Professional Practice Portfolio In Nursing †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Professional Practice Portfolio In Nursing. Answer: Professional practice portfolio: Description: Professional practice portfolio is a document that an individual use to define their lifelong learning, knowledge and skills in relations to competence required in specific area of practice. In the context of nursing practice, a professional practice portfolio for a student nurse is one that describes how their live long learning, personal interest and achievements are in alignment for practice as a registered nurse (Green, Wyllie Jackson, 2014). It should have evidence and description that provides evidence regarding personal accountability for registered nurse practice and having the ability to meet all the NMBA standards for RN practice in Australia. Some of the components that is essential in professional practice portfolio includes the following: A collection of documents that define the nurses competence and clinical expertise for practice as a registered nurse List of values, beliefs and skills of the nurse to engage in safe and quality practice Evidence of participation in any activity to demonstrate their interest in professional development List of plans to demonstrate a nurse capability to critically think about preparedness needed to become a RN and reviewing their personal and professional goals to meet all competency standards required to become an RN (Chamblee et al., 2015). Hence, from the above description, it can be said that a professional practice portfolio is a living document that supports aspiring nurses to demonstrate their values, skills, goals and interest in professionalnursing practice. A nurse writing such professional portfolio should demonstrate their reflective skill in writing by comparing their performance based on past and current practice. This will show how they have learned overtime to effectively provide care to patient. Argument: For student nurses aspiring to become RN, it is important for them to be aware about current professional knowledge needed for managing their career (Masters, 2015). Therefore, use of portfolio is one tool that enables nurse to understand the pathway they need to follow to acquire updated professional skills. Hence, interest in professional portfolio is gathering momentum today because of its potential to act as a valuable learning device fornursing students. Its supports them in evaluating their on-going personal and professional development and understanding their learning needs for future practice (Green, Wyllie Jackson, 2014). Use of portfolio can provide range of benefits to nursing students when they want to demonstrate their professional nursing capabilities to recruiters. One of the benefits is that it provides them with an active reference file to understand how they can meet the complex needs of patients and understand the demands of professional practice when they transition to become a RN. By engaging in the process of developing a portfolio, nurses are able to find the pathway needed for their professional development in career (Chamblee et al., 2015). In addition, another important benefit of using a portfolio is that it is an authentic means for them to assess their reflection skills. As professional practice portfolio is a reflective document, the process of collecting documents and justifying those information to explain about their professional learning will give them excellent opportunity to reflect on their achievement. Hence, with the use of portfolio, nurses can develop their critical ref lection skills. The NMBA standards for registered nurse practice states that nurse must use variety of thinking strategies in making decisions related to the care of patient (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au., 2017). Therefore, when students nurse use the portfolio to collect, select and reflect about their learning, they develop their critical thinking skills too. This skill can help them to professionally handle complex and challenging situation in practice. Despite the benefits of professional portfolio in support professional development and critical thinking skills of nurses, the use of portfolio may be challenging for many nursing students. This is because in this document, they need to provide their assessment document about any practice that they have completed with their mentors (Hardacre Hayes, 2016). However, the process of constructing the portfolio is a daunting task for many students because reflective writing is an unfamiliar territory for them. They face difficulties in assessing their evidence and justifying their learning in relation to demands of professional nursing practice. For some, taking time out to reflect on an experience is a burden for them (Ryan, 2011). Hence, lack of time and heavy workload act as major challenge for nurses in using and developing portfolios. Management and leadership: According to standard 3.4 of NMBA practice for RNs, it is important for nurse to accept accountability for decisions, actions and behaviors in practice. Hence, nurses also need to show management and leadership competencies in their professional practice portfolio. The leadership competencies relates to the ability of nurse in demonstrating self-confidence and using their critical thinking skills to professional handle complex situation in practice. Leadership competencies also involves interpersonal effectiveness component so that nurse provides evidence of situation in which they were able to delegate task and minimize conflict during interprofessional team work. In contrast, management a competency relates to the skills required for effectively managing daily work process and share responsibilities with other. It is not linked to influencing or empowering others, but using their own skills to ensure smooth delivery of care (Finkelman, 2015). Hence, there is a difference in leaders hip and management competencies required for nurses. When nurses need to demonstrate their leadership competencies through their professional portfolio, they can give example of an opportunity where they got a change to mentor other nurse and improve their skills in clinical practice. In addition, management competencies in a portfolio can be shown by giving evidence of a scenario in which they effectively handled a complex case. It may be related to any emergency care given by the nurse, where their management capabilities played a role in minimizing adverse outcome for patient. Professional standards: Description of situation: As part of my placement as a student nurse in acute care hospital, my clinical facilitator assigned me the duty to measure selected vital signs of a patient post a surgery. I had to collect all vital sign of patients like BP, Pulse rate, respiratory rate and pain score and provide it to the RN for managing patients health status. The patient had a knee