Assignment 1: Professional Goals

Developing professional goals is critical to guiding your career and transitioning to become a practicing NP. The goals that you develop should be SMART. SMART goals are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-specific (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Human Resources, n.d.). Keeping your goals SMART will increase your chances of meeting or exceeding your professional career goals.

For this Assignment, you will identify three short-term and three long-term goals. You also will explain how each goal relates to your professional career development and how you might achieve each of these goals.

Reference: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Human Resources (n.d.). SMART goals. Retrieved from edu/performance-development/goal-setting-developmental-planning/smart-goals”>http://hrweb.mit.edu/performance-development/goal-…

To prepare:

• Review the SMART Goals Learning Resources
• Consider professional goals that you might select to help focus on your transition from RN to NP practice.

By Day 7

For this Assignment, write a paper that is no more than 2 pages long that addresses the following:

• Identify at least three short-term goals (1-2 years)
• Identify at least three long-term goals (3-5 years)
• Explain why you selected each goal and how they relate to your professional career development
• Create a strategic plan that explains how you might achieve each of these goals

Assignment 2: Practicum Assignment 1: Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills

A self-assessment is an opportunity for you to review what you have learned in the program, evaluate your clinical skills, and develop goals before exiting the NP program. For this assignment, you will complete the Risk Control Self-Assessment Checklist for Nurse Practitioners and identify your areas of strength and weakness. You also will explain how you plan to improve on these weaknesses, as well as how you plan to master clinical skills you have not obtained prior to exiting NP program.

To prepare:

• Complete the Risk Control Self-Assessment Checklist for Nurse Practitioners
• Review preceptor and faculty evaluations in Meditrek for all completed clinical courses
• Consider your strengths and weaknesses
• Review types of patients treated and clinical procedures performed

By Day 7

Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Identify at least three strengths
• Explain why you consider these strengths and what you can do to maintain them in your practice
• Identify at least three weaknesses
• Explain how you plan to address each weakness
• Examine at least three clinical skills you need to obtain prior to exiting the program
• Explain how you plan to master the clinical skills before exiting NP program
• Analyze the history of advanced practice nurses and the emerging role of your specialty area, and discuss what contributions you plan to make to advance the nursing profession

Assignment 3: Practicum Journal and Time Log

“A vital part of the reflective process is to plan for changes in your behavior.”
— Somerville & Keeling, 2004.

Being a reflective practitioner enables NPs to identify weaknesses and target professional development in order to address these weaknesses. In turn, this increases the NPs’ ability to provide the best care to patients and their families. Reflection also affords the NP time to consider communication and their efforts toward creating a culture of mutual support with colleagues, a characteristic that is essential to successful NP practice (Somerville & Keeling, 2004).

Each week you will complete a Journal Entry and Time Log that prompts you to reflect on your Practicum Experiences and how they relate to your Professional Goals and Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills. This week you will begin documenting your Practicum Experiences in your Practicum Journal.

Reference: Somerville, D., Keeling, J. (2004). A practical approach to promote reflective practice within nursing. Nursing Times, 100(12), 42–45. Retrieved from http://www.nursingtimes.net/Journals/2012/11/30/v/…

To prepare

For this course’s Practicum Experience, address the following in your Practicum Journal:

• From your perspective, explain the role of nurse practitioners in clinical settings
• Develop goals and objectives for the Practicum Experience in this course
• Create a proposed timeline of practicum activities based on your practicum requirements.