Over the course of my education in the BSN program, I have evolved into a competent, professional nurse.  Each class strengthened my knowledge and critical thinking skills.  Each article attached within this portfolio represents a segment of that process as I attained my educational goals.  It represents who I am as an individual and showcases my learning ability.  The course work has molded me into a thorough, professional nurse with a strong work ethic and moral values.  Overall, it had given me a more rounded perspective in what nursing is, and I am ready to take on the challenge. 

This portfolio is a collection of all my personal accomplishments and strengths.  With each course, my knowledge base continued to expand.  I am at the point now where I am confident in my abilities to function as an integral part of the interdisciplinary team as a professional nurse.  The documents in this portfolio represent who I am as both a student and as an upcoming working professional.  It showcases my strengths and abilities and symbolizes my eagerness to work towards my goals. 

Over the course of the nursing program, each student faces different challenges.  When I was working full-time while attending school full-time during my first year of study, it took a toll on my study habits.  I made the decision to take out student loans and focus solely on my education.  This has allowed me to have a much better understanding of the nursing profession.  Having the ability to study every day and craft my skills has prepared me to be a better professional.  Over the course of my program, I have been very thorough and finished every class on time and never failed a single assignment.  I take tremendous pride in that fact and am enthusiastic about bringing my work ethic to an interdisciplinary team. 

The curriculum offered by my BSN program assisted me in meeting the program outcomes at Western Governors Nursing Program.  It has developed my communication ability, and now I give precise, thorough SBAR reports as part of the interdisciplinary team.  It has allowed me to craft my clinical reasoning and critical thinking abilities that I use in every day practice as a nursing student.    I remain competent with ethical, legal, and professional standards by staying abreast to my school's and hospital facility's policies and procedures.  I utilize the knowledge I learned from an extensive list of prerequisites I have completed to apply to nursing practice.  This, in turn, has allowed me to synthesize theoretical and empirical knowledge.  I have learned to provide compassionate, patient- and famiy-centered care at the bedside.  I apply my leadership skills to effectively delegate tasks and engage peers in research studies.  I have worked to develop rapport with the interdisciplinary team to ensure collaborative communication.  The knowledge of genomics and genethics had broadened my knowledge base on nursing care for specific families with disease patterns.  Finally, I apply my knowledge of new information technology to safely and accurately access and use electronic medical/health records while protecting and safeguarding patient health information. 

During the program through both theoretical and clinical constructs, I have fulfilled different roles along the way. 

At Western Governors University, the BSN program identified helped me identify three distinct characteristics that each nursing student needs to represent.  These are how the nurse functions as a scientist, detective, and as a manager of the healing environment.  As a scientist, I utilized my knowledge of scientific inquiry to make informed, healthcare- related decisions.  I implemented the knowledge I learned from prerequisites courses as well as through research across the entire BSN program to influence my practice.  As a detective, I have developed the skill of monitoring and picking up on subtle clues to predict patient outcomes.  This involves a great deal of critical clinical decision-making, but is often the difference when preventing adverse patient outcomes.  Finally, as a nurse manager of the healing environment, I implement this practice with each patient on a daily basis.  Nurses are the center of the patient care process.  We direct, implement, and focus the interdisciplinary team to work towards patient-driven goals.  We act as patient advocates, striving for the best possible solutions with regards to where we started and what we have to work with.  Overall, we work closest with the patients; therefore we manage their environment both in the acute and outside settings. 

I have seen an overall positive transformation in myself as a new working professional since the start of this nursing program.  I have gradually become more confident, competent, and in general, a better nurse.  My communication skills have become sharper and I now am able to give concise, thorough SBAR reports to physicians and staff.  My critical thinking skills have vastly expanded with the amount of experience I have obtained through my clinical rotations.  My time management continues to improve with each shift, as I am able to decide which interventions I can group together to not waste additional time.  And with the leadership aspect, I have become much more confident in my skills and judgment, which allows proper delegation and working with an interdisciplinary team.