This professional development plan outlines the personal and professional journey of a nursing student pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner practice. The paper traces the author's career from hospital secretary in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit to Clinical Educator, describing the educational milestones—Associate Degree, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and enrollment in an MSN program—that mark this progression. It addresses professional goals centered on elderly patient care, social isolation, and transcultural nursing, as well as learning goals related to ethics, information literacy, and cultural competence. The plan concludes with reflections on the practicum experience and the alignment between personal values and institutional mission.
Attaining a Master's degree in Nursing requires a great deal of focus and coordinated effort. It also requires that the student's personal and professional goals be aligned, as the Master's degree in Nursing is really the ultimate expression of this alignment: a student whose personal values and aims do not reflect the professional aims represented by the MSN is a student who is likely to be pulled in two different directions at once. Unless ultimate aims converge, divergence will result—and that is why it is so important that a nursing student reflect upon how his or her personal and professional goals correlate. This paper serves as a professional development plan: it provides some background on my personal history, my professional accomplishments, and my future aspirations, while also identifying my academic interests and my goals for my graduate nursing education.
It has always been my goal to be a nurse. Even though I started out in the industry as a secretary, it was not long before I was actually enrolled in nursing school, pursuing my dream. Recently, I applied for the Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program because I felt naturally drawn to the idea of serving the elderly population. Perhaps having spent so much time caring for my elderly parents over the past few years had warmed me to the idea. Whatever the reason, after reading the program description I knew I could identify with the institutional mission of serving "a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they can effect positive social change." My own background in 21st-century nursing had instilled in me a similar mission: specifically, I wanted to be able to manage the care of acutely and critically ill patients, collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, provide continuity of care, education, positive interaction, and be a constant presence on the units—helping nurses, patients, and families. Making that happen is my central professional goal.
My personal and professional goals intersect with my academic interests in that I want to help make nurses better and I want to help make patients better. I want to be able to give families the peace of mind they seek and have a right to, no matter what situation their loved ones are in. Health care is about facing facts—not alone but together, being there for one another, showing support, empathy, sympathy, and true quality of care. Specialized learning and the attainment of a graduate degree will help me to meet my career and personal life goals, which have brought me to this point where I feel the need to continue developing my academic career and use that development to further my professional career. I want my education and nursing experience to merge even more closely so that I become a true beacon—a veteran nurse who has the educational background required to guide other nurses and serve as an example to others.
In 1996, I began my work in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) as a secretary. I worked weekend nights to supplement my income and to help support my three children. A divorce, a lack of funds, and a job shift to the Nurse Recruitment Office kept me from pursuing my dream of going to nursing school. However, after receiving encouragement from other nurses and from my new husband—whom I married in 2001 and who also happened to be an RN in the CVICU—I finally decided to go for it. By then, my youngest daughter was a junior in high school, and I could at least begin taking prerequisite courses. Fast forward ten years, and I was graduating with an Associate Degree in Nursing. That same year, 2011, I began my career as a new graduate nurse in the CVICU where I had first worked as a secretary in the 1990s. Many of the same nurses were still there and I was excited about returning, but the reception I received was not as warm as I had anticipated. I left the following year and took a position in the CVICU where I currently work.
I wanted to continue my education, so I began taking online classes to complete my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Ten months later, I accomplished that goal—while working full time on the night shift, tending to my husband and children, celebrating the birth of my first grandchild, and caring for my elderly parents.
I worked at the bedside for four years before accepting a position as Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS). However, the CNS position required a Master of Science in Nursing, which I did not yet have. The job description was modified to allow me to fill the role, and my title became Clinical Educator—Cardiovascular Services. While the new position allowed me to do everything I loved—working with new nurses, helping patients, providing educational experiences, developing Cardiology Services programs, and positively impacting patient outcomes—it was still felt that I should pursue my MSN. Thus, in 2017, I enrolled in another online program to continue my education.
However, things did not go according to plan. Although I became a member of the Mechanical Circulatory Device Program and the LVAD and ECMO team, my administration was restructuring its departments. I would remain a unit educator and would no longer be on track to become a CNS. Rather than stay in a position that prevented me from growing toward my goals, I resigned and began searching for a new degree program that aligned with my personal beliefs about nursing. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of nurses, staff, and patients alike. When I found my current program, its vision and mission matched mine perfectly.
My research proficiency is adequate for graduate-level work. Having attained my Bachelor's in Nursing, I am well familiar with the demands of academic research, and even in my professional experience I understand what is required when giving a presentation, developing a workshop, or creating new programs for nursing professionals. I have experience as a teacher and professional trainer, and I enjoy researching the nursing field because I value taking evidence-based practice and applying it directly in my work. I have access to online libraries, databases, and information technology resources that make it straightforward for me to conduct research in support of both professional and academic tasks.
"Promoting dignity and addressing elderly isolation"
"Transcultural nursing, ethics, and immersive learning"
Maier-Lorentz, M., & Leininger, M. (2008). Transcultural nursing: Its importance in nursing practice. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 15(1), 37.
Woo, J. (2017). Designing fit for purpose health and social services for ageing populations. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(5), 457.
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