01 / Occupational profile
Your 2900 occupational profile
Bloodborne pathogen and sharps exposure
Common occupational factor
IV starts, blood draws, wound care, and handling used sharps and biohazard waste create routine opportunities for needlestick injuries and blood or body-fluid contact.
Anesthetic gas exposure (nurse anesthetists)
Common occupational factor
Nurse anesthetists work in operating-room environments with potential trace exposure to waste anesthetic gases during case setup, induction, and emergence.
Patient handling and back/shoulder strain
Common occupational factor
Repositioning, transferring, and ambulating patients — ashore or aboard ship in confined spaces — is a recognized source of back and shoulder strain in bedside and operational nursing.
Shipboard and expeditionary deployment duty
Location-dependent
Casualty receiving aboard hospital ships and at expeditionary medical units exposes nurses to shipboard noise, confined-space conditions, and surges tied to operational tempo.
02 / Your service
What did you actually do?
Your MOS is the starting point. Your actual assignment, era, equipment, location, and duties determine which parts of the occupational history are relevant. Use the Evidence Builder below to select your actual duties and see records that may corroborate them.
Nurse Corps officers provide direct nursing care, lead clinical departments, and in advanced-practice or nurse-anesthetist roles, manage patients independently within their credentialed scope. Shipboard and expeditionary assignments add casualty receiving and operational nursing duties aboard hospital ships and expeditionary medical units, often in confined spaces with limited specialist backup and unpredictable patient surges tied to the ship's mission. Nurse anesthetists manage airway and anesthetic gas exposure during surgical cases, a recognized occupational hazard in operating-room environments. Across all specialties, shift work, patient handling, and bloodborne-pathogen exposure from needles, lines, and wound care are constant features of the job, whether ashore or at sea.
Duties that may vary by assignment
- Direct nursing care and clinical department leadership at Navy hospitals or MTFs
- Casualty receiving and operational nursing aboard hospital ships and expeditionary units
- Advanced-practice duties: nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, or nurse anesthetist care
- IV starts, blood draws, wound care, and medication administration
- Anesthetic gas and airway management exposure for nurse anesthetists
- Patient repositioning, transfers, and ambulation
- Rotating shift work including nights, weekends, and underway watch rotations
- Handling sharps and biohazard waste as part of routine procedures
Related historical codes: 2905 Reserve component Nurse Corps designator
Private, on this page only
Military Occupational Evidence Builder
Based on what you actually did in the military, what records might document it? Select only what applied to you. No name, file number, contact details, free text, or upload. Nothing is saved or sent.
Military service
Navy · 2900 Nurse Corps Officer
For another specialty, open its guide from the MOS library. A job code alone does not establish individual duties or exposure.
Era(s) of service
Deployments
Already have a VA decision?
Your Evidence Builder identifies records that may document your service history. If VA has already decided your claim, the next question is different: what did VA accept, what did VA reject, and why?
Request a free decision review03 / Corroboration
Building your occupational history
Records matter because they can connect a job title to an individual's actual work and circumstances.
Bloodborne pathogen and sharps exposure
Records that may corroborate it
- · Occupational health exposure incident reports (needlestick/BBP logs)
- · Post-exposure prophylaxis and follow-up lab records
- · Duty assignment records placing you on an inpatient ward, OR, or procedure area
Limit: A Nurse Corps assignment does not by itself establish a specific bloodborne pathogen exposure. A reported incident, current diagnosis, and medical opinion are still required.
Anesthetic gas exposure (nurse anesthetists)
Records that may corroborate it
- · Credentialing/privileging file documenting nurse-anesthetist role and OR assignment
- · Occupational health/industrial hygiene records for the operating suite, if available
- · Duty assignment records placing you in anesthesia practice
Limit: An anesthesia assignment does not by itself establish the level of gas exposure or a resulting diagnosis; current clinical findings and a medical opinion are required.
Patient handling and back/shoulder strain
Records that may corroborate it
- · Sick call, physical therapy, or occupational health visits during the assignment
- · Line-of-duty or incident reports for a specific lifting or transfer injury
- · FITREPs or duty descriptions documenting ward, OR, or shipboard assignment
Limit: Typical patient-handling demands do not by themselves establish that a specific joint or disc was injured in service; a current diagnosis and medical opinion are required.
