C493 Professional Portfolio: A1. Creation of Professional Mission Statement

My mission statement is to be a knowledgeable and compassionate professional nurse that provides competent and high-quality care to patients. With the core values of equality, quality, respect, and professionalism, I believe I will be able to offer nursing care of high standards. I am looking forward to using the acquired knowledge during training to influence important decisions that can place the patient at the center. I am willing to focus my time and energy on research to come up with better ways of providing evidence-based care to patients across all age groups. Additionally, I intend to become a nurse leader in the future, ready to advocate for policy changes that can transform the nursing profession.

A1a. Reflection of Professional Mission statement

My professional mission statement emphasizes the core values, the use of evidence-based practice, and leadership to inform my nursing career. To better my skills in nursing, I plan to seek guidance from leaders and mentors so that I can strengthen my nursing career. I believe these individuals will be crucial in ensuring I practice with competence and compassion while upholding my core values. Secondly, I intend to engage in nursing research to familiarize myself with evidence-based practice and how it influences patient care today. Engagement in continuing education as a student and online learning will ensure that I will gather the most out of nursing education and practice. Lastly, my mission statement will help guide me through leadership by participating in seminars, professional meetings and closely interacting with nurse leaders. I intend to assume leadership positions in class, clinical areas, and other opportunities that may arise during my undergraduate nursing practice.

A2a. Portfolio Representation of a Learning and Healthcare Professional

Nursing competence is based on the knowledge gained in class and clinical practice areas. During classwork, students are normally exposed to assignments and tests that gauge the student’s understanding of the content and learning as a whole. The artifact that demonstrates my learning abilities is an assignment I did in fall focusing on health information systems. In this discussion, I presented my understanding of health information technology and how it has influenced learning. To demonstrate my abilities as a healthcare professional, the professional reference questionnaire filled during my clinical rotations demonstrates the different strengths that make me a better nurse. The artifact demonstrates my strengths in ensuring patient safety, interprofessional communication, and assuming responsibility.

A2b. Portfolio Professional Strengths

My professional strengths as a nurse can be obtained from the professional reference questionnaire filled during my last clinical rotation. Firstly, It is observed that I am a good team player that works with other professionals to provide safe and quality patient care. I believe in professionalism whereby acting according to the code of ethics is key to my nursing practice. The professional reference questionnaire also indicates that I always assume responsibility and work diligently to provide optimum care to patients according to their needs. Lastly, I am a dedicated nurse ready to support patients, colleagues, and families during their most difficult times.

A2c. Program Progression Challenges

Nursing training is a combination of theoretical and practical learning that enables students t acquire the necessary skills and attitudes for providing nursing care. During this preparation, students are faced with numerous challenges, especially during clinical areas. The most often observed challenge is ineffective communication due to improper treatment and discrimination (Jamshidi et al., 2016). During my clinicals, I found it difficult to interact with qualified staff because I was always incompetent according to them. Due to limited exposure to practical nursing, it was difficult to perform tasks without frequent inquiries. Another challenge observed was a lack of readiness to be a nurse due to deficient practical skills and issues with self-esteem.

A2c1. Overcoming Challenges

The first step towards overcoming the identified challenge was the acceptance that nursing education is complex and requires time to become a competent nurse. I liked it when the clinical instructors looked down upon me because it made me come back up stronger and wiser to tackle what was ahead of me. Secondly, I consulted with colleagues on how to communicate effectively and actively participated in briefing and debriefing sessions for students. These sessions were crucial because they identified common mistakes and provided strategies to overcome the experienced challenges. Another strategy to overcome the challenges was the use of mentorship programs that helped me shape my practical skills especially interprofessional collaboration and teamwork.

A2d. Program Outcomes

The BSN program outcomes dictate what is expected of a nurse upon completion of undergraduate nursing education. During the course, assignments and evaluation tests completed helped me to achieve most of the required BSN competencies. For instance, the first program outcome requires the nurse to communicate effectively in oral, written, interpersonal, and electronic modes. Through clinical rotations, I was able to develop my communication skills and work collaboratively with healthcare teams to realize positive patient outcomes. Secondly, I was able to assume accountability for providing and ensuring patient safety during clinical practice. Various class assignments helped me to synthesize theoretical, clinical, and empirical knowledge as part of the BSN program outcomes. In the clinical areas, I assumed leadership positions which helped me to apply leadership and education skills in nursing practice.

