Advancement Of Computing In Education - Professional Practice Essay.

Argument for the usage of professional practice portfolio

Discuss about the Advancement of Computing in Education.

The professional practice portfolio is a way to document the competency of the nursing professional and a complete illustration of work experience that has been carefully selected using the materials or documents of the nurse (McMullan et al., 2012). Further, it also provides the nursing professional with an opportunity to keep monitoring his or her professional development and periodically reviewing the personal as well as professional goals.  This piece of document is not similar to the resume or curriculum vitae, but the professional portfolio provides a complete idea about the nursing professional’s information, which is not present in resume or curriculum vitae (McMullan et al., 2012).  For example the resume or curriculum vitae provides information about the educational details, experiences gained from other institutes however the professional portfolio provides complete evidences of competencies and expertise that the nursing professional has developed through the experiences shown in the resume.

The nursing portfolio provides a clear idea about the skills, experiences and achievements to the peers, educational faculties or future employers. It helps to assess the ability of the nursing professionals and their attitude towards their profession and further to assess their capability to overcome adverse situations while practicing in healthcare facilities using their therapeutic and experience related interventions. Hence, portfolio should be created in a comprehensive manner so that all these information can be delivered properly. The professional practice portfolio should have a summary of nursing education, employment history and license with all the supporting documents (Hill, 2012). Further, it should have detail about the awards, appraisals, documents of promotional or recommendation letters so that the viewer of the professional portfolio can get a clear idea about the nursing professional’s competencies (Hill, 2012). Furthermore future career goals, personal philosophy of nursing, scholarly Publications and personal health records should also be mentioned in the nursing professional portfolio.

The recent few decades has witnessed the increasing use of professional practice portfolios as a method of learning as well as teaching for undergraduate nursing students. According to Timmins (2012), as the adult nursing professionals need to develop self-learning competency, usage of portfolio has become one of the evident way acquire the skill mentioned. Currently, undergraduate as well as postgraduate nursing students are utilizing the portfolio as a mean to keep a track of their ongoing nursing development through summative or formative assessment. According to Sulzen and Young (2013), in Australia the usage of professional practice portfolio determines that the nurse is able to embrace the achievements he or she has got and hence testifies the overall individuality of the nursing professional. Therefore, through the arguments of the abovementioned researchers, the requirement of professional portfolio in the current nursing practice can be understood. According to  McMullan et al., (2012), a portfolio is simply a record of everything that one has done. It can be defined as a purposeful collection of the traditional and the nontraditional works representing the learning, progress and the achievement over time. It is predicted that preparation of portfolio in final year of the educational program would help the student with a prepared portfolio that could help them to develop their subsequent practice as a nurse. As said by Timmins  & Dunne, (2012) it can be considered as a vehicle for the organization and the distillation of the raw and the prior experiences in a manageable form of the assessment. Portfolio can contain materials from a variety of resources, which the candidate finds useful to convey his/ her qualities to others. In nursing education it is not only used to inform others but useful in the personal and the professional development. A professional portfolio can actually act as a catalyst for the growth by not only providing evidences but also leads to awareness of the students own strengths, skills and the limitations as well as indicating towards the developmental needs of the students itself. It helps in self-reflection and takes initiative of their own lifelong learning.

Benefits and challenges of using a professional practice portfolio

The reflective process would help the students to identify the gaps in the skill and the competency. Most of the self-reflection occurred via written medium. Sulzen and Young, (2013), have stated that students could actually understand their strengths and weaknesses as they are summative assessed. Chamblee et al., (2015), have pointed out that summative assessment prevents the students to write their innermost thoughts and beliefs and often become self-conscious. Problems arise when the professional portfolios are used both for the assessment and learning. Another problem related to the compilation of the professional portfolio is regarding the privacy and the confidentiality. If the candidates are not assured regarding the privacy of the content of the portfolio then it will not be considered reliable as an assessment tool as all the contents can be censored. Hence Reed, (2015) have suggested that there had been a negative correlation between the usage of portfolio as an assessment tool due to the questions on the honesty of entries.  Chamblee et al., (2015) have also been criticized for the amount of time taken to prepare and asses them.

