an emergency nursing education system for the military based on benner

introduction a mission of the military nurse is to deploy medical support for military forces on short notice. military nurses must possess a working knowledge of trauma management. peacetime military hospitals do not routinely care for severely injured patients. the military is challenged to provide multiple clinical opportunities for personnel to enable them to maintain readiness to respond to critically injured patients in times of war, natural disaster, or humanitarian need. the military bases its nursing competency levels on the work of patricia benner.1 benner described five levels of skill acquisition in nursing as follows: novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, or expert. the military nurse competencies were developed for competent level practitioners. benner stated that competence is present when nurses begin to see their actions in terms of long-range goals or plans. the attributes considered most important and those that can be ignored are dictated by these plans. objective this article describes how the military established a partnership with a level 1 trauma center and how the military bases nursing competency levels on the work of patricia benner. materials and methods more than 40 research papers were identified through a comprehensive literature review. numerous databases were utilized, including medline express, health and society, cinch-health, pubmed, and ebscohost full texts. conclusion the combined efforts of the supportive chain of commands and the regional level 1 trauma center clearly provided excellent training experience. the partnership between military and civilian colleagues was an ideal way to prepare military nurses for treating battlefield injuries, as there is no substitute for hands-on experience. the objective of providing increased trauma patient exposure and subsequent clinical interventions was clearly accomplished with military nurses moving closer to benner’s proficiency level.