Professional Progress Summary Intro
NURS 491 H: Role Transition
Assignment Purpose
The Professional Progress Summary Paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive reflection aligned with the Portfolio Evaluation Tool. This assignment provides an opportunity for you to engage in structured self-reflection and self-evaluation, examining your personal and professional growth throughout your undergraduate nursing program.
The purpose of this paper is to:
Analyze your development as a nursing student from program entry through graduation
Evaluate your clinical performance and integration of coursework into practice
Identify ongoing learning needs and areas for continued growth
Reflect on strategies used to maintain resilience and balance
Establish professional goals as a BSN-prepared nurse
Approach to Assignment
As a former urban planner and soon-to-be nurse, my approach to this assignment began with reading, writing, and reflection. I read the works of industry leaders from both fields to gain insight into the conversations and current practice trends while establishing a foundation from which to build my own theoretical framework and nursing identity. I wrote to articulate and interpret that which I read; this is key. For me, writing is what gives thrust to the body of knowledge. Writing pushes boundaries and creates space; in that space, new knowledge is formed. I reflected to give all of it meaning…what does it all mean if nothing gets done. Reflection drives innovation and leads to better care. This has been my generalized approach to all assignments in nursing school, but for this assignment, the Professional Progress Summary, the task became something deeper. All of the reading, writing, and reflecting contributed to this assignment, and it is here that I articulate the evolution of my personal nursing identity, get vulnerable about my areas of opportunity, acknowledge my strengths, and preview what comes next for myself and my career.
Reason for Inclusion
Domain 2 (Person-Centered Care) and Domain 3 (Population Health). Applies appropriate knowledge of major health problems to guide nursing practice.
My progress summary highlights my awareness of the social determinants of health (SDOH) and how systems of both the built and natural environment create issues of access. These systems were set in motion before nursing became a formal profession, and were codified into its theoretical framework by pioneers like Florence Nightingale. The nursing response of today to diseases like sickle cell anemia that predominately affect persons of color is a contemporary example of how these systems of oppression drive nursing care.
Domain 4 (Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline). Differentiates between descriptive nursing literature and published reports of nursing research.
I reference both qualitative, descriptive nursing literature and both published reports of nursing research in my progress summary as part of the supporting evidence defending my progression through the BSN nursing curriculum.
Domain 4 (Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline). Applies research-based knowledge from nursing as the basis for culturally sensitive practice.
The evolution of my identity as a critical care nurse that will be influential in bringing evidence-based content for my colleagues at the bedside in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) was established from a foundation of reading the literature, conducting research, writing, and reflection. I discuss in the progress summary how I chose, upon graduation, to work at a local charity hospital that provides care for the marginalized and underserved in the community.
Domain 4 (Scholarship for the Nursing Discipline) and Domain 7 (Systems-Based Practice). Considers the impact of research outcomes and the effects of health and social policies, on person from diverse backgrounds.
I discuss how my nursing identity is framed around myself as a driver of systems-based change to facilitate improved health outcomes for underserved members of the community, and how the research that fueled my honors hypertension project in rural communities will drive my patient education and care considerations for low-socioeconomic status (SES) patients in the CVICU.
Domain 6 (Interprofessional Partnerships). Adhere to the registered nurse scope and standard of practice.
My professional progress summary discusses how my role as a new graduate nurse (NGN) working in a CVICU will require I adhere to the scope of nursing at the BSN-RN level, what that will look like for me within that specialty critical care unit, and wherein my opportunities for growth within that scope rest.
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). (n.d.). Domains & Concepts. The essentials. https://www.aacnnursing.org/essentials/tool-kit/domains-concept
Read my professional progress summary here: