Developing a Professional Portfolio ... - Nursing Informatics

1 Developing a Professional Portfolio in NursingMarilyn H. OermannA Professional Portfolio is a collection of carefully selected materialsthat document the nurse's competencies and illustrate the expertise ofthe nurse. Since a Portfolio is developed over time, it also provides away of monitoring Professional development. By periodically reviewingthe Portfolio , nurses can assess their progress in meeting personal andprofessionai goals and can better plan their careers in Nursing . Thisarticle describes Professional portfolios, their uses in Nursing , and howto develop and maintain H. Oermann, PhD, RN, FAAN,is il professor in the College of Nursingat Wayne State University In Detroit, nurses should maintain aprofessional Portfolio toreflect on their own devel-opment of knowledge andskills over time, presentlevidence of compefendes,and market themselves when apply-ing for career ladder positions or newjobs in Professional Portfolio containsmaterials fhat document the nurse'scompetencies and experiences andIllustrate the career pat i of the , photographers, designers, andother professionals use portfolios toshowcase their work for clients andpotential employers.

2 Portfolios in nurs-ing accomplish the same purpose they showcase the nurse's backgroundand expertise for others fo review. Thisarticle describes Professional portfolios,their uses in Nursing , and how todevelop and maintain PortfoliosA Professional Portfolio is a compila-tion of carefully selected materials thatdt5cumenf the nurse's materials placed in a portfolioillustrate the background, skills, andexpertise of the nurse (Trossman,1999). The Portfolio also provides away of monitoring the nurse's ownprofessional development- By periodi-cally reviewing the Portfolio , nursescan assess their progress in meetingpersonal and Professional goals andcan better plan their careers in Portfolio does not replace theresume or curriculum vitae, but pro-vides information not available fromfhese alone.

3 A resume and curriculumvitae list the educational institutionsattended, the positions held, andother background informafion aboutthe nurse. The Portfolio provides evi-dence of the competencies andexpertise of fhe nurse developed as aresult of fhese of PortfoliosThere are two types of portfolios, best-work and growth and development(Gaberson & Oermann, 1999; Oer-mann & Gaberson, 1998). Best-workportfolios provide evidence of thenurse's competencies and portfolios are used as doaimen-tafion for career ladder promotions,job applications, annual performancereviews, accreditations, initial andcontinuing certification, and situa-tions in which other people will bereviewing the Portfolio .

4 These portfo-lios contain carefully selected materi-als that are organized, labeled, andprepared for review by and development portfo-lios are designed for nurses to monitorIn the Portfolio , the nurse can listprofessional goals to be achievedand related time frames, and thenurse can use the Portfolio tomonitor progress in meeting progress in meeting personal andprofessional learning goals. Nurses usethis type of Portfolio to evaluate tiieirown learning and development, notfor others to review. The growth anddevelopment Portfolio is a workingdocument that provides ongoing evi-dence of competencies. The nurse canthen select materials from this docu-ment to include in a best-work portfo-lio that is shown to of Portfolios in NursingPortfolios in Nursing may he used forprofessional development, for careerladder promotions and wifh joh app-lications, for annual performanceappraisals, as documentation of em-ployee performance for accreditationsurveys, when applying to education-al programs, and fo document contin-uing DevelopmentA Portfolio enables nurses tt) monitorthe development of their competenciesover a period of time.

5 The documentsin a porftoiio provide evidence of whathas been accomplished fo meet per-sonal and Professional learning needs,progress in achieving career goals, andwhere further learning is in this way, the porffolioserves as a plan for Professional devel-opment. Registered dietitians and di-etetic technicians recently beganusing the Portfolio for recertification;the porffolio includes a learning plan,a log of completed continuing profes-sional activities with supporting docu-mentation, and an evaluation of out-comes of learning (l'erfel, 1999),In Nursing the porffolio could beused as a continued competency doc-umenfation tool.

6 Nurses could listlearning acfivities they have complet-ed, evaluafe fheir effectiveness in pro-mofing Professional growth and con-tinued competency, and specify goalsto be using fhe Portfolio as a plan forprofessionai development, fhe nurseprogresses fhrough four steps, similarto the Nursing 1 is the learning needsassessment in which the nurseevaluates his or her own knowledgeand skills to identify areas for furfherlearning. From this needs assessment,the nurse identifies personal and pro-fessional goais fo be met. This step issimilar to the assessmenf and diagnos-tic phases of the Nursing process(Oermann, 1998).

7 2 The next step is to develop aplan for meefing those learn-ing needs. The plan may include inser-vice and continuing education, com-pletion of .selected clinical experiencesand other types of learning acfivifies,independent pracfice of skills, readingof arficles and other types of publica-tions to fill gaps in knowledge, andmany ofhers. All of these acfivitieswilh accompanying due dafes areincluded in fhe learning third step is implemenfa-tion of the plan, which involvescompleting tiie activities specified in implementation dafes are includ-ed, thereby providing a record of con-tinued learning and development forreview by others.

8 It also is helpful foinclude a list of maferials fo be collect-ed for fhe Portfolio that provide evi-dence of the learning activifies com-pleted, such as records of final step is evaluation offhe oufcomes of learning andrevision of the plan if indicafed. In fhissfep, fhe nurse assesses progress madein meefing learning needs and decideson areas for continued professionaldevelopment. The Portfolio includesthe plan for Professional developmentwith accompanying maferials fhat val-idafe completion of the learning acfiv-ities, competencies developed andmaintained, new knowledge gained,and other outcomes of learning.

9 Table1 provides a sample Professional devel-opment plan that can be included in porffolio used in this way alsohelps nurses in planning their too often nurses change posifionswifhouf considering where they wanfto he in 1, 5, and 10 years, and they donot evaluate how each position fitsinto their career plans. In the portfo-lio, the nurse can list professionalgoals to be achieved and related timeframes and can use the Portfolio tomonitor progress in meeting them. Inthis way, the Portfolio is a career-plan-ning joun^al fhaf guides setting careergoals and making career decisions(Koch etal., 1998).Career Ladder Promotionsand Job iVIobilityAnother use of the Portfolio is forcareer ladder promotions within theorganization and for seeking new posi-tions in Nursing .

10 The Portfolio providesjustification for a career ladder promo-tion in fhe clinical setting and containsdocuments that support it {Brooks etal., 1998).The nurse also can use a portfoliowhen applying for a new position. Theportfolio demonstrates to the potentialemployer the knowledge, skills, andrelevant experiences of the nurse. Withthe Portfolio , nurses can more easilymarket fhemselves to potential em-ployers, illustrating their value and howthey could fulfill the demands of theposition. Portfolios allow nurses to takecontrol of their Professional develop-ment (Brooks & Madda, 1999). A relat-ed advantage is that the Portfolio isreadily available for career Nursing - March/April 2002 - Volume 21 Number 2 TABLE 1 Sample Plan for Professional DevelopmentLearning NeedsPatienteducation,1 GoalImprove knowl-edge and 5killsfor teachingpatients withvaried healthproblemsLearningActivitieswith Due DatesDevelop teachingplans for patientson unit/adaptstandardizedplans.}