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NURS1001H Electronic Portfolio Assignment.
Introduction.
A nursing portfolio is an essential part of a professional’s toolkit, which demonstrates their progress, embraces individual beliefs, and establishes a record of success. This compiled electronic portfolio shall act as a framework for lifelong learning with competence enhancement for the nursing profession. This involves using theory, clinical practice, seminars, and personal reflections to offer an overview of the development of the program. As such, this portfolio defines my position as a future nurse through communicating experience and relating it to a nurse’s competencies. It fosters self-assessment, analysis, and planning in relation to the fundamentals of professional practice as outlined in the scope of the nursing practice framework. Therefore, my main goal is to provide competent, caring, patient-centred practice and work toward personal and professional growth in this fulfilling profession.
Beliefs About Nursing (Philosophy).
Nursing is an evolutionary profession based on care, education, and the promotion of justice. In essence, nursing responds to the need for the client-as-person approach, where individuality and patient preferences are valued. Advocacy is essential; patients have the right to know and defend themselves and protect their liberties. Continuing education is also important as it allows nurses to be updated with practice-based evidence, reducing patient complication rates. Understanding that all trusting and healing relationships are based on empathy and compassion is critical. Professionalism and ethics are two important principles that help nurses effectively provide quality care while practising professionalism and being responsible for their actions. These are my nursing philosophical setters, and I believe that patients should be cared for as a whole. This includes the physical, occupational, emotional, and religious aspects. As a result of the personal reflections and practice in this learning, the ideals of excellence and equity will be observed in practice. This belief system links up to the general philosophy of nursing, a humanistic and scientific discipline of care that focuses on improving health and human dignity.
Fig 1: Infographic of core values.
Personal Values.
Cultures are a belief system that defines how people in a certain organization or country should behave or conduct themselves daily. In nursing, values provide ethical and quality services in providing care. The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) Code of Conduct and Professional Standards serves as the personal scope of practice framework that, upon adherence, results in the highest personal and professional accountability, integrity, and competence in practice.
Nursing professionals maintain ethical and sensitive concerns through compassion as one of its fundamental principles. Pehlivan and Güner (2020) stress that care is giving the patient an understanding of what’s best and needs, which enables nurses to supply the necessary services compassionately. Despite its difficulty in defining it clearly, one can confidently assert that compassionate care touches on the most critical and core aspects of patient care and professional nursing practice. In the real world, empathy was crucial, particularly during a clinical situation where an emotionally unstable patient required consolation; thus, compassion is important in developing trust in the healing process.
Nurses should have integrity in making proper decisions and always indicate the right thing. Guerrero-Dib et al.(2020) state that integrity learnt within the classroom is more important than professional ethical behaviour, thus reinforcing professionalism or accountability. I exercised integrity while practising clinical when I pointed out an error made to maintain patients’ integrity. This action showed professionalism, ethical practice, and personal responsibility towards the system. This incorporated integrity in nursing policies and practice brings about the basic standards and values of ethical nursing practice and accountability (Guerrero-Dib et al., 2020).
Accountability is the ability to provide safety, ethics, and standards of care in nursing. In clinical practice, it acts as a safeguard for the quality of practice builds credibility, and improves the welfare of patients. One day in the clinical rotation, I identified a difference in the dosage of the medications and taped my supervisor on the same. It stopped the possible adverse result and, more importantly, proved that I was ready and willing to protect the patient. Besides increasing confidence in other colleagues in the different health departments, accountability is a strategy that fosters constant quality improvement since it reminds the professionals they are answerable for every nursing action they undertake.
Patient relationships require one to respect them and their autonomy as they are the customers of healthcare providers. For instance, respect in practice means listening to the other parties, respecting their cultural norms, and not disclosing any information that is being shared. In any clinical encounter, I ensure that the patient’s choice is embraced and the care plan is shared. By doing this, trust was created, avoiding communication barriers and enhancing the results. Respect makes the patient feel appreciated, which leads to a good rapport with the patient. Nurses promote patient satisfaction and establish an environment in which healing and patients’ capacity to empower themselves occur.
Fig 2: Nursing ethics and values.
Reflection on Entry to Nursing.
Nursing career decision-making has been the best decision ever in my life. It implies changing the responsibilities, knowledge, and values within the business environment. At first, I was not very confident about handling the load of clinical practice. In time, however, I was the one who accepted all the challenges since that brought me confidence and understanding of the function. This change constructed my series of future nurses.
Originally, this concept limited nursing to maintaining patients, technical support for the health care delivery, and a science of care only. However, I see nursing as a profession of leaders, independence, and advocates. According to Godsey et al. (2020), nursing has an inconsistent image that hinders its recognition of autonomy due to stereotypes persistent over time. These perceptions affected my perception of nursing initially, but later, when I began working clinically, I realized that it is more than that; in fact, it touches patient outcomes. These changes in education formats and clinical restrictions affected my developmental process during the COVID-19 pandemic, though I persevered, as Michel et al. (2021) noted, due to those barriers. This kind of transformation made me appreciate the versatility of nursing and the need to face challenges that help in personal and professional growth.