A2e. Fulfilling Roles

As a scientist, the nurse is supposed to correctly interpret and apply scientific evidence when planning and providing safe, quality, and culturally sensitive care for patients and families. During clinical practice, I was able to propose evidence-based strategies to address issues such as pressure ulcers. As a detective, I was in the front run to identify changes in the patient’s condition, document, and report them to qualified staff for further action. As the manager of the healing environment, I worked closely with qualified staff to respond to unpredictable situations and events, especially resuscitation of patients and preparation of patients for emergency surgeries.

A2f. Professional Growth

The nursing workforce constitutes the largest group in healthcare today, and to ensure retaining competent and confident nurses, professional growth is required. I believe the undergraduate nursing experience has facilitated my professional growth through mentorship. The clinical areas exposed me to nurse leaders who became mentors to guide me through the paths of becoming a competent and confident nurse. The program has broadened my understanding of interprofessional collaboration that is crucial to achieving quality outcomes. The course has broadened my understanding of nursing leadership and I am now able to fully focus on becoming a future nurse leader that can transform the healthcare industry.

1. Quality and Safety

B1. Quality and Safety: Reflection

Quality and safety are essential components of healthcare service delivery today. Professionally, I define quality as the extent to which an organization or an individual meets the needs of the patient and perhaps exceed their expectation. I believe quality care in healthcare is characterized by timely delivery of services, equity, equality, and patient-centeredness. On the other hand, safety involves the reduction and mitigation of unsafe acts in healthcare. I believe patient safety is part of quality whereby the provision of safe care generally improves the quality of services provided to patients.

B1a. Quality and Safety: Development of Professional Definition

The BSN program has pushed my development of understanding of quality and safety through clinical experience. While in the clinical area, I was able to understand that positive responses from the patient could only be achieved if the quality is evident. For example, I was able to observe how patients responded to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems(HCAHPS) surveys that presented a true reflection of quality services offered. Apart from the practicals, the nursing program conceptual model emphasized the need to provide quality and safe patient care. Through research, I was able to determine that evidence-based practice use is geared towards the promotion of patient safety and quality care.

B1b. Quality and Safety: Artifact Support

One of the tasks completed during the course discussed quality indicators in healthcare. The second artifact that supports quality and safety is the IHI certificate on quality and safety.

 B1b i. Quality and Safety: Artifacts Supporting Definition

The first task identified above focused on the nursing-sensitive indicators of quality care. I was able to identify and clarify the nursing-sensitive indicators of quality care like collaborative practice and teamwork. Focusing on the area of pressure ulcers, demonstrated how teamwork can help achieve positive patient outcomes. Secondly, I was able to complete an online program that emphasized the need for quality and safety in healthcare. The provision of the certificate indicates that I demonstrated competence in handling patients while maintaining safety and quality.

B2. Importance of IHI Certificate

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a professional organization that has shown great interest in the aspects of quality and patient safety. To strengthen these two areas, the institution offers an online training program that upon completion one is awarded a certificate. The IHI certificate demonstrates that the nurse has undergone specific training regarding the aspects of quality and patient safety and that the nurse can be relied upon to provide safe patient care. In my future role as a professional nurse, the certificate demonstrates that I am capable of leading nursing teams to provide safe patient care that translates to quality service in healthcare.

1. Evidence-Based Practice

C1. Evidence-Based Practice: Reflection

The BSN program introduces students to the concept of evidence-based practice(EBP) that aids to pinpoint care strategies that can improve patient care. I believe evidence-based practice is the use of nursing research, clinical expertise, and practice guidelines to inform nursing care provided to patients. Every evidence-based intervention must have a solid scientific background that makes it outstanding among many other available options.

C1a. Evidence-Based Practice: Development of Professional Definition

To learn more about evidence-based practice, a theoretical approach was used by instructors to deepen our understanding of the concept. I was able to understand why EBP is preferred over other methods of providing patient care. Secondly, I participated in nursing research that mostly involved a review of the literature to identify best practices that are supported by evidence to hand specific health problems. I was able to recognize the contribution of nursing science in developing evidence-based strategies to handle issues such as communication, interprofessional collaboration, patient safety, and shift handoffs that are always key challenges to the safe delivery of patient care.

