Assignment: Professional Portfolio

A professional Portfolio is a collection of documents that provides evidence of your education, skill sets, accomplishments, goals, competencies, professional background, your dedication to life-long learning, and anything else that validates your commitment to your profession. A professional Portfolio is a tool to help you prepare and plan your career as well as assist you in role acquisition. Once you complete your Portfolio, much of what you need for the next phase of your career will already be collected! Additionally, this Portfolio assignment will promote a process of self-reflection and self-awareness which are necessary components to acquiring a new professional identity. Once completed, you will be able to identify your strengths and accomplishments which will help you develop confidence as you transition from the role of a registered nurse to that of an advanced practice nurse.

Directions

Below is a list of documents/artifacts that you will need to include in your portfolio. For this unit you need to complete and submit items 1–4. Please scan these and save as a PDF document. At the end of Unit 8 your ePortfolio should be one PDF document. The following format should be used:

1. Title Page (APA format)
2. Table of contents
3. Personal Philosophy: Write a brief page on your philosophy of advanced practice nursing in primary care.
4. NP Role definition: Write a brief paper that includes your definition and characterization of the NP role in the current U.S. healthcare environment.
5. Resume: Develop a resume that is no more than three pages and includes contact information, at least three professional goals, all undergraduate degrees and certifications, all previous formal education, recent continuing education or training, employment history, and accomplishments such as awards or publications.
6. NP job description: Describe your ideal NP position with details of duties and responsibilities (look at NP job descriptions on the Web for structure), work environment, patient population, interdisciplinary team members, salary requirements with expected benefits, scope of practice (i.e. independence vs. collaboration), and hours.
7. Cover Letter: Write a cover letter for the above position you just described. Make sure your cover letter includes a career goal, a paragraph that explains why you are a perfect fit for this job and how your background, training, and education qualifies you for this job.
8. Recommendations: Obtain three letters of recommendation and include these with your resume.
9. Documents: Provide (copies) of the following professional documents: nursing license, certifications, malpractice insurance, academic transcripts, a completed application for the nurse practitioner certification examination (ANCC or AANP), recent professional activities such as committee work, volunteer work, published works. Evidence of professional association memberships.
10. National Certification: Describe step by step what you will need to do to become nationally certified as an NP (ANCC or AANP). Include a list of the requirements needed for you to apply for national certification as a Family Nurse practitioner or Adult Nurse Practitioner. What is the minimum score on the certification exam to pass? How will you prepare for the exam? (Be specific on what you plan to do such as attend a national review course.)
11. Scholarly work: Include an exemplar of a scholarly paper (3 to 5 pages in APA format) on the relevance of evidence based practice in primary care (you may use a previously submitted Assignment).
12. Clinical Judgment: Include an exemplar of a case study that demonstrates your critical thinking skills, diagnostic skills, utilization of evidenced based practice, and clinical judgment, pharmacological management, follow up plan, and how you would promote preventive care for this patient (you may use a previous Assignment).