Continuum Professional Development - Essay Example

? Continuum Professional Development affiliation Continuum Professional Development As a nursing two years from now I had shallow knowledge of me practice and career requirements. This deficiency gave me the urge and passion to devote my time to learn and acquire the required skills in my practice to be a nurse. Like any other activity I developed a working plan that would help me achieve my goals and objectives. The action plan was mainly based on gaining experience and learning from experienced practitioners. According to Plunket (2008) creating good relations with experienced practitioners is the best way to gain effectively from continuum development practices. In the action plan, I focused on the location of my placement as a junior practitioner, the skills required from me, being in good terms with my tutors and supervisors and having the best academic qualifications. In continuum practice development an action plan should have a mandatory requirement of acquiring maximum skills from the academic side and skills in practice development (Jasper, 2006). The author further argues that as a student, academic qualification is the most important requirement to build ones skills in their career. In the academic level students are advised to also create relationship with their tutors and other experienced instructors who may guide them as amateur nursing practitioners. In the paper, I will discuss my experience in continuum professional development in terms of communication and working with others. Additionally, there will be an inclusion of my strong and weak areas as a learning nursing practitioner. Academically Communication is a tool that forms the basis of the relationship one creates in their institution. For instance in nursing, communication revolves around acknowledging the terms and language by tutors and using the knowledge to apply it in the field of practice. In nursing offering of services greatly depends on one’s ability to communicate with the doctors and the patients. According to Golding & Gray (2006) specialist practitioners demand amateurs with outstanding skills as their mentors. The author further argues that this proves that communication in nursing is as important as the practical skills. In my academic life, I developed my communication skills by research and by creating relationships with my instructors. Like a requirement in continuum professional development, one should create a healthy relationship with tutors and instructors. In this way, the experienced practitioners aid students in understanding the requirements of the practice. In terms of communication I indulged in practical lessons in gaining experience and getting used to the terms involved. In the practical lessons, there were programs which we participated in that helped our tutors evaluate and promote our progress. The programs were based on specific requirements from our tutors. The programs enhanced our communicating skills with patients, taking notes from practical lessons, analyzing the trends in communication in the practice and learning from experienced practitioners how to relate to the practice situations. Communication in the academic level is also enhanced through creating groups that help formulate communication strategies (O’Farell & Evans, 2008). In these groups, tutors and instructors provide instructions on how to create communication programs and trends to suit the field. Additionally, the groups act as support mechanisms to slow learners who require more attention when learning. According to Hansen (2013) communication in groups help students have confidence and enough self esteem to face patient and experienced practitioners. In groups, every person is ranked an amateur regardless of their sharpness and level of understanding. This helps students feel comfortable when learning and experimenting new communication skills. Academically, students also learn how to work in groups. In every class level tutors created groups which required working together to complete different tasks. The tasks are based on how effectively a group can complete tasks at the required specifications and timeline. This strategy is important in continuum professional development since it prepares student to prepare to work with different forms of personalities in an organization. In words by Shaw & Long (2013) working in groups in an academic level increases the professional development in terms of relating to other practitioners. The author further argues that it enhances the ability of a student to relate with other practitioners in an organization which increase their learning abilities and efficiency. In the academic level my strong point in the whole process was I had a great relationship with the service users. After the whole process of effective communication I created a good working framework which helped me relate effectively to patients and understand them regardless of any language barrier. My weakness in the academic level was relating to the experienced practitioners. Experienced practitioners did not provide students with enough room to develop their ideas. This made students feel not considered as potential experts in their field of practice. In words by Bruce (2009) many students fail to effectively relate to the experienced practitioners because they do not have a chance to practice at their own consent. In practice Continuum professional development is effectively enhanced while in practice. In nursing, learning from a practice is the most effective way of ensuring a student has acquired the most important skills of practice. According to Cohen (2007) learning from practicing in an organization provides students with an opportunity of implementing their academic knowledge. Additionally, students are exposed to practices that form the basis of a nursing practice. At this point, students are provided with supervisors and instructors who act as mentors before they could practice independently. However, Keith (2008) caution at this level of career development is important since people lives are at stake in a medical practice. For this reason, nursing students operate under specific instructions from experienced personnel. This fact is however, criticized by many students and learners who claim that it hinders them from operating at their full potential. In words by American Nurses Association (2009) while practicing in organizations, students have the need and urge of having a little independence to gauge their performance at the practice level. However, many organizations in the medicine field feel that they expose their patients to risks which are an ethical in such a field. In continuum professional development, experts argue that students acquire better knowledge and skills when working under an experienced practitioner and under strict instructions. This creates discipline and provides a student with the most effective knowledge and experience in the practice. While in practice communication is very important in enabling a student to acquire the required skills. My experience in practice, I was attached to a public relation instructor who provided basics on how to handle and relate to service users. This included reception, dealing with emergencies, and mode of language in the practice, the way to communicate to other practitioners; ethical communication skills and how to understand a patient’s need regardless of any language barrier. These skills enhanced my communication skills while in practice to both service providers and service users. Additionally, this made my work easier as it became less complex to adhere and provide instructions. Communication while in practice was also enhanced by working under experienced nursing practitioners. These practitioners acted as tutors and gave strict instructions which had to be adhered to. Experienced practitioners have a vast experience in relating to patients at all levels. They assigned students to numerous different communication scenarios to increase their exposure in the field. For instance, one may be assigned to visually impaired patients for a week then to cognitive challenged patients in the other week. This juggling of duties increased the communication potential and effectiveness of students (Clarke & Watson, 2009). Working in groups while in practice is also a significant feature of continuum professional development. In different groups, students are exposed to different personalities which greatly enhanced one’s ability to relate to other practitioners. Additionally, different groups had different levels of experienced practitioners. This blend of selection effectively raised the standards of the lesser experienced practitioners. In continuum professional development groups are usually placed under a senior nursing practitioner. The head practitioner acts as a guide and an instructor to the group. The head practitioner is usually an experienced practitioner in terms of guiding a group of learning practitioners to perfection. This strategy enhances correlation between working groups and practitioners across an entire organization. It also enhances the working relation capabilities of young learners as they acquire perfection in the practice. While in practice I also had a strong point in communication to service users. I developed a friendly personality which was important while dealing with different personalities of patients. In words by Cody (2004) versatility is important to any learning student since it increase their working relation capabilities. My major weakness while in practice was matching the duties by experienced practitioners. Any student requires a morale booster while gaining experience while in practice and this is not provided by competition between practitioners. References American Nurses Association. (2009). Scope and standards for nursing professional development. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association (ANA) Nursebooks. Bruce, S. L. (Ed.). (2009). Core curriculum for staff development (3rd ed.). Pensacola, FL: National Nursing Staff Development Organization. Clarke, P., Watson, J. & Brewer, B (2009). From theory to practice: caring science according to Watson and Brewer. Nurs Sci Q ;22(4):339-345 Cody, W. (2000). 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