C1b. Evidence-Based Practice: Artifact Support

The first artifact that supports the use of EBP in nursing is the task that deals with the management of pressure ulcers using education and training approaches. The second artifact is the evidence matrix that provides a list of articles that support the identified interventions to manage pressure ulcers.

C1b i. Evidence-Based Practice: Artifacts Supporting Definition

Evidence-based practice involves the integration of research evidence, clinical expertise, and a patient’s preferences to make informed choices during patient care. The first artifact describes the management of pressure ulcers using an education and training approach for nurses. Various research articles are explained in the paper to support the use of this approach over other measures. The second item presents a list of 30 evidence-based sources from current literature that support the above intervention. The inclusion of several sources indicates that enough evidence is available to support the proposed solution to managing pressure ulcers.

 

C2a. Primary Research

Application and the use of evidence-based practice from primary research depend on the relevance and believability of the obtained information. The relevance of information collected refers to how closely the identified material answers the question at hand or how it addresses the clinical problem. To ensure the relevance of primary research, I always use keywords during literature search and go through each article to ascertain that the information presented suits the topic of discussion. Believability, on the other hand, is determined by how well the authors are known and I often check for peer-reviewed articles published in well-known journals.

Quality improvement and research are terms that are interchangeably used during evidence-based practice use in nursing. Quality improvement refers to to the continuous use of actions that lead to measurable improvement in healthcare services and the health status of individuals (Backhouse & Ogunlayi, 2020). Quality improvement activities are designed to provide immediate or urgent solutions to healthcare problems. Research, on the other hand, is a systematic process that involves the development of a theory, testing of the theory, and evaluation of outcomes to determine whether the new change can be used to improve nursing practice. Unlike quality improvement that is used during urgency, nursing research is used to implement findings that could otherwise turn to be of no importance to a given health problem.

Evidence-based practices are often obtained from primary or secondary research. Primary research is self-conducted research that relies on findings to prove that a new change can lead to the desired outcome. Primary research is used in areas that are new to current practice or when secondary sources provide inconclusive data. Secondary research involves the use of already conducted research to inform new practices in healthcare. This research approach is used to solve already existing problems in healthcare.

C2b. Evidence-Based Practice: Achievement in Excellence

The BSN program has helped me achieve excellence in EBP through learning different ways to collect data, how to validate sources and the application of the new information to clinical practice. For example, I was able to learn that the best evidence is obtained from credible sources published within the last ten years. Secondly, obtaining sources from peer-reviewed journals can be helpful to have validated interventions to common nursing problems. Today, I can search literature from diverse locations focusing on certain health problems that can be solved using EBP.

1. Applied Leadership

D1. Applied Leadership: Reflection

Nursing leadership involves the practice of influencing others to improve the quality of care provided along with direct participation in clinical care. I view applied leadership as the act of using theory and knowledge gained in class and clinical experience to guide others in achieving set goals. Additionally, I believe applied leadership involves copying skills from other leaders and using the skills to inform new practices in healthcare.

D1a. Applied Leadership: Development of Professional Definition

As part of my clinical area practice, I managed to work with interdisciplinary teams. These teams formed a great foundation because I managed to identify values such as collaborative practice that can be emphasized by leaders to promote good leadership. Secondly, I realized that communication is an important role for nurse leaders as it changes the perspective of employees on issues concerning healthcare. Through the use of mentorship programs, I was able to observe how leaders applied their skills and expertise to solve problems within the healthcare environment.

D1b. Applied Leadership: Artifact Support

The artifact that supports my definition is the paper I submitted earlier that talked about organizational systems and quality leadership.

D1b i. Applied Leadership: Artifacts Supporting Definition

The artifact addresses nursing leadership by assessing how leaders manage problems in healthcare and evidence-based strategies to handle these problems. Focusing on ethical issues in nursing, the article discusses the role of nurse leaders in ensuring ethics is maintained in clinical practice.

