Professional Portfolio
A professional portfolio is an essential document for any nurse at every stage of their career. This is because “portfolios include artifacts selected by students that illustrate achievement of competencies and skills and provide evidence of learning, both for assessment and to illustrate progress in the DNP learning journey” (Melander et al., 2020, p. 1).
Portfolio development is a complex and lengthy process, and for many students, it becomes a challenge with many barriers. Perhaps some of the respondents would agree with this statement. One of these barriers to portfolio development is the lack of time to draw up, review and assess the portfolio. Students can apply two productive time management strategies to optimize time resources. These are preliminary project planning and distractions elimination in the process of portfolio development.
Barriers, Guidelines, and Consulting
Nursing students sometimes struggle with what they should focus on in their portfolio and the type and amount of evidence needed. Simply put, they do not know where to start their portfolio. It is another barrier that prevents nurses and specialists of other fields from successfully developing a high-quality professional portfolio. There are two practical options for solving this common issue. One of these strategies is choosing the most appropriate guideline and following it.
According to Melander et al. (2020), “a DNP portfolio rubric/guideline … help them determine what exemplars to place in their DNP portfolio” (p. 2). One may also seek professional advice and help in developing a portfolio from a more experienced colleague or educator. They are people who have already successfully compiled their professional portfolios, so their tips could be constructive.
Confidence, Interprofessional Collaboration and Education, and Training
The last two barriers often lead to the third one in nursing students. They begin to feel that they lack the experience and confidence to start working on their professional portfolios. As the previous two problems described above, this one is also solvable. Tudball and Phillips (2017) note that one of the most efficient methods for developing professional confidence in students is interprofessional collaboration and participation in interprofessional education programs and events.
Another productive tactic that is worth mentioning is attending related professional training. There, students can become more confident in their new portfolio development and even gain some experience. However, it is essential to be able not only to overcome barriers and compile a comprehensive portfolio quickly but also to know how to apply it in the future nursing practice to achieve career success.
Professional Portfolio and Future Career Goals
It can be said that a professional portfolio is a summary of all the highlights of previous experience, as well as the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of a nurse. It shows the employer what helpful, unique, and innovative practices a nurse can bring to a particular healthcare setting. One can safely say that a well-compiled professional portfolio is a significant career boost. One of the items in my portfolio will be a brief description of the DNP project.
I believe that my research on remote monitoring of geriatric patients with chronic conditions will significantly improve chronic care management. It will enable healthcare facilities “to deliver safe, effective, high-quality health care” more effectively (Chism, 2016, p. 392). I believe that it will make me a prominent specialist in the fast-growing field of telehealth. I would be happy to hear how other respondents see how their professional portfolio will contribute to their career development.
Reflecting on Course Material
This course taught me a lot and showed me new directions for further personal and professional development. I have succeeded in developing the patient, intervention, comparison, outcome and time (PICOT) question, and the research topic. I also fully understood the characteristics and differences of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed types of research.
My skills in framing and describing interventions and choosing and identifying data collection methods have also developed, but I think I still need more practice on these issues. Moreover, I am still not very good at choosing data analysis instruments and describing descriptive and inferential statistics. More fieldwork is also needed because it is just never enough.
Personal Progress in Terms of DNP Essentials
I feel confident that this course has significantly developed my understanding of the nursing profession. Now, I have a well-developed skill in translating science-based concepts and theoretical approaches into practice (Chism, 2016). One of my main career goals, which is the mastery of information systems and patient care technologies, has also been successfully achieved (Chism, 2016).
I have also excelled in the theory of interprofessional collaboration, but frankly, I need more practice in this field. Thanks to this course, I now better assess and identify the chronic conditions and needs of patients. I can conclude that I have made significant progress in understanding the fundamentals and nuances of advanced nursing practice and applying various modern strategies, tactics, and models of treatment and care. I would be glad to know what other students have achieved.
References
Chism, A. L. (2016). The doctor of nursing practice: A guidebook for role development and professional issues. Jones & Bartlett.
Melander, S., Hampton, D. C., Ossege, J., Hardin-Pierce, M. G., & Scott, L. (2020). Use of a DNP essentials-based rubric for guiding the development of student DNP portfolios. Sigma Repository. Web.
Tudball, L., & Phillips, M. (2017). Building intercultural competence and professional confidence through collaboration in an Italian IPE. In A. Fitzgerald et al. (Eds.), Narratives of learning through international professional experience (pp. 95-110). Springer.