My mission as a registered nurse practitioner is to provide holistic, compassionate, competent, and patient-centered care that focuses on the health needs and wellbeing at the individual, family, and community level. I strive to be a competent nurse practitioner with the prerequisite leadership and communication skills and technologically savvy to be able to transform the care delivery landscape and perceptions with a focus on improved health outcomes and community wellbeing. To achieve this, I ensure that apply the best practice concepts, clinical reasoning, and cognitive knowledge acquired in nursing training and practice. My professional mission statement will guide and shape my career aspirations by providing a framework on which the achievement of my career goals and aspirations are evaluated. The mission statement will also guide my decisions and actions during my nursing practice, in line with the desired clinical outcomes and wellbeing of the patients.
Professional Summary
Nursing is a humanistic profession based on the four values of quality and safety, applied leadership, community and population health, and evidence-based practice (EBP) ( Jiménez-López, Roales-Nieto, Seco, & Preciado, 2016). Throughout my learning and clinical practice experience, I have encountered and learned to integrate the four values into patient care, thus achieving the desired outcomes of nursing as a healthcare discipline. Through the clinical experience of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) in African countries, I have learned important aspects of team collaboration, advocacy, and accountability. These experiences have imparted the prerequisite nurse leadership skills in me, molding me into a future nurse leader. The experience from administering TB control program in Ghanaian and Guinea communities have helped to shape my perspective and approaches on community and population health. As a healthcare professional, the experience has made me understand the existing health disparities within different communities, and the need to resolve these disparities for effective community health intervention programs.
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The application and implementation of EBP in learning and clinical practice developed me into competent healthcare professional. Through my learning and care provision experience, I have learned that the provision of quality care and ensuring the best clinical outcomes are contingent on evaluating the situation and making decisions based on the best practice evidence. This, in part, forms the basis of the fourth value of the nursing practice – quality and safety. Being part of infection prevention programs have bolstered my awareness of the imperatives of ensuring the quality of prevention procedures as part of patient safety and wellness strategies. Thus, the learning and clinical experiences have been the framework for my development into a competent nurse practitioner in line with the values of the nursing profession.
Professional Strengths
My professional strengths are effective leadership skills and applying EBP in care provision. The applied leadership artifact describes my experiences and skills in nursing advocacy and leadership. Effective professional leadership skills are integral to the nursing profession. The artifact highlights how the practice experiences have helped to define and enhance my collaboration, advocacy, and accountability skills. The EBP artifact describes my strength and determination in providing quality and safe healthcare. This is through critical evaluation of the patient situation, criteria for medication, and diagnosis.
Challenges during the Progression of the Program
Nursing training involves the incorporation of theoretical and clinical domains. The theoretical knowledge gained is applied in the clinical domain to solve health problems. The clinical domain presents challenges for a student ( Jiménez-López, Roales-Nieto, Seco, & Preciado, 2016). During my practice, I observed that there exist a disparities between theoretical nursing education and clinical practice. This presented challenges in applying the theoretical knowledge in practice, especially in the initial stages of practice. Providing care at the patient’s bedside independently was a daunting task at first. This fear of not providing the desired care, coupled with the evaluation by instructors and the attendance of the patient’s relatives by their bedside often caused anxiety, impeding my ability to transfer skills and knowledge to clinical practice. Another challenge was insufficient readiness, inadequate mastery of knowledge, inadequate self-confidence. These challenges often translated to delivery of poor quality care in clinical practice.
Managing the Challenges
I gathered that to overcome the challenges; I had to have adequate preparation and exposure to the clinical environment. Peer learning and the use of simulation models was an effective strategy of increasing exposure, improving confidence, and reducing fear. With time, I was able to attend to the patient’s care needs independently, with or without the presence of the patients’ families by their bedside. Adequate confidence and self-esteem in clinical practice are important in delivering quality and safe care, thereby minimizing risks to the patient.
Role of the Coursework in Meeting Nursing Program Outcomes
Effective interpersonal oral, written, and media communication is an important skill in the nursing profession. Communication skills are a module embedded in the program coursework. The module developed my understanding and application of social interactions and effective communication in the learning and clinical environment.
