PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
SARAH BROCK
NURS 479
DIRECT PATIENT CARE ABILITIES
• Personal strengths
– Thorough assessment and monitoring of patient needs
– Organization and prioritization
– Active listening and non-judgmental approach

• Opportunities for improvement

– Delegation
– Confidence in knowledge and skills
– Interactions with providers
DIRECT PATIENT CARE ABILITIES
• Short-term goals
– Practice safe, effective delegation
– Build confidence in basic nursing skills through hands-on
experience
– Use therapeutic communication with every patient interaction

• Long-term goals
– Be able to easily recall the pathophysiology of various diseases
and medication side effects
– Cross train in other specialites so that I can care for a wider scope
of patients
UNIT LEADERSHIP ABILITIES
• Personal strengths
– Uses constructive criticism for personal improvement
– Patient, flexible, and open to change
– Ability to work in a team

• Opportunities for improvement

– Avoids conflict
– Perfectionist tendencies
UNIT LEADERSHIP ABILITIES
• Short-term goals
– Join a committee
– Participate in a unit improvement project
– Become a charge nurse on a unit

• Long-term goals
– Become a nurse manager
– Be a preceptor to a nursing student or new graduate nurse
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• Short-term goals
– Take ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) class
– Complete CRRT (continuous renal replacement therapy) training
– Become a certified CCRN (Critical Care Registered Nurse)

• Long-term goals
– Join the American Association for Critical Care Nurses and other
professional organizations
– Become a Family Nurse Practitioner
– Volunteer abroad
MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP BOOK
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
– Selected due to good reviews and recommendations

• Ways it has complimented my strengths/areas for improvement

– Emphasizes the importance of perspective
– Focuses on effective, authentic communication and leadership

• Ways it has benefitted my professional growth

– Caused me to evaluate my philosophy and priorities
– Provides application suggestions at the end of each chapter
LEADERSHIP SHADOWING
EXPERIENCE
• House Supervisor
– Wanted to see how management functioned outside of the
microsystem of a single unit
• Benefits
– Attended bed meeting
– Responded to a code
– Learned more about hospital staffing/ratios
– Rounded on several units
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
• Mass casualty training
– Rationale: interest and relevance
– Benefits
• Learned how to use a tourniquet and pack wounds to stop bleeding
• More prepared for disasters
• Volunteering in the SILC lab
– Rationale: give back to community
– Benefits
• Ability to see the hard work that goes into simulations and other lab
experiences
EDUCATIONAL PLAN
• Personal Aspirations • Short-term goals
– Keep up to date with – ACLS certification
current evidence-
– Become a CCRN
based practice
– Achieve fluency in
– Subscribe to nursing
Spanish journal

• Potential Opportunities • Long-term goals

– Attend nursing – Family Nurse
conferences Practitioner
– Work in underserved, – Teach nursing at a
Hispanic communities university
TIMELINE
Graduate/Pass NCLEX

Build confidence and experience

Get CCRN certification

Hold a management position

Become a Family Nurse Practitioner

REFERENCES
• Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people.
New York, NY: Free Press