Shipboard and expeditionary deployment duty
Records that may corroborate it
- · Deployment orders and ship/unit location records
- · Hearing-conservation audiograms, if assigned to noise-hazardous spaces
- · Unit medical logs documenting casualty surges, if retained
Limit: Deployment alone does not establish a specific diagnosis; clinical findings and a medical opinion are required.
04 / Evidence standard
What your MOS can — and cannot — establish
May help document
Work performed, circumstances of service, consistency of an alleged exposure, and the nature or duration of duties where supported by individual records.
Does not automatically establish
A diagnosis, medical causation, severity, percentage, presumption, or entitlement to service connection.
05 / Medical evidence
Conditions that may be relevant to the occupational history
This is not a list of conditions to claim. A veteran's actual diagnosis and individual service record determine relevance; occupational evidence is not medical causation.
Infectious / bloodborne +
Bloodborne pathogen exposure sequelae
Why the occupation may matter: Needlestick and blood/body-fluid exposure incidents are a documented occupational hazard for nursing staff.
Records and clinical evidence: Occupational health exposure report, current diagnosis, and a medical opinion.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
Spine / joints +
Back and shoulder conditions
Why the occupation may matter: Patient transfers and repositioning, including in confined shipboard spaces, are a recognized mechanical demand.
Records and clinical evidence: Current diagnosis, in-service treatment or duty records, and a medical opinion.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
Hearing +
Tinnitus and hearing loss
Why the occupation may matter: Shipboard assignments can place nursing staff in spaces with engineering or flight-deck noise depending on the platform.
Records and clinical evidence: Audiometry meeting 38 CFR § 3.385, service audiograms, and a medical opinion.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
Sleep +
Insomnia and sleep disruption
Why the occupation may matter: Rotating shift work and underway watch rotations are a routine feature of Nurse Corps scheduling.
Records and clinical evidence: Current diagnosis, duty-schedule records, and a medical opinion.
Occupational history alone does not establish this diagnosis or its medical relationship to service.
06 / Exposure record
ILER and toxic exposure
For applicable exposure-related claims, VA may review the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) and a toxic exposure risk activity (TERA) memorandum along with deployment and occupational records. An ILER entry does not automatically establish exposure or service connection.
07 / After a decision
Why a 2900 claim may still be denied
An exposure finding is not the same as a grant. These are examples from the researched guide, not predictions about a particular case.
VA may accept
A duty or event consistent with the service record
But may deny
A diagnosis, medical relationship, or rating element
Record to examine
Decision findings, service and private treatment records, examination rationale, and medical opinions.
Designator alone used to infer platform or specialty
2900 covers a wide range of roles and platforms; FITREPs and orders naming the specific hospital, ship, or clinic add the detail a bare designator cannot.
Needlestick incident never formally reported
Busy wards or ORs sometimes meant a stick or splash got treated informally; without an occupational health report, the incident can be hard to document years later.
Back strain attributed to "nursing duties" generally
A vague description is harder to evaluate than a record naming the specific unit, patient population, and tasks involved.
Oakridge Claims / Appeals Focused
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The important question is what VA accepted, what it rejected, and why. A decision review considers the decision, examinations, and the complete record — including private and VA records that may need development. Oakridge is appeals-focused — core work is post-decision, but initial and new claims are accepted on a case-by-case basis (no fee for pre-decision work).
Fees for eligible post-decision representation are governed by a written agreement. See fee details. No outcome is guaranteed.
2900 questions
Does the 2900 designator tell VA what kind of nurse I was?
Not specifically. It identifies the Nurse Corps community broadly; FITREPs, orders, and credentialing records show your actual specialty and assignments.
I served on a hospital ship. Does that establish a specific exposure?
Not by itself. Deployment orders and ship location records document where you served; the specific exposure or injury still needs its own supporting evidence.
What if my needlestick during a procedure was never logged?
Buddy statements from coworkers, personal medical records showing post-exposure testing, and duty records placing you in the unit may help document it after the fact.
Sources and legal references
General education only; not legal or medical advice. Oakridge Claims is a private business, not affiliated with or endorsed by VA. Nothing here establishes a representative-client relationship or guarantees a result. Free accredited VSO help is available.