Assignment: Professional Development and Certification

NURS 6600: Capstone Synthesis Practicum | Week 7

I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.

— Frank Lloyd Wright

Symptoms of various gastrointestinal (GI) and hepatobiliary disorders often overlap making diagnosis and treatment challenging. Consider the casThroughout this course, you have been pursuing the professional development objectives you established for your practicum and developing your Professional Portfolio. As an advanced practice nurse, your professional growth must remain an ongoing priority throughout your career. Professional organizations, nursing, and others provide valuable opportunities for such growth.

This week, you examine your overarching professional development goals beyond this practicum and consider how involvement in professional associations could benefit your development as a nurse leader-manager or nurse informaticist. In addition, you assess how certification could contribute to your professional standing. You also continue to work on your Practicum Project and submit your Practicum Time Log and Journal (including Journal Entry 2).

Learning Objectives – Assignment: Professional Development and Certification

By the end of this week, students will:

• Evaluate practice certifications offered by professional organizations
• Evaluate opportunities for achieving certification
• Explain the purpose of obtaining certifications to support professional goals
• Analyze a Practicum Experience in the context of nursing leadership and management or nursing informatics
• Construct a detailed Practicum Time Log

Discussion: Professional Development and Certification

Consider the following scenario:

Isabel recently earned certifications offered by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and the American Organization of Nurse Executives for nurse managers and leaders. She was especially proud of this accomplishment and was confident it would serve her well as she continued her career. At a conference last week, she had found herself talking with a colleague about certification. To her surprise, her colleague suggested that she look into certification through the Project Management Institute. It had not occurred to Isabel that she might need or want that type of certification, but upon further reflection she could see how important it was to be able to manage projects effectively. She wondered how pursuing this type of certification might further her professional development and lead to new opportunities down the road. At the very least, she decided it was worth exploring further.

As you are aware, numerous nursing organizations offer opportunities for professional development, community service, and information gathering. There are also many certifications you can obtain through professional societies or organizations. Certifications recognize an individual’s specialty area knowledge and skills and can lead to professional empowerment. By obtaining certifications, you can help improve your quality of practice and increase your earning potential.

In this Discussion, you consider development opportunities afforded through professional associations and examine how earning certifications can advance your career.

To prepare:

• Reflect on your professional goals. These goals may relate to the practicum professional development objectives you established in Week 1, but you are encouraged to take a broader view of what you would like to accomplish in the immediate future, as well as five or 15 years from now. Identify at least one goal that is especially important to you.
• Think about the benefits of becoming involved in professional organizations and obtaining certifications.
• If you already have a specialty or clinical certification, reflect on how this has impacted the achievement of your professional goals thus far.
• Review information about two or more of the professional organizations listed in the Learning Resources. Consider the following questions:
  • As you explore each organization’s website, review the mission, vision, and value statements. Also examine the strategic plan, if possible. How do these align with your interests and your professional goals?
  • Investigate whether the organization offers networking opportunities with fellow professionals. Is there a local or regional chapter you could join?
  • What are the potential benefits of obtaining a certification through each organization? Examine the criteria for certification.
  • Evaluate your readiness and desire to become certified through each organization. What hesitations, if any, do you have?
  • How and why might this certification be useful to you and/or enhance your professional development?

By Day 3

Post a description of one or more of your professional goals. Explain a certification provided by a professional organization that would be of interest to you. Explain how and why this additional certification would be useful to you and/or enhance your professional development. Evaluate your readiness to obtain this certification, noting any reservations you may have.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days, using one or more of the following approaches:

• Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
• Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
• Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
• Assignment: Professional Development and Certification