Can someone explain the Healthcare Student Officer role and benefits with the National Guard?

[magician7772222]

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I recently discovered this position and have never heard of it before, I also cannot find much about it online. The main things that I find unappealing about the Army Reserves programs are that you have to wait until after residency to complete your service commitment. I would much rather do my service when I know I will be passionate about it and not commit to something that I will begin years down the line. From what I understand the Healthcare Student Officer role would have me performing my commitment while in medical school and will have me receiving whatever benefits come with it however I can't seem to find anything online about what the role consists of or what the benefits received are. If there are other similar programs I am not aware of with the army navy or airforce I would be glad to hear about them too.

 

[comp1]

No, you don't get credit while you are in medical school. That's why you can't find anything because you're misunderstanding it. You might get a TINY amount of drill time (hence the "officer" title), but you definitely aren't useful to anyone to do anything that would satisfy a service obligation while you are in medical school. You are always incurring a debt while in med school, either money or time. In this case, I believe it's 2 years of reserve time for each year they pay for, although I'm sure the specifics vary. If you don't want to commit to something you may not be eager to do later, take out loans now. Wait until after residency and then decide. There are an ABUNDANCE of programs to pay off your loans after residency quickly including military, VA, state hospitals, private companies, etc.

 

[magician7772222]

No, you don't get credit while you are in medical school. That's why you can't find anything because you're misunderstanding it. You might get a TINY amount of drill time (hence the "officer" title), but you definitely aren't useful to anyone to do anything that would satisfy a service obligation while you are in medical school. You are always incurring a debt while in med school, either money or time. In this case, I believe it's 2 years of reserve time for each year they pay for, although I'm sure the specifics vary. If you don't want to commit to something you may not be eager to do later, take out loans now. Wait until after residency and then decide. There are an ABUNDANCE of programs to pay off your loans after residency quickly including military, VA, state hospitals, private companies, etc.

Medical and dental students can serve as a Healthcare Student Officer while attending medical or dental school. Healthcare Student Officers are placed in nondeployable positions, are eligible to participate in substantial financial assistance programs, and receive professional development during their professional programs.
https://nationalguard.com/healthcare-bonuses-and-loans

This is what the national guard page for Florida says, this clearly says that you perform some sort of role, mostly doing health checkups from what I understand during medical school.

 

[comp1]

I stand by what I said. Military medicine might not be the Mayo Clinic, but they don't have med students doing "health checkups" to fulfill a service obligation. Active duty might allow something AFTER med school and before residency, but the reserves won't and it would be a waste your time if they did. I mean practically, let's say they don't care.about your lack of knowledge at all. When exactly are you, Officer MS2, running this primary care clinic, midnight to 6 AM? Med school is not part time. It is actually several full time equivalents.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Actually, the National Guard does have an option to commission under the Early Commissioning for Physicians program. You have an 8 year obligation starting whenever you commission as a 2LT during school but you don't get any real benefits beyond drill pay and non-deployability while collecting basically 8 free years toward retirement during your time in training. If you want to serve the extra 12 and retire it's a good gig but otherwise probably a waste of time.

 

[magician7772222]

I stand by what I said. Military medicine might not be the Mayo Clinic, but they don't have med students doing "health checkups" to fulfill a service obligation. Active duty might allow something AFTER med school and before residency, but the reserves won't and it would be a waste your time if they did. I mean practically, let's say they don't care.about your lack of knowledge at all. When exactly are you, Officer MS2, running this primary care clinic, midnight to 6 AM? Med school is not part time. It is actually several full time equivalents.

Well then in that case what would the program listed refer to?

 

[comp1]

I mean honestly, it STILL doesn't look like you do much of anything while in medical school, but you sure do incur a major post training service obligation: https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/ang/publication/angi41-102/angi41-102.pdf

 

[magician7772222]

I mean honestly, it STILL doesn't look like you do much of anything while in medical school, but you sure do incur a major post training service obligation: https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/ang/publication/angi41-102/angi41-102.pdf

this is air national guard not army.

 

[DeadCactus]

The medical student positions are often just available to people taking MDSSP or some other incentive program. There have been intermittent opportunities to join the Guard/Reserve as a medical student without participating in incentive programs. You join under the typical 6 year obligation and get drill pay plus any federal or state benefits available to service members. It was not a bad way to taste the military life and probably a better option than MDSSP once they changed the payback to start post-residency. I'd be surprised if anyone is actively taking medical students in this capacity given the current emphasis on downsizing and budget cuts.

However you join, the medical student role is going to vary based on the unit and your leadership. You may just be a warm body that shows up at drill. You may be given actual responsibility such as a Platoon Leader position. You will not provide healthcare as a medical student. You'll have to ask the unit you are looking to join what they expect.

 

[magician7772222]

The medical student positions are often just available to people taking MDSSP or some other incentive program. There have been intermittent opportunities to join the Guard/Reserve as a medical student without participating in incentive programs. You join under the typical 6 year obligation and get drill pay plus any federal or state benefits available to service members. It was not a bad way to taste the military life and probably a better option than MDSSP once they changed the payback to start post-residency. I'd be surprised if anyone is actively taking medical students in this capacity given the current emphasis on downsizing and budget cuts.

However you join, the medical student role is going to vary based on the unit and your leadership. You may just be a warm body that shows up at drill. You may be given actual responsibility such as a Platoon Leader position. You will not provide healthcare as a medical student. You'll have to ask the unit you are looking to join what they expect.

Wouldn't joining the guard during med school be a terrible idea without any of the incentive programs? Not for monetary reasons but given potential deployments and extra long drill weekends potentially disrupting your school schedule?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Wouldn't joining the guard during med school be a terrible idea without any of the incentive programs? Not for monetary reasons but given potential deployments and extra long drill weekends potentially disrupting your school schedule?

You're still non-deployable in these programs. But yeah drill weekend shenanigans are still a consideration.

 

[magician7772222]

You're still non-deployable in these programs. But yeah drill weekend shenanigans are still a consideration.

Are there any programs that you know of by name? I've never heard of a non-incentive position for serving in the guard while remaining non-deployable

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Are there any programs that you know of by name? I've never heard of a non-incentive position for serving in the guard while remaining non-deployable

The "incentive" is that you commission in a "healthcare" position prior to med school graduation. They commission you as Medical Services +- basically shadowing the unit docs and other healthcare adjacent professions.

The ANG program is called something like Early Appointment or Commissioning for Physicians I believe. I'm not sure if there's an Army equivalent and I'm not sure if the program is currently recruiting/active. I tried reaching out about it to my state med detachment recruiter and he didn't know what it was so I just ended up doing HPSP.