Discussion: Strategies for Academic Portfolios NURS 6003

Discussion: Strategies for Academic Portfolios NURS 6003

The development of my professional portfolio will help link my academic achievements with my professional growth. Burns notes a professional portfolio is “evidence of the nurse’s skills, achievements, and professional experience” (Burns, 2018, p. 16). My professional portfolio will be extensive due to the fact I did not follow the normal track of nursing as my peers and have accomplished a lot academically and professionally the last twelve years ago. I hope to develop a portfolio that will help “paint the picture” of my journey to becoming a nurse practitioner as well as add continued accomplishments to it. To do this, my professional portfolio should fluidly depict how I have both personally and professionally grown over the course of my career including my community achievements (Casey & Egan, 2010). This will also align with Walden University’s strategy of promoting social change. As a nurse in rural area, social change is important to the care provided, received and outcomes of patients. Sadly, I see nurses who lack the knowledge on how health disparities affect patient outcomes. In addition, being knowledgeable in your patient-based disparities helps bridge gaps as well as promote social change. In 2010, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health report was released. This report revealed that addressing this gap in education of nurses regarding health disparities can result in a positive outcome of patients who suffer with barriers ranging from food, housing, and health care access to name a few (Stringer, 2019). Through my career as a nurse, I have developed skills in assessing patients and the barriers they challenge directly and indirectly. This in turn has reflected in my compassionate demeanor as well as improving education I provide and help with overcoming these barriers. I plant to utilize the Career Services website through Walden University to help develop a professional portfolio that is neat, organized and thoroughly highlights all aspects of my nursing career, past and present.

References

Burns, M. K., RN-BC, CCRC, BSN,MS. (2018). Creating a nursing portfolio. Ohio Nurses Review, 93(3), 16–17.

Casey, D. C., & Egan, D. (2010). The use of professional portfolios and profiles for career enhancement. British Journal of Community Nursing, 15(11), 547–552. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjcn.2010.15.11.79625

Stringer, H. (2019, October 8). Nurses target health disparities to impact social change. Nurse.com. https://www.nurse.com/blog/2019/10/08/nurses-target-health-disparities-enact-social-change/#:~:text=Nurses%20target%20health%20disparities%20to%20enact%20social%20change,play%20a%20pivotal%20role%20in%20reducing%20health%20disparities.

Please response to this discussion using APA format and also follow the rubric

Hello Amanda,

I do agree with you on the statement that a thorough understanding of the health disparities and how they affect the patient’s outcomes is important in the nursing career since it provides the nurse with background information required to initiate the change process in the community. It is the responsibility of the nursing profession to help reduce healthcare inequality in the 21^st century. According to WHO there are a number of social determinants of health (SDOH) that have continued to adversely affect the health of the patients and contribute greatly to inequality in healthcare (Preparing Today’s Nurses: Social Determinants of Health and Nursing Education, 2020).

It is the nurses, who are on the forefront of the healthcare systems that are better placed to assess and come up with appropriate solutions to enhancing equity and equality in the healthcare systems and bridge the wide gap that still exists. I do agree with you that a knowledgeable nurse will be who has better training and knowledge outside the acute care environment is able to critically access the patient’s socio-economic situation, the crucial drivers of health like type of job, the security, neighborhood status, cultural and traditional practices and be able to initiate the change process within the community. Such understanding helps the nurse adopt better healthcare strategies, promote health promotion measures and improve the general wellness of the community members and their approach to healthcare (Maier et al., 2018).

I agree with you that the nurse training and educational programs have to emphasize on the need for the nurses to be trained on how to identify and assess how these social determinants of health affect the healthcare outcomes on patients. The professionals who have better skills in analyzing the patient’s social conditions are better placed at being compassionate and helping the patient overcome the health problems and positively appreciate the role of the nursing profession in promoting health and general wellbeing of the members in the society.

References

Maier, C. B., Budde, H., & Buchan, J. (2018). Nurses in expanded roles to strengthen community-based health promotion and chronic care: policy implications from an international perspective; A commentary. Israel Journal of Health Policy Research, 7(1).

Preparing Today’s Nurses: Social Determinants of Health and Nursing Education. (2020). Nursingworld.org.