N 479 Professional Development Grid/Plan

Name: _Melissa Harris_______________________

Date:

4/22/2016

In 3-5 years I see myself perfecting my skills as a pediatric nurse and planning my education to become a pediatric nurse practitioner.
Area

Strengths

Direct
Patient Care
Leadership

Unit Related
Leadership

Stay calm and calm

others.
Experience working
with children.

One of the strengths I

have as a unit leader
is my ability to get
along with large
groups of people.
Hands on
Personality

Weakness/ Opportunity for

Improvement
- Love to spend time in
patient rooms, which
hinders time management.
- Need to work on gaining
confidence when
answering patients
questions.

One of my weaknesses as a
unit leader is that I am a
people pleaser
Work on organization
with my own patients so I
can be available to other
nurses if they need help.

Professional
Nursing
Development:
Organizations,
Journals/
Certifications

Short term goals/ strategies

Present-2years
- Develop an individual
brain sheet that will allow
me to quickly record
patient information.
- Work on overall
organization so I have
adequate time to deliver
medications, talk to the
care team and to the
patients and finish
charting.
- Work on my delegation
skills.
- Serve on committees for
unit.
- Become more
comfortable working
interprofessionally.
- I would like to be
dependable for fellow
nurses.
-

N 479
Book Selection
(based on
strengths and
weaknesses)
-

The book explains

how Tina Fey
becomes successful
by encouraging
others and working
well with others.
The book explains
that in order to be
successful it is
important not to

The book isnt focused on

nursing so some of the
lessons cannot be applied
to a hospital.
A lot of the book was
about Tina Feys
childhood and family and
not as much about
leadership.

Get my PALS
certification
Move to an ICU if Im
not already working in
one.
Subscribe to the Journal
of Pediatric Nursing

Long term goals/ strategies

3-5 years
- Incorporate evidenced
based practice into my
patient care
- Stay up to date on
nursing journals.

Be involved in creating
evidenced based
protocols for my unit.
Be involved in
precepting a student or
being a mentor.

Attend a Society of
Pediatrics Annual
Conference
Keep up to date with
current pediatric
journals and EBP

Leadership
Shadowing
Experience

Professional
Activity/
Community
Service

Education:
Cont. Nrsg.
Educ. and/or
plans for
Higher Educ.

sweat the small stuff.

When faced with
sexism or ageism or
lookism or even
really aggressive
Buddhism, ask
yourself the following
question: Is this
person in between me
and what I want to
do? if the answer is
no, ignore it and
move on.
- Allowed me to
observe various skills
the nurses performed
such as placing an IV
using an ultrasound
machine as well as
the placement of a
nasogastric tube in a
baby using a Cortrak
machine.
- Reassurance that the
pediatric population
was the population I
wanted to work with
as a nurse.
- Allowed me to play a
different role in
helping pediatric
patients outside of
the hospital.
- Additionally, during
my preceptorship
many of the patients
had Beads of
Courage necklaces,
so it was exciting for
me to volunteer for
their organization.
In the future I hope to
strengthen my skills as a
pediatric nurse and earn a
higher degree as a pediatric
nurse practitioner or earn my
doctorate in research. This
additional education will
allow me to be a better and

The SWAT team was

having a slow day in terms
of the units needing their
help, which limited the
number of skills I was able
to observe and learn.

I would have loved to meet

some of the kids that the
beads were being sent to
and heard their unique
stories.

I would love to spend more time

shadowing nurse practitioners and
researchers and learning their role
in the healthcare organization
before I pursue further education.

My short-term goals for the next

two years are to start a job in a
pediatric unit. I would like to
master my skills as a pediatric
nurse and gain confidence in my
role.

Over the next three to five years

I would like to work in a
pediatric intensive care unit (If I
dont start there is a new
graduate). I would also like to
hone in on what I would like to
pursue for a future degree and
begin the process of a graduate

more knowledgeable nurse.

education.