Free Essay: Personal History and Career Plans

I have been practicing as a registered nurse since 2004. Currently, I work in the acute care unit in the orthopedic and neurology floor. I am the charge nurse for the acute care unit in the hospital. I have a wealth of experience working as a charge nurse, and therefore I am fully capable of managing the acute care unit. Being a charge nurse is an extremely challenging role, but it will get manageable as I gain more experience.

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Currently, I am in my last class, working towards finishing my BSN program. Having already achieved the RN status, the BSN program will help me to take on more responsibilities and supervisory roles (Kim, 2015). Furthermore, my manager has offered me a clinical supervisor position which requires a BSN qualification. My short-term plan is to take the supervisor position after I have completed my class in May. My long-term goal is to advance my education toward getting my master's degree and becoming a clinical nursing educator.

Outline for Goals:

• Focus: Clinical, educational or both.
• My goals of clinical nursing education include;
• Applying nursing theory in providing patient care
• Communicating effectively
• Performing safe therapeutic interventions
• Exhibiting caring behaviors to patients
• Applying ethical perspectives in my practice.
• Time frame: 3 years & 5 years

I plan on achieving my goals of clinical nursing education in 3 years since most of them can be implemented in the short-term. I will set up short deadlines for the completion of each phase to ensure that I stay on track. These goals will be mostly accomplished using time resources and a personal commitment to professional development. The support of my manager, colleagues, and family is vital in ensuring I stay on track.

Select two of the eight areas of Miller's Wheel of Professionalism and relate them to your professional goals.

Miller's Wheel of Professionalism represents the essential characteristics of a nurse (Miller et al., 1993). To achieve my professional goals, I will require

Competence and continuing education to enhance my application of nursing theory in providing patient care, and

Adherence to the code of ethics to ensure that I apply ethical perspectives in my nursing practice.

Professional Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

My strength being a charge nurse is, I am very calm even during a hectic time. I found out that being calm helped me to focus and solve the issue rather than panicking. I am a very friendly person, and team player, and thus I get along well with coworkers. I usually help when we are short of staff by picking up an extra shift. Also, I like to precept new grads, and I enjoy teaching. I like clinical that involves interacting with patients in healthcare facilities.

As a charge nurse, my weakness is dealing with short staff and nursing ratio. It is hard for me to see my coworkers struggle with patient load, being frustrated, and complaining about overwork.

Nursing offers numerous opportunities for learning and advancement (Carlson, 2016). The most viable routes to advance my nursing career include: Obtaining specialty certification in my clinical area, expanding my education by earning an MSN and earning my Post Graduate Certificate in a supporting field such as education. The main threat in clinical nursing practice is the risk of patient safety. Adopting patient safety measures will help to avoid unnecessary damage arising during clinical interventions.

References

Miller, B., Adams, D., & Beck, L. (1993). A behavioral inventory for professionalism in nursing. Journal of Professional Nursing, 9(5), 290-295

Kim, S. (2015). Nursing Careers: Tapping Into Endless Opportunities. Retrieved from https://nurse.org/articles/nursing-careers-tapping-into-endless-opportunities/

Carlson, K. (2016). A SWOT analysis for your nursing career. Retrieved from https://www.nurse.com/blog/2016/07/19/a-swot-analysis-for-your-nursing-career/