Leadership and management are two different aspects to reach a similar goal. Leadership generally refers to the type of intentional influences that nurses pose on the other people for the betterment of the health care organization and to deliver safe care to the patients (Thomas, 2015). Whereas management involves planning, implementation and organization of the staff members in order to achieve the objectives, in terms of patient care and organizational profit. In order to lead, a competent nurse should be able to develop three important competencies - 1. Diagnosis, the ability to understand the situation 2. Adapt, foster changes or adapt according to the changes as per the client or the organizational needs.  3. Communicate, a nurse leader should be able to communicate efficiently with doctors, patients and the families in order to take important decisions and cater to patient advocacy (Weiss & Tappen, 2014). Mostly a nurse leader also has to play the role of a nurse manager working alongside with the doctors or even as a member of a multidisciplinary team. Efficient nurses not only ensure a safe and comprehensive care to the patient but also look after the integrity and dignity of the patient by maintaining the privacy and the confidentiality (Cherry & Jacob, 2016). Decision making skill, critical thinking and problem solving capacity are few of the important criteria of leadership and managements in nursing (Weiss & Tappen, 2014).

Leadership and Management Skills in Nursing

The nurses acquire knowledge and skills of critical thinking and problem solving from the integrated theory and develop the practical skills from the experiences of the health care professionals. A professional portfolio is a reflective component and hence should contain all the theories that have been made to practice and this helps the student to prevent the reality shock faced by many of the nursing students that moves in to practice after the academic career. Management or the leadership skills in a nurse can be identified from the course of activities provided in the portfolio that helps the nurse educator to assess the nursing leadership potential in each student (Weiss & Tappen, 2014).

During my first placement of clinical practice, I was assigned to work as a caregiver to Mr. Stephen (84 years), was suffering from low to moderate dementia. I was working under the supervision of my RN and I had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Stephen. As per the clinical handover, I came to know that Mr. Stephen is retired personnel and has been suffering from clinical depression after his retirement. After having a friendly conversation with him, I realized that he is insecure and generally avoids any kinds of socialization due to his problem of memory loss. Mr Stephen was also not happy with the ongoing treatment. I also noticed that Mr. Stephen was suffering from mild tremors and was having difficulty in performing the activities of daily life. As a responsible nurse, I assisted Mr. Stephen in doing simple tasks and encouraged him to perform activities of daily life himself. Before applying the medications I checked his vital signs and cross checked the medications as well as any side effects due to the medications. During a one- on- one talk with him, I could interpret that Mr. Stephens remains happy as long as there is someone to talk with him or he is busy with some constructive work. I took him to take a round of the ward so that he could meet people like him and feel better. I got a feedback from my RN that Mr. Stephen has been more than happy to get my care.

While critically discussing a situation, when I was delegated with a clinical placement in the wound care ward by my RN clinical practice partner, I should discuss the standard three of the NMBA nursing standards. According to this standard, The enrolled nurse should consult with the RN while preparing the interventions that will be applied to the patient further the delegated responsibilities should be appropriate with their own scope of practice and within the supervision of the RN present in the ward (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2018). While my own clinical placement in the ward, I was delegated the task of performing care for Mr. Stephen (standard 4). The patient had low to moderate dementia and was not being able to socialize because of his short term memory loss (standard 4). In the ward, along with me, my clinical practice partner RN nurse, the patient and one midwifery personnel was present. My task was to determine the effectiveness of the sanitation and cleanliness the midwifery personnel was performing and providing the patient with medication so that he is able to perform his activities of daily life and is able to share his thoughts to us (standard 5). While managing the patient and his dementia, I used the complied with the Australian standards related to the Management of Dementia. It included healthcare, emotional care, mental care to the patient affected with dementia, his diet and nutritional care as well as sanitation related care was also a part of this intervention (RCH, 2018). For sanitation, instead of water, I preferred soap solution so that chances of infections can also be restricted (standard 6). After three weeks of continuous medication, sanitation and care management, the outcome was positive for me as the infection of the patient was reduced (standard 7).

Professional standards

Further, while discussing the accountability of my own decisions, behaviors, action and responsibilities in this clinical placement, I should mention that I was able to comply with the standards of the Dementia Management (RCH, 2018). According to Elfassy et al., (2015), it is an important aspect of care as in maximum situations, infection spreads to internal organs of the body, from the personal hygiene related infection. Therefore, this determined that I was able to deliver the task assigned to me responsibly and my behavior towards my work was positive that led me achieve positive results at the end. However, in case of actions, I was unable to completely comply with the NMBA standard three which states that the nursing professional should promote their as well as the patients safety in each aspect of the nursing practice. Further I did not created a plan of care and applied interventions as per the state of wound (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2018). Therefore, I was unable to comply with the guidelines properly and hence my actions violated the action related ethics of nursing practice (standard 5). However, within my nursing scope of practice I was able to comply with the accountability of the tasks I performed as I discussed all these actions with my RN clinical practice partner, who further evaluated my skills.

