Tara Troxell WGU BSN C493 Portfolio

A.1a Reflect on how your professional mission statement will help guide you throughout your nursing career. I feel that the hardships and long time it took me to achieve my goal of becoming a nurse helped to shape my mission statement. Once I started my nursing career it did not take me long to realize what my goals as a nurse were. At that time, I didn’t call it a mission statement, but I knew what I wished to achieve and what type of nurse I wanted to become and be. Although I have had struggles and times of trial, I have still stuck with my same goals and aspirations to be a knowledgeable, compassionate nurse. I feel that I will continue to strive to maintain my mission statement which will shape my nursing career and make me be the best nurse I can. A.2a Explain how the specific artifacts or completed work represent you as a learner and a healthcare professional. My artifacts and completed work show how I used my existing nursing skills combined with my learned skills during the BSN program to enhance my critical thinking and research skills. This program gave me a great appreciation for the ability to use research application to improve nursing processes, patient outcomes, and work environment. My work throughout the program shows how I was continuously being a learner and enhancing my skills as a healthcare professional. Professional Leadership and Communication made me look at my nursing roles and the type of leadership I was utilizing. While looking at different leadership styles I learned how to better collaborate with others while using my strengths to be part of a team. A team that can lead to a better work environment and improved patient outcomes. During Evidence Based Practice and Applied Nursing Research I learned how to use statistics, research and Evidence Based Practice to become an improved healthcare professional-improving the healthcare provided to patients. Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership taught me the importance of leadership roles, patient safety, and continuous improvement as healthcare provider. Professional Roles and Values taught me the importance and value of the nurse as a healthcare provider. Lastly, Community Health and Population provided me with the opportunity to be an advocate for my community as a health care provider. These courses and completed work represent me as a continuing learner and improved healthcare provider. A.2b Discuss how the specific artifacts in your portfolio represent your professional strengths The artifacts and completed work in my portfolio represent my strengths as a healthcare provider including: an eagerness to learn and gain knowledge, using my voice/opinion/strengths positively as a healthcare provider, promoting effective communication, problem solving, and the ability to take feedback/criticism and use it positively. My eagerness to learn and gain knowledge can be seen throughout my completed work. Wanting to gain knowledge is also the driving force behind my mission statement. As previously stated, I had difficulty with certain courses, but wanting to gain and understand knowledge helped me to not give up. Professional Leadership and Communication as well as other courses (and my Leadership Learning Experience) helped bring out an unknown strength of mine. I have always been one to not voice my opinion or thoughts based on a fear of argumentation with others. Avoiding confrontation whenever possible has been a thing of mine for years. These courses helped me realizing that I was good at using my voice to improve situations and help others. That voicing my opinion did not mean confrontation but could mean collaboration and better outcomes for everyone. My completed coursework helped me realize that a strength of mine is promoting the use of effective communication. My Leadership Learning Experience was about promoting effective communication at my workplace. It has led to increased work satisfaction and better patient/family outcomes. I continue to strive for effective communication in everything I do. Using Evidence Based Practice, research, and critical thinking throughout the program showed me that one of my strengths is the ability to work with others at problem solving. I have been told in the past that this was a strength of mine, but this program enhanced my ability to be a problem solver. Lastly, throughout my completed work and courses I learned that taking feeding back and using it positively was something I do well. Many times, I could have been “offended” or hurt by feedback/criticism but that does nothing for anyone. I have always told my patients and their families to please tell me if I was doing something they wanted changed or done differently. The ability to use feedback/criticism positively can truly make a difference in how I work with others as a healthcare professional. These courses and completed work show my strengths as healthcare professional.