12/5/15

Direct Patient Care Abilities

Professional
Development Outline
Kaitlyn C. Parks
University of Arizona

Personal
Strengths

Ability to remain calm

Therapeutic

Time management

Tendency to over-

in high-stress clinical
situations
skills

Ability to perform

rational and effective

prioritization

Direct Patient Care Abilities

Short Term Goals
(Present 2 years)

Long Term Goals

(3 5 years)

Provide high quality,

Master patient

Improve therapeutic

Challenge current

ethical, and patientcentered nursing care

communication skills

Safely and effectively

transition into the
professional RN role

communication and
education skills
practice to find
solutions for best
practice alternatives

Acquire confidence in
my identity as a
professional RN and
leader

Unit Leadership Abilities

Short Term Goals
(Present 2 years)

Long Term Goals

(3 5 years)

Opportunities for
Improvement
communication
strategies
critique own clinical
competency

Strategies for providing

clear, concise, and
effective patient
education

Unit Leadership Abilities

Personal
Strengths

Knowledge of

mechanisms for
utilizing evidence
based practice
techniques

Ability to maintain

effective inter-personal
relationships

Ability to effectively and

rationally mediate
conflict

Opportunities for
Improvement

Recognition of the

dynamic nature of other

employees/team
members

Communicating as an
effective leader

Seeking out,

researching, and
advocating all
opportunities for unit
improvement

Professional Development
Short Term Goals
(Present 2 years)

Long Term Goals

(3 5 years)

Join a committee within Begin serving as a

Obtain cardiac-vascular Seek out opportunities

Improve confidence in

Initiate a quality

Seek out non-licensure Establish myself as a

Acquire a greater

Research, write, and

Seek out possible

a professional
organization

own leadership
capabilities

patience throughout
relationships with other
professionals

mentor for less

experienced nurses
improvement project
within my organization
publish a study
evaluating a best
practice protocol

nursing certification
(RN-BC)

based continued
education opportunities
journals to submit my
best practice thesis to

for advancement within

my organization
charge nurse on my unit

Publish my best practice

thesis in an official
nursing journal

12/5/15

Leadership Book

Leadership Shadow Experience

Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell

I chose this book in attempt to learn how

I can become more successful in achieving

my goals, and what less considered
factors could contribute to my success.

Charge Nurse Shadow Experience

Medical Telemetry Inpatient Unit
hoals

This book empowered me to chase my

goals in full force. It addressed mechanisms for

improving my weaknesses, such as communication, by
giving me a reason to believe my opinion counts.

This book benefited me by instilling confidence in me. I

now believe that I can do great things, and there is no

factor in the world that is holding me back.
(Gladwell, 2008)

Professional Activity
Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) Certification
Desert Education Solutions

I chose to obtain my PALS certification in effort to

learn more about how to apply advanced life

support to pediatrics, and to refresh upon pediatric
conditions and health variations.

This experience enhanced my knowledge by

allowing me to learn, and apply, the variations of

emergency care and life support to children and
infants.

Allowed me to refresh upon my knowledge of

pediatric care.

I chose to shadow charge nurse due to my lack of

knowledge for the responsibilities of a charge nurse

on a large inpatient unit.

This experience enhanced my knowledge of the

charge nurse position by allowing me to observe

and integrate the many components of being a
charge nurse, and apply them to my own practice:
1) Scheduling responsibilities
2) Routine unit responsibilities
3) Unexpected unit responsibilities
4) Hospital-wide responsibilities

Educational Plan
Personal Aspirations

Obtain my DNP degree

Serve as an NP inside
of a CVICU

Potential Opportunities

Begin U of A BSN
DNP program with
direct admission
(next two years)

Short Term Goals

(Present 2 years)

Decipher between which

specialty track to pursue

Apply to U of A DNP
program

Long Term Goals

(3 5 years)

Obtain my DNP degree

AG-ACNP vs. FNP track Pass NP boards/test

Establish myself as an
NP in a CVICU

References
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. 1st
ed. New York: Little, Brown and Company,
2008. Print.