One of the peak professional associations for the nurses is the Australian college of nursing that specializes in primary care nursing. The members of this organization develop a professional community that is passionate about their work. The organization promises to provide a wide range of opportunities that helps the student nurses to advance their career. ACN membership is open to ENs, RN and the midwives who are registered with the AHPRA and those who are undertaking diploma and undergraduate courses in nursing and the midwifery studies ("Australian College of Nursing", 2018)

 The ACN membership would help the nursing students to shape up the scopes and skills in nursing. ACN members would not only help a nurse to progress career but will also help to gain self satisfaction among the nurse students. Being a part of ACN would help a nurse to come across the ACN's national community of the nurses and practitioners ("Australian College of Nursing", 2018). It would help a nurse to remain up to date with the recent advancement of the nursing profession. The scopes and the skills of practice can be expanded by discounts allowed in the various CPD courses and graduate certificates.The scope of career in ACN involves, nurses, nurses educators, clinical advisors, practice nurses, clinical midwife, clinical, registered nurses, army nursing officers and many more.

References

Australian College of Nursing. (2018). Australian College of Nursing. Retrieved 18 March 2018, from https://www.acn.edu.au/

Chamblee, T. B., Dale, J. C., Drews, B., Spahis, J., & Hardin, T. (2015). Implementation of a professional portfolio: A tool to demonstrate professional development for advanced practice. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 29(1), 113-117. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2014.06.00

Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. R. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. Elsevier Health Sciences. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vzzdCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Cherry,+B.,+%26+Jacob,+S.+R.+(2016).+Contemporary+nursing:+Issues,+trends,+%26+management.+Elsevier+Health+Sciences.&ots=mNrd6mzqmr&sig=MVvf-JRX-asdO6EyfcSiuBUSsUQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

DiCenso, A., Guyatt, G., & Ciliska, D. (2014). Evidence-Based Nursing-E-Book: A Guide to Clinical Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bHqjBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR29&dq=DiCenso,+A.,+Guyatt,+G.,+%26+Ciliska,+D.+(2014).+Evidence-Based+Nursing-E-Book:+A+Guide+to+Clinical+Practice.+Elsevier+Health+Sciences.&ots=M3HkLeBiQM&sig=kAm7qJpSNBR1hFhm_JPppR-x8a8#v=onepage&q&f=false

Elfassy, S., Kassam, Z., Amin, F., Khan, K. J., Haider, S., & Armstrong, D. (2015). Epidemiology and risk factors for bloodstream infections in a home parenteral nutrition program. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 39(2), 147-153.

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           Hill, T. L. (2012). The portfolio as a summative assessment for the nursing student. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 7(4), 140-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2012.06.005

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Kearney-Nunnery, R. (2015). Advancing Your Career Concepts in Professional Nursing. FA Davis. https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5xiQCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=Kearney-Nunnery,+R.+(2015).+Advancing+Your+Career+Concepts+in+Professional+Nursing.+FA+Davis.&ots=wdAb0OsdOq&sig=bWDx-gAKQ2MXd6n1HV6J5iiMui4#v=onepage&q=Kearney-Nunnery%2C%20R.%20(2015).%20Advancing%20Your%20Career%20Concepts%20in%20Professional%20Nursing.%20FA%20Davis.&f=false

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McMullan, M., Endacott, R., Gray, M. A., Jasper, M., Miller, C. M., Scholes, J., & Webb, C. (2011). Portfolios and assessment of competence: a review of the literature. Journal of advanced nursing, 41(3), 283-294. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20131223-03

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RCH. (2018). Policies and Procedures : Central Venous Access Device Management. Rch.org.au. Retrieved 19 March 2018, from https://www.rch.org.au/policy/public/Central_Venous_Access_Device_Management/

Reed, S. (2015). Successful professional portfolios for nursing students. Learning Matters.

Sulzen, J., Young, M. F., & Hannafin, R. (2013, March). Reliability and validity of an ecologically-grounded student teacher electronic portfolio rubric. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 153-159). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

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