Difference between nurse and corpsman in the navy?

A nurse in the navy is a college graduate and a commissioned officer. A corpsman is an enlisted with advanced first aid training.

If the nurse holds a nursing degree then he/she would likely be a Commissioned Officer.

A nurse has 4 years of training. A corpsman has 4 months of training. Corpsmen can get advanced training and have greater technical proficiency in some areas than a nurse who has no such advanced training, but that would be in a narrow field. X-ray techs are corpsmen, not nurses, but in the civilian world, x-ray techs are not nurses. The Navy can use corpsman in surgery in ways where there is no civilian equivalent. An independent duty corpsman has a lot of advanced training and they can be very good, but that again is in a more limited and technical sense.

A nurse has a BSN, corpsmen with A school only are like a cross between Nurses Aide and Medical Assistant

On the other hand the US Army uses LVNs and they are enlisted

Just an aside many Navy Nurses and PAs used to think it was unfair that IDCs could prescribe narcotics but they could not without a Drs cosigning

Source ::Retired Navy Corpsman

Nurse is an officer who has a BS in Nursing and a Corpsman is Enlisted who has medical training for about 3 months similar to EMT

a nurse has a BSN. an HM has 14 weeks of what amounts to First Responder training. it takes much additional training and certification exams for an HM to be close to a civilian EMT or Paramedic.

I think the corpsman was trained by the Navy while a nurse was a nurse prior to entering the military or obtained degree while serving and was upgraded. Nurses can legal do some stuff corpsman cannot.

years of training

a nurse is a nurse-- requires a college degree in nursing

a corpsman is like a EMT-- requires weeks of training

A nurse is an officer, has at least a four year bachelors degree in nursing and is licensed in at least one state as a Registered Nurse. A corpsman is enlisted. He is a combination of an orderly, a nursing assistant, an LPN and an EMT/paramedic. The corpsman is always under the authority of an officer, usually a nurse but it could be a doctor too. Corpsmen are often assigned to be with a Marine unit, in which case they would serve as a combat medic. While there is a direct civilian counterpart to a nurse, there is none for a corpsman. If the corpsman wants to use his skills outside he will have to get a license as an EMT, an LPN or perhaps a nursing assistant. Without the licenses, there is little he can do in the civilian world.

In simple terms

A Nurse in the Navy (and all other branches) is on Officer, and just like a nurse in the civilian world.

A Corpsman is enlisted and basically the Navy version of an Paramedic