The exposure to different theoretical and clinical problems helped to develop a strong understanding of the diverse complexities of patient needs. Professional and medical ethics was also a significant module in the program, which emphasized the need for adherence to ethical principles and professional codes of conduct. Through this exposure, I learned to apply clinical reasoning in solving the problems and providing the required care needs by applying ethical principles and available evidence.
In preparing students for nurse leadership roles, the coursework provided platforms for exercising leadership skills in a simulated and clinical environment, in addition to the theoretical concepts of accountability and medical law and ethics.
The program involved both the theoretical and clinical domains. The interplay between these two domains was effective in understanding, synthesizing, and applying knowledge from scientific research, humanistic and community disciplines, into clinical practice.
Exposure to the clinical environment and community intervention programs equipped me with an understanding of the different patient needs. This is important in developing patient-centered care, depending on the diverse, complex, and dynamic needs of the patients. The clinical exposure and community interactions also shaped my understanding of the social matrix, i.e., individual, family, and the community.
The leadership modules in the course provided a foundation for advocating for improvements in care provision in the clinical environment. It also furnished me with the prerequisite skills of engaging colleagues, community, and policy-makers with the aim of developing effective community education strategies.
The coursework program involved multidisciplinary interaction with the different stakeholders of the nursing profession. These interactions, coupled with the communication and social interaction modules, were integral in developing inter-professional collaboration skills that can be extended into clinical practice.
Biochemistry, molecular biology, and physiology modules of the course were important in understanding the genetic basis of health and illnesses among individuals. The genomic knowledge gained can be applied in developing disease intervention programs in line with ethical principles and legal requirements.
The use of information technology is paramount in understanding different facets of healthcare and diseases. The course provided a platform for learning and incorporating the use of technology in patient care, in line with the changing landscape of technology. These included modules on biotechnology, informatics, diagnosis, and patient management techniques.
Fulfilling Roles Professional Roles
Scientist
The program involved taking part in scientific laboratory research to ascertain and evaluate different aspects of human physiology and disease processes. As a scientist, I took part in microbiology, molecular techniques, and pathological research, which are important disciplines of scientific research on human health. The research formed part of important scientific inquiry for the development of evidence for clinical practice.
Detective
Detection of changes in the patients’ health and wellbeing involves evaluating the probable causes and risk factors. The course provided a platform for developing diagnostic skills necessary for detecting different health changes in patients. These are primarily laboratory diagnostic techniques.
Manager of the Healing Environment
As a nurse manager, I took part in the creation, coordination, and advocating for healthcare policies and interventions with positive clinical outcomes. This required the understanding of the healthcare environment is multifaceted and incorporates financial, policy, and care intervention aspects.
Professional Growth through the Program
The program has helped me to develop personal and professional competencies in line with the nursing practice. The program has widened my understanding of the core values of the nursing profession, equipping me with the knowledge and confidence to provide quality, safe, evidence-based, and patient-centered care for both the individual and the entire community. By the completion of the course, I am confident that I can partake on leadership and management roles in the healing environment, due to my enhanced accountability and critical thinking skills.
B. Quality and Safety
Quality and safety are interdependent factors of care delivery that describe the nature of the disease intervention and treatment approaches, with a focus on optimum clinical care and protection for all patients. Quality and safety involve aspects of rational decision making, ensuring hygiene, and preventing medical errors. Important considerations for ensuring delivery of quality care and patient safety is through the implementation of best practice evidence and making decisions based on critical thinking and rational assessment of the patient’s needs (Fiske, 2017).
The program was pivotal in developing my understanding of the values and roles of a nurse practitioner in ensuring high-quality care and patient safety. The program provided me with a platform for practice in the clinical environment, during which I learned the importance of protecting all patients. Through the clinical experience and infection prevention programs, I learned that the quality of the prevention procedures is a vital component of quality and safety.
The ‘Quality and Safety’ artifact supports my definition by describing the clinical experience that was the premise of the definition.
The Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) provides training and certification for improving the quality of healthcare, focusing on the values of quality and safety. The IHI certificate will signify that I have successfully completed the healthcare improvement programs and can thus effectively deliver quality and safe healthcare.
C. Evidence-Based Practice
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the application of the best available empirical and clinical evidence in making decisions about the care for the patient. Applying this best available evidence ensures the delivery of high-quality care and best patient outcomes. EBP values entail answering important clinical questions pertaining to the patient’s health needs, analyzing the diagnosis, intervention, and the choice of medication (Fiske, 2017). It also involves determining the patients’ rights to medication.
The program gave me a platform to implement EBP in clinical practice, thereby promoting the safety and healing of the patients. In various clinical environments, I witnessed how qualified medical professionals, including nurse practitioners, used clinical evidence to mitigate cultural, financial, and geographical disparities in healthcare.
The ‘Evidence-Based Practice’ artifact supports my definition as it provides a description of my clinical experience in implementing EBP in practice. The artifact also highlights how clinicians rely on laboratory assessment for diagnosis, which forms one of the evidence in practice.
Applying EBP in clinical practice involves evaluating current and existing research. My understanding of best practice evidence is that which presents relevant, reliable, and believable data and how the data can easily be applied to practice. Primary research is that whose data and findings are provided through first-hand research of the authors, while secondary sources expand the evaluation of the primary findings. The program has helped me understand these aspects of evidence practice, develop skills for critical appraisal of data, identify, and implement best available data for optimum patient outcomes.
D. Applied Leadership
Applied leadership in the nursing profession is the application of managerial skills in the clinical environment by incorporating values of accountability, multidisciplinary collaboration, and advocacy in a professional manner for optimum patient outcomes. Leadership involves critical thinking, rational decision-making, and communication skills in different situations (Fiske, 2017).
The program has helped to shape my skills and values in accountability, teamwork, collaboration, and advocacy through different clinical experiences. The program provided platforms for exercising these skills in practice, e.g., through the clinical experience of circulating vaccines in African countries under the WHO program. Such initiatives and programs are effective platforms for exercising applied leadership skills.
The ‘Applied Leadership’ artifact supports my definition as it describes what I learned in my clinical experience during the program. The artifact also describes the core values for nurse leadership roles.
Professional collaboration is a vital component of professional nurse leadership as it defines the multidisciplinary interaction and teamwork in clinical practice. In my clinical experience, I learned that working together as healthcare providers is important in promoting the patients’ health and wellbeing.
E. Community and Population Health
Community and population health describes the measure, strategies, and interventions aimed at addressing the fluctuating health needs of the entire population. This includes understanding and addressing the existing disparities within demographies or geographical locations. This value of nursing focuses on assessing the health needs of the community and developing approaches aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of the population (Fiske, 2017).
The program helped me to develop a better understanding of the health disparities within communities, and the need to develop effective intervention approaches that will harmonize these healthcare needs. The program gave me a platform to experience and apply the treatment interventions and education to help meet the needs of communities.
The ‘Community and Population Health’ artifact supports my definition as it provides a description of the clinical experience and implementation of community-focused programs and interventions.
In my community health nursing experience, I learned that community and population health provides treatments, education, medications, and services to help meet the needs of populations within fluctuating communities. I also learned that advocacy plays an important role in bridging the health disparities within communities. This knowledge was applicable in assessing and diagnosing the needs of the community and developing strategies to meet health needs. These interventions include TB control programs in TB endemic communities. I now understand that community health does not only involve treatment approaches during a disease outbreak but also encompasses prevention measures and policy changes.
The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is an institution that explores different human cultures. A certificate from the institution will imply that I have successfully undergone a program on understanding cultures and cultural diversity and can approach community health nursing with the required cultural competence.
References
Fiske, E. A. (2017). Contemplative Activities in Undergraduate Nursing Courses. Journal of Nursing Education , 56 (6), 378-3
Jiménez-López, F. R., Roales-Nieto, J. G., Seco, G. V., & Preciado, J. (2016). Values in nursing students and professionals: An exploratory comparative study. Nursing Ethics , 23 (1), 79-91.