One of the experiences that influenced my nursing view was observing great teamwork during a patient’s conspicuous stage. This forced the groups to demonstrate cooperation between the members and also a fast decision-making process. Godsey et al. (2020) note that nursing involves professionalism and leadership prowess, which is impressions in such strenuous situations. In the same way, Michel et al. Using prior examples of many of these challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, describe those challenges as requiring increased flexibility and collaboration between professions. The situational analysis of the team that illustrated patient safety and communication for the patient reflected a great real-life influence of integrated care. This event reminded me of basic principles for medical practice, such as the fact that nursing is much more than job assignments. Besides, it incorporates teamwork and anticipation of problems. It enhanced my understanding and purpose for fostering this important skill in practice.
I realized that nursing is one of the broad fields that demand leadership skills and the ability to adapt to changes and work with others. These experiences built positivity and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am committed to surmounting them. Observing how everyone collaborated pointed out the value of communication and cooperation in patient care. These make me appreciate the nursing profession as diverse and challenging and also ensure that I build more competency skills to enhance my career practice and patient advocacy.
SMART Goals.
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound objectives. These offer a strategic model for the development of individuals and their careers. Acquiring specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals in nursing helps direct skill advancement effectively. These goals enhance modality responsibility and describe progress over time regarding academic and clinical requirements.
By utilising different resources, I want to enhance my clinical assessment skills to a significant degree. I will use virtual simulation and in-person practice tools. As an assessment tool, I shall perform five clinical scenarios every week. I will spend at least three hours per week in simulations that will allow me to apply effort towards skill acquisition. To my surprise, this goal fits the clinical curriculum in the second semester and helps me practice with real-life applications. This is because concentration on aspects like patient history and symptoms will likely improve my confidence level perceptibly. These objectives are quite achievable in my present working timetable and resource availability. Before the end of March 2024, I will be able to perform basic, essential assessment skills to academic and professional standards for nursing.
I aim to improve my reflective writing skills as a student and a professional. Specifically, I will enrol in first-year service-learning workshops or tutorials. I need to apply reflective writing, and I think only to take advantage of the workshops or tutorials that can enhance my writing skills. During the project implementation, one reflection will be given to a peer or a mentor weekly to assess the work done. Performing this musical piece will be consistent with at least the rate of one hour per week. This goal helps me to evaluate experiences and communicate insights by assessing those experiences in a much more nuanced way. Enhanced reflective writing is very beneficial, particularly in clinical courses and writing. From the above plan, I have ensured it is feasible with the available resources and does not clash with the academic calendar. The goal that should be achieved by April 2024 is considerable enhancement of reflective writing skills based on the production of clear, insightful and neatly structured reflective entries, which can be regarded as academic entries and promote lifelong learning in nursing.
Fig 3: Nursing care plan smart goals
Beginning Collection of Artifacts.
Artifacts in a nursing portfolio act more as evidence of accomplishments, personal and career development, and adherence to the standards. The Certification of Completion in CPR attests to my deep concern for patient care and readiness to tackle related health emergencies and my dedication to core nursing courses. In a sample of the reflective journal, skills in critical thinking, experience gained, and lessons learnt are crucial characteristics for growth. Last, a clinical evaluation report is evidence of my improvement and skills in practising theoretical knowledge and that I can fulfil clinical expectations. These artefacts can then confirm the student’s nursing undertaking and relate achievement to nursing principles. The documents represent irrefutable evidence of my willingness to advance further in a profession and improve the patients’ lives.
Fig 4: Ancient Artefact
Conclusion.
In conclusion, this portfolio showcases my beliefs, values, and personal, professional and academic goals as a nursing student. It captures what I believe nursing is a career based on passion, professionalism, ethics, and dignity. According to the SMART goals, the priority is on skill acquisition in clinical assessments and reflective writing, hence constant improvement. The included artefacts show an improvement and dedication in patient safety, thinking critically, and clinical performance. Education and training form an important part of my nursing career and practice that I continue when holding the position. Thus, this portfolio signifies the first step towards becoming a competent and reflective practitioner. Therefore, it reads as a map for future progress, leading me to provide proper patient care and maintain paramount nursing performance.
References.
Godsey, J. A., Houghton, D. M., & Hayes, T. (2020). Registered nurse perceptions of factors contributing to the inconsistent brand image of the nursing profession. Nursing outlook, 68(6), 808-821.
Guerrero-Dib, J. G., Portales, L., & Heredia-Escorza, Y. (2020). Impact of academic integrity on workplace ethical behaviour. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 16(1), 2.
Michel, A., Ryan, N., Mattheus, D., Knopf, A., Abuelezam, N. N., Stamp, K., … & Fontenot, H. B. (2021). Undergraduate nursing students’ perceptions on nursing education during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: A national sample. Nursing Outlook, 69(5), 903-912.
Pehlivan, T., & Güner, P. (2020). Compassionate care: can it be defined, provided, and measured. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 11(1), 64-69..