Discussion NURS6003 - Week 8

Lindsay Montierth 

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A nursing portfolio is a compilation of skills, achievements, awards, and experience (Davis, 2015). This portfolio is a means of showing your accomplishments and progress in an effort to reach your professional goals. According to Margaret Burns, there are “three reasons to create a portfolio: 1. Self promotion; 2. Evidence of Outcomes; and 3. Structure and Direction” (2018). The two strategies that I will discuss are focused on the goal of self promotion and structure.

One strategy for including my academic accomplishments into my professional goals is to electronically file all of my coursework and keep it organized and accessible. During my undergraduate studies, I wrote many research papers and, unfortunately, I did not keep them. Over the years, I have lost that work and I regret not being more mindful of keeping track of my hard work and accomplishments.

A second strategy that I intend to use is to maintain a list of clinical competencies obtained as well as contact information for clinical preceptors. Clinical hours can be overwhelming and exhausting, especially when working full-time and running a household. My plan is to document my clinical experience each day in a quick journal entry. I can then look back at this journal and review all of the things that I learned from my preceptors.

One of the learning outcomes of the MSN program at Walden is to “Evaluate health needs of diverse populations for necessary teaching/coaching functions based on specialist nursing knowledge to restore/promote health and prevent illness/injury” (Walden University, n.d.). One of my professional goals is to work in the mental health field, specifically with the pediatric population. I want to work with children and adolescents who are learning to cope with mental health issues and substance abuse issues. I believe that these goals line up well with Walden’s emphasis on social change.

References

Burns, M.K. (2018). Creating a nursing portfolio. Ohio Nurses Review, 93 (3), 16-17.

Davis, C. (2015). Developing a professional nursing portfolio. Nursing Made Incredibly