army website it says their medics get the oppoturnity to it later or is the Army different with its training.
Also any tips for HMS Raleigh would be useful. Can not wait to finish college and get started.
Cheers for any information. O and great info on the training voodoo sprout!
Mike
I am hopefully joinng as a MA in July, i have passed the selection and i am just awaiting my entry dates which seems to be taking forever to arrive. It was September last year when i had finished selection. There was a years waiting list when i applied.
I went down to portsmouth last summer during Trafalgar 200 and spoke to MAs there, came out after with a numb head i got so much information. I asked to see the sick bay of HMS Illustrious and the medical officer took me down to the sickbay and waked up the MA, he then showed me round the sickbay and its equipment. He also showed me the mess, where they sleep, shower, eat and the small gym
, was good. Anyways i was wondering if someone could answer a few questions for me.Will a qualification help at all later in my career? I am studying BND Public Services which is about the Armed and Emergency Services.
When you undertake the MA training are you doing the City and guilds qualification or is that something you can do later? I thought you did but on the Army website it says their medics get the oppoturnity to it later or is the Army different with its training.
Also any tips for HMS Raleigh would be useful. Can not wait to finish college and get started.
Cheers for any information. O and great info on the training voodoo sprout!
Mike
Last edited by mikey87 on Fri 20 Jan, 2006 1:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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flo
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I'm at the end of week 3 at Raleigh at the min. The drill sargeant ain't too bad actually, but he only joined a week or 2 ago, and has to keep asking the PO's n Leadings for help :/
Not really much advice to give, besides that you have to stick with everything. 5:45am mornings, 10:30 lights out, with a f@#k lot of lectures packed in between... throw PT, Drill and the shitty food, and you got yourself 1 hell of an 8 week course. Been speaking to some of the week 7 guys though, and supposedly, after piers cellars in week 3 its alot better...so roll on thursday
We getting quite a bit of stick though as we're the last lot of tiffs. Our entry of 55 peeps, is about 90% tiffs, with a few AETs, Chefs and Writers thrown in. We ain't even is Fisgard, we're in Walker
Not really much advice to give, besides that you have to stick with everything. 5:45am mornings, 10:30 lights out, with a f@#k lot of lectures packed in between... throw PT, Drill and the shitty food, and you got yourself 1 hell of an 8 week course. Been speaking to some of the week 7 guys though, and supposedly, after piers cellars in week 3 its alot better...so roll on thursday
We getting quite a bit of stick though as we're the last lot of tiffs. Our entry of 55 peeps, is about 90% tiffs, with a few AETs, Chefs and Writers thrown in. We ain't even is Fisgard, we're in Walker
