Essential I:
Background for Practice
from Sciences and Humanities
I began studying health sciences and humanities since entering college in 1998. This really became my spring board for the love of learning. Through out my nursing education, I have built a very strong foundation. With the achievement of this Master's degree in Nursing Education it has been very apparent to me how much professionally I have grown in these last two years of study. I am so thankful that my education started with an Associate's and then bridged to a Bachelors. Seeing that this was exactly the path that lead me to be the nurse I am today.
I am prepared to create positive learning environments for all adult learners. I have confidence that I will apply innovative teaching strategies to meet specific needs of an organization. I am equipped with skills to complete needs assessments to support developing education. I possess the ability to stay humble and seek feedback, for this is imperative to keep improving. I thrive on collaboration and seeing the big picture, which provides me a strength to mediate two different opinions in conflict. I want to bridge the gap between education or competency and accountability for all leaders and staff or employees.
As an associate degree nurse I could not have articulated the level of critical thinking and support that I can now provide seamlessly as an advanced practice nurse. I have shared some items that I feel have shown growth in how I would implement education, apply analysis through assessment, and evaluate how those specific outcomes will be achieved.
This family history project for advanced assessment allowed me time to reflect on how different nursing is to other fields of healthcare. A true holistic approach to our patient care is how nurses are able to heal mind, body, and spirit.
When analyzing nursing and learning theories I spent a lot of my time discussing Dr. Benner's theory of novice to expert. I had never really aligned my thoughts and beliefs so well, as I did with this theory.
The presentation I created for smoking cessation, was actually a recorded educational video, but too large to add to this portfolio. I learned more about addiction with this project and how much more difficult it is to break this habit.
I know that as I progress as a nurse educator, I will seek opportunities to continuously improve my knowledge base of data analysis to improve nursing care and education.
