I began my nursing career after becoming a caregiver for my grandparents. During my time caring for them, I became proficient in many nursing skills and developed a working relationship with many of their visiting nurses. I was inspired to go to nursing school and enrolled for prerequisite courses at Ivy Tech in 2008. I enrolled to the Ivy Tech School of Nursing and was accepted to the program in 2010, and after an intense program and clinical experience, I recieved my ASN and became a Registered Nurse in 2012.

Throughout my clinicals, I had the chance to experience time in the operating room and decided to pursue a career as a circulating nurse. I accepted a job as an Operating Room Circulating Nurse at Wishard and began my nursing career in 2012. It was here that I gained invaluable experience in Trauma and attained my Periop Certification. After a year as a circulating nurse, I decided that I would like to pursue an Associate of Operating Registered Nurse Certificate, which required a BSN in nursing. I began my pursuit of my BSN at WGU in 2013. I switched careers mid-degree and I am now an RN Case Manager for a Home Health agency in my community. Many of the papers and projects reflected in my portfolio represent me as a learner and healthcare professional, especially in the role of Home Health RN.

Two of the papers in my portfolio represent the heart of who I am as a nurse. Evidence-Based Practice Task 1 and Community and Health Field Project represent me well as a learner and healthcare professional. As a learner, I researched and evaluated my community and company to better understand how the systmes were broken and learned the best way to apply my nursing knowledge to improve the systems. As a healthcare professional, I used nursing theory and my knowledge of creating care plans to assess, diagnose, plan, implement, and evaluate my company and community and use the information gained to write these papers.

My professional strengths shine in my role as a Home Health Registered Nurse. When I first started my nursing career, I thought the excitement of the operating room would be my calling, but I soon realized that I needed a solid ground to build my knowledge as a nurse. I found that foundation in Home Health Nursing. My Evidence-Based Practice Task 1 paper and Community Health Field Project accentuate my professional strengths well. My professional strengths are that I am community driven, thrive in one-on-one nursing care environments, and that I always feel that I can grow as a nurse and improve the system to better support my patients. Both of these tasks show these strengths.

I faced many challenges in my journey to complete my BSN. Some of the challenges were personal and some were study related. My personal challenges included a move from Indianapolis to my current hometown Lebanon, IN, a career change from Operating Room to Home Health, the purchase of my first home, gaining full custody of my stepdaughter unexpectedly, and I have also had infertility issues which way heavy on my mind. Common study challenges were facced daily as I tried to balance work and home life. Time-management was the biggest challenge when all of the personal factors came into play. Even though school is important, at times, I simply had to accept that my family and work life were priority over studies. Western Governor's was very understanding and even provided me a scholarship for my final semester to help me complete my goals. I overcame these challenges by relying on my family, friends and student mentor for support. I was very honest with my mentor about the challenges I was facing and she helped me persevere!

Looking at the program outcomes now, I can see how the coursework was preparing me to meet each of these nine outcomes.

• Effective Communication- My communication skills were upgraded as a professional. I was taught how to properly write a business proposal with cost benefit analysis and also presented to the stakeholders at my company, something I never would have initiated without the proper knowledge attained through my coursework, especially the Leadership Learning Project.
• Clinical Reasoning- My clinical reasoning skills were enhanced as a direct result of Evidence-Based Practice. I have always had a solid understanding of anatomy and physiology, disease processes, and how to perform skills. However, taking that knowledge and creating productive plans of care and new processes are things I needed to be shown. I now feel conffident in my clinical reasoning skills and understand where to find reliable information.
• Professional Accountability- Professional accountability was also gained through my Leadership Learning Experience and Community Health Field Project. These two projects required collaboration which instigated professional accountability. I completed both projects start to finish while coordinating with many others, I showed them all my ability to be trustworhty and professional.
• Synthesis of Knowledge- Synthesis of Knowledge was attained throughout the entire degree process, from the beginning, it was necessary to engage the arts and sciences to formulate papers, complete projects, and study for exams. I gained a better understanding of the human experience and became a social advocate through Genetics and Genomics and the Community ad Population Health Course.
• Compassion for Patients- I have always had compassion, taking to heart every job I have ever had the priiveledge to do. Nursing allows me to take that compassion to the next level. Caring for individuals and families came naturally, and I learned how to be compassionate for my community as a whole via the Community and Population Health Course.
• Becoming a Leader and Educator- I truly felt like a leader and educator while working on the Leadership Learning Experience. I was able to merge my experience in management and marketing before nursing school with my current role as a Home Health RN. I felt like a leader when presenting my Leadership Project and I became an educator when enlightneing the nurses about new evidence to support my theories and while explaining the need for new processes to the stakeholders of my company.
• Interprofessional Collaboration- Quality and safety are extremely important in the healthcare field, and the only way to ensure this ffor our patients is through interprofessional collaboration. I really began to understand this and use these skills during my time working on Community Health and Population, Evidence-Based Practice and Leadership Learning Experience.
• Knowledge of Genomics and Genetics- I learned how to integrate Genomics and Genetics into the care of my patients through the Genomics and Genetics Course through the American Museum of Natural History.
• Utilization of Information Technology- I feel like I can properly utilize online libraries and databases to research anything now as a result of my experience at WGU. I can now utilize a database to seek out primary research, communicate effectively using email, and formulate research papers and portfolios to communicate professionally.

In the profession of nursing, one learns to take on many roles. Many times we function as a friend, advocate, caregiver, or counselor along with our many other assessments and services. Putting myself in a leadership role, gave me a different understanding of what it means to be a nurse. I learned that I can advocate for my patients and fellow team members to enhance the patient experience, reduce healthcare costs, and improve efficiency. I had the opportunity to act a Scientist, a Detective, and a Manager of the Healing Environment.

In my role as a scientist, I used scientific inquiry to inform healthcare decisions by asking myself, “What can I do to improve the admission process?” Instead of just brushing it off and waiting for change to happen, I formed my own hypothesis, critiqued the current process, and decided to create a new process that would influence current practice. In my role as a detective I used clinical imagination to create a new process that would benefit the company, my patients and care team in a positive way. I examined the current admission process to detect where the problem began and what could be done to fix it. I collected evidence, surveyed staff members, and looked for changes that could be made to prevent future adverse outcomes. As a manager of the healing environment, I looked at the whole picture to determine if a process change would be beneficial to the company, team and patients as a whole. If the benefit did not outweigh the cost, the process would not have been helpful. I created a new process, coordinated with necessary stakeholders and team members, and involved everyone in the process to maintain respect and dignity of the human experience. I am extremely happy in my current role as a home health nurse and feel that I take on the roles of scientist, detective, and manager of the healing environment daily. I will carry this experience with me so I can better recognize flaws in the system and realize that I can be an advocate for change.

When I started this program I barely felt like a nurse, I was a novice. I lacked some basic nursing skills simply because I worked in the OR and had not had very much patient contact. Other skills, such as leadership, collaboration, and cinical reasoning were all directly enhanced through my studies at WGU. I do not think I will ever feel like an expert nurse, personally, I feel that there is always something to learn in nursing. Whether it is a medical improvement or something I learn about myself, I will always strive to be a better nurse for my patients. However, I know that I have grown profesionally in major ways during my time at Western Governor's University.