replacement surgery and due to complaints of unusual pain, he was given Morphine post 2 hours of surgery. Apart from RN and me, the surgeon and a physician was also involved in the care of patient. While conducting the vital sign assessment, I found that the patients pulse rate, respiratory rate and BP were significantly below the normal range. In this situation, I knew it was necessary for me to act fast and immediately inform the RN about the abnormal vital sign of the patient. However, when I rushed to the RN, I found that she was not present and she was in the OT to handle an emergency case. I realized that delaying nursing action may further deteriorate patient situation. Hence, I demonstrated accountability in my role as a student nurse by informing about the situation to the physician myself. The physician appreciated my quick action of informing about the critical situation to him and asked me to immediately call a registered nurse on duty in another ward. The physician ordered the RN to administer IV dose of another drug to patient and I was asked to constantly assess vital signs of patients. The patient conditional stabilized after 2-3 hours. Hence, by this action, I was able to prevent an adverse event for patient and demonstrate my responsibility and accountability in promoting safety of patients as per my scope of practice. Critical discussion: According to my scope of practice as a student nurse, I performed my responsibility to measure vital sign of patient on time. However, since the RN was not available to manage the abnormalities in vital sign of patient, I took the responsibility to be responsible for the safety of patient. This was important for me because through my nursing education so far, I was aware that vital sign of patients fluctuates a lot post surgery and RN plays a major role in continuously monitoring and improvement if vital signs of patient. Through this kind of assessment, they are able to identify health risk in patient and response to the change in their health status (Osborne et al., 2015). Hence, as the RN was not available, I had to take this responsibility to save the patient from any harm or adverse event. This was a necessary duty for me as part of my responsibility of a student nurse. Evidence by Thompson et al., (2013) also suggests that nurses vigilance at the bedside is necessary to prevent patient safety risks. They maintain patients safety not only by identifying signs of clinical deterioration in patient, but also doing countless other tasks to provide quality care to patient. The nursing education curriculum also plays a vital role in ensuring that nursing students can confidently implement processes to promote safety of patient in professional practice (Vaismoradi, Salsali Marck, 2011). The above clinical scenario also demonstrates my skills in delegating with other staffs to provide therapeutic and professional care. This action also related to standard 2.6 of NMBA standard for registered nursing practice which states that using delegation, supervision, coordination and consultation in professional relationship is essential to provide therapeutic care to patient ((Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au., 2017). Hence, I demonstrated my preparedness to effective take up the RN role in the future by engaging in proper consultation with the physician. When interprofessional teams engage in proper collaboration process, the quality of care improves significantly (Keller et al., 2013). This consultation supported me to provide pharmacological intervention at the right time to stabilize patients condition. The clinical placement was a challenging experience for me because this was the first time when I faced a situation where no supervisor was present to guide me regarding best decision during critical situation. However, my clinical judgment and reasoning skills helped to take the best step for the patient. I utilized all my nursing knowledge effectively to ensure that I do not make any mistake during patient assessment. Previously, my mentor guided me during assessment of patient, however I was nervous this time as no supervisor was present. However, I carefully analyzed the physicians note regarding vital sign assessment for patient and recollected the process that I had done during my training. Evidence also suggest that when nursing students receive good clinical simulation, they are able to take correct clinical judgment regarding rapid response in practice setting. This action is related to standard 1 of thinking critically as practicing through reflection on knowledge ensured t hat no adverse event occurs because of my irresponsibility towards the patient. My ignorance would have led to negative consequences for patient, however my clinical reasoning skills saved patient from harm or medical negligence (Nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au., 2017). On the whole, the experience of assessment of patient and taking action to prevent adverse event for the patients demonstrated my accountability for practice and my commitment to preserve the safety of patient by all means. These qualities will be beneficial for me when I transition from being a student nurse to a registered nurse. Professional membership: Report on peak professional nursing organization I am currently a student nurse and my interest is to work as a registered nurse in acute care setting, where I can contribute to the health and well being of critically ill patients. The peak body or organization that can support me to engage in engage in advanced practice in acute care includes the Australian Primary Health Care Nurse Association (APNA). The APNA is a peak professional body that supports primary health care nurses to take on advanced professional role, ensure their sustainability in the job and optimize their skills in patient-centered care (Apna.asn.au., 2018).. Hence, APNA is a relevant organization to prepare me for my intended career path of acute care nursing as it works to ensure that nurse are recognized in advanced clinical role too. I can get the right guidance regarding the skills and knowledge that I need to acquire in the course of my professional career to become a RN in acute care setting. The APNA membership is available for registered nurse, retired registered nurse, student nurse engaged in full-time study in a nursing degree program and other mental health professionals who are not registered nurse (Apna.asn.au., 2018). As I am currently a nursing student, I will enroll in the student membership category so that I get the right exposure and pathway to fulfill my career goal of serving patients in acute care setting. References: Apna.asn.au., (2018). Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA) Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.apna.asn.au/about Chamblee, T. B., Dale, J. C., Drews, B., Spahis, J., Hardin, T. 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