D2a. Applied Leadership: Professional Collaboration

Providing the best hospital experience for patients requires coordination and communication between all providers. Professional collaboration is an approach where multiple disciplines work together to achieve common goals in healthcare (Busari et al., 2017). Interprofessional collaboration is observed to foster trust and respect that encourages the practice of treating each other as equals. Through collaborative practice, nurse leaders can manage projects on time as input from other professions streamlines activities (Folkman et al., 2019). Problem-solving in healthcare is made easier through interprofessional collaboration. Nurse leaders can work closely with other professionals to discuss new ways that can improve quality and address different healthcare concerns. Additionally, employee engagement is a factor that is dependent on interprofessional collaboration and teamwork. Engaged employees are more satisfied and produce high-quality care required in organizations.

1. Community and Population Health

E1. Community and Population Health: Reflection

Community and population health are two distinct approaches to promoting public health using promotive and preventive strategies. My professional definition of community health involves practices that promote the health of individuals in a given geographic location. The community health approach uses evidence-based practices while taking into consideration the cultural practices of the people. On the other perspective, population health involves the management of a specific group of people such as the elderly, individuals with hypertension, or those with certain health conditions.

E1a. Community and Population Health: Development of Professional Definition

During the community and population health course, I was able to interact with members of different communities. I was able to determine that each community was faced with different challenges. Through community-based research, I was able to determine that these problems are caused by various factors specific to a given community or geographical location. Additionally, I was presented with an opportunity to study vulnerable populations, and propose strategies to solve problems experienced with these groups.

E1b. Community and Population Health: Artifact Support

My definition of community and population health is supported by the community health task one that focused on the sentinel city community.

E1b i. Community and Population Health: Artifacts Supporting Definition

The sentinel city task focused on the collection of data from the community using a windshield survey and assessment of the determinants of health. Throughout the exercise, I was able to identify the healthcare needs of the people, factors influencing their health, and the community resources available to solve their problems. Additionally, I was able to recommend changes that could help the community members achieve better health outcomes.

E2a. Community and Population Health: Community Health Task

The community health task helped me learn more about the population health needs and unique strategies to manage the healthcare needs of the people. I understood that healthcare problems cannot be the same in different communities. However, I noticed that some populations faced the same challenges due to their locality and presence of similar characteristics. For example, people in rural areas had problems with healthcare insurance cover, access to healthcare services, and poverty issues. I was also able to learn that disparity between the rich and the poor greatly affects health. Ricer communities portrayed a healthy picture because of accessibility to healthcare services and availability of capital to cater to their needs. s

E2b. Community and Population Health: Community Diagnosis

The community diagnosis established during the course was the lack of quality healthcare services related to poverty. I was able to observe a huge difference between individuals in rural and urban areas regarding areas of healthcare access, insurance coverage, and availability of healthcare workers. Lack of quality healthcare services was the leading cause of immunization problems and poor management of STIs in some regions.

E2c. Community and Population Health: Changes in Focus

During the community diagnosis process, my initial focus was on adolescent health, especially the alarming rates of STIs in the community. However, I realized that lack of sufficient community resources was the contributing factor to poor health outcomes. At this point, my initial focus was diverted and I started to engage my resources towards increasing awareness of the disease among the community members.

E3. Community and Population Health: Importance of AMNH Certificate

The AMNH certificate is a recognition given upon completion of the American Museum of Natural History in Genetics, Genomics, Genethics for Nursing course. The document is proof that one has completed the course and fully understands how genomics and genethics tailor specific interventions to various diseases in healthcare. This document can be useful in the future, especially in approval for participation in nursing research focusing on genetics and genomics.

References

Backhouse, A., & Ogunlayi, F. (2020). Quality improvement into practice. BMJ Clinical Research, 368, m865. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m865

Busari, J. O., Moll, F. M., & Duits, A. J. (2017). Understanding the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the quality of care: A case report from a small-scale resource limited health care environment. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 10, 227–234. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S140042

Folkman, A. K., Tveit, B., & Sverdrup, S. (2019). Leadership in interprofessional collaboration in health care. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 12, 97–107. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S189199

Jamshidi, N., Molazem, Z., Sharif, F., Torabizadeh, C., & Najafi Kalyani, M. (2016). The Challenges of Nursing Students in the Clinical Learning Environment: A Qualitative Study. The Scientific World Journal, 2016, 1846178. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/1846178