Participating in Ongoing Professional Development of Self and Others - Essay Example

Professional development Name Institution Date Introduction In a working setting, professional development refers to the attainment of knowledge and skills both for career advancement and for personal development (Judd, 2009, p. 66). Professional development entails every type of facilitated learning opportunities ranging from conferences, college degrees to formal assignments and informal learning opportunities located in practice. It has been explained as rigorous and jointly, ideally including an evaluative step. There are a numerous approaches to continuous professional development, which includes consultation, community of practice, coaching, mentoring, reflective supervision, lesson study, and technical assistance. A nurse is personally responsible for the provision of quality nursing care to all patients (Terry, 2008, p.34). Consequently, it is the responsibility of all nurses to uphold the competency essential for existing practice. This condition is defined as a Continuous Professional Education (CPE) to sustain and upgrade knowledge and skills pertinent to individual’s scopes of practice and practice setting necessities. CPD (Continuous professional development) can be defined as the logical or systematic maintenance, enhancement, and expansion of skills and the growth of personal characters required for the education of nursing professional and procedural responsibilities throughout the practitioner’s operational life. Professional development (PD) is a wide term regarding a range of people, benefits, and approaches (DeWit, 2009, p.56). Those who utilize professional development distribute a universal purpose of improving their capability to do their work. In professional development (PD), it is the person’s interest in learning and increasing their own knowledge and skills, which helps in the accomplishment of their goals (Murphy-Latta, 2008, p.68). There are ranges of benefits related to professional development in the nursing profession. These include improving staff enrollment and maintenance through professional fulfillment and upholding of interest in organizational practices and values. Continuous professional development (CPD), improves patient care prognosis or outcome including reducing hospitalization time through integration of the most current developments and studies in the clinical work practices. There is reduced exposure to medical settlement claims and lawful tort for professional slackness, there is reduction in the overall individual cost from injury and illness as nurses become progressively more multiskilled, knowledgeable, confident, and content. Lastly, there is efficient assimilation of individual work, surroundings, and personnel to the health system. A nurse has to be committed to determined goals and develop approaches to attain the goals (DeWit, 2009, p.56). They are various challenges to continuous professional development that has been related to nursing profession. It is acknowledged that responsibility for continuing learning falls equivalently but in dissimilar ways among a personage, industry, and the Government. The benefits, challenges, and liabilities, of attaining these responsibilities are ordinary in contradictory extents and ways. In general, nurses want to employ in an ongoing education process. It is up to the employers, educators, and government to address matters such as workplace support, financial, and access to appropriate knowledge-delivery apparatus. Opportunities for individuals comprise contribution to newsletter and journals, association of specialist interest clusters and specialized bodies, customary inspection of internet information resources, and involvement in email discussion groups. Speck (2008) identified that persons can best keep up to date with the present issues relating to health by continuous medical edification. Efficiently harvesting and supporting the objectives and gains attests to be another confront, as a person has to strive to attain. Maintaining authenticity in achieving the set objectives may attest a challenge in the nursing profession (Speck, 2008, p.23). Another challenge to professional development is that journals are written after an evidence based practice review and many nurses are not able to study the document and consequently act in accordance to the reviews to offer quality nursing care. The health system is constantly changing due to researches being conducted therefore this poses as a challenge to a graduate nurse as they are inexperienced to the practices and they have to change with continuous changing of nursing practices. Approaches / strategies for implementing professional development Various strategies can be used to achieve professional development. In a wider sense, professional development includes formal types of professional education, poly-technical training, or typically post-secondary leading to credential or qualification required to retain or obtain employment (Speck, 2008, p.23). Professional development can also come in the form of in-service or pre-service professional improvement programs. These plans can be informal or formal, individualized or group. Individuals can pursue continuous professional development autonomously, or the department of human resource can offer programs. Professional development on the work can enhance or develop process skills, occasionally referred as task skills as well as leadership skills. A number of examples for process skills are team functioning skills, effectiveness skills, and 'systems thinking skills. Terry (2008) pointed out that continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities may range from a solitary workshop to a long semester academic course, to services given by a combination of different professional development (PD) providers and varying broadly with respect to the content, philosophy, and format of the education experiences (Terry, 2008, p.34) Case study has been one of the major strategy or approaches in development of nursing profession. The case study or case method is a teaching approach, which consists in presenting the nurses with a case, placing them in the position of a decision maker facing a predicament (Murphy-Latta, 2008, p.68) In the life sciences, and social sciences a case report or case study is a descriptive, investigative, or explanatory analysis of a group, person, or an event. An explanatory case report is utilized to explore and find out the causation in order to establish the underlying principles. Case studies can be prospective (in that criteria are recognized and cases matching the criteria are incorporated as they become obtainable) or retrospective (in that criteria are instituted for choosing cases from historical or chronological records for addition or inclusion in the study (Golding, 2006, p.46) According to jasper (2006) a case study involves the analyses of persons, decisions, events, periods, policies, institutions, projects, or other structures that are deliberated holistically by one or various methods (Jasper, 2006, p.45). The case, which is the subject of the inquisition, will be an example of a class of phenomenon, which provides a systematic frame an object in which the survey is done and which the case elucidates and explicates. Ethical and legal consideration plays a major role in case study, during case study as a way of professional development, when making a follow up one has to consider ethical rights of patients that are to be incorporated in the study. For instance, a nurse has to consider getting consent from the subjects before conducting the study. Through conduction of ethical approval from the subject it will be the best way of observing patients or subjects legal rights (DeWit, 2009, p.56) Roderick (2007) stated that consultation is the process of assisting an individual nurse or group of individuals to tackle immediate concern or predicaments and clarify by following a methodical and procedural problem-solving process. Consultation has been broadly utilized it achieving nursing professional development for a duration of years. A nurse to achieve quality care delivery for patients has to consults other expertise in medical profession in order to know the next step to carry forward (Roderick, 2007, p.67) Professional development has been utilizing coaching as a way of improving quality of nursing care. Coaching refers to improving a person’s capabilities and competencies in a definite skill area of care by providing a process of reflection, observation, and action (James, 2006, p.67). Coaching is a guidance or development process through which a new or inexperienced nurse is supported while attaining a specific professional competence result or personal goal. The nurse receiving coaching or instruction can be referred to as coachee. Sporadically, the term coaching can be applied to an informal association amid two individuals in which one o the person or nurse has superior expertise and experience than the other. Therefore, mentor offers guidance and advice as the other nurse goes through the learning process, but there is the difference between coaching and mentoring in which coaching focuses upon competence specifics, as divergent to general and overall development (Sethina W, 2006, p. 78) Through Mentoring, it promotes a nurse’s awareness and modification of nurses’ professional development through providing and recommending planned chances for observation and reflection. In mentorship there is a personal developmental association in which a highly experienced nurse or more knowledgeable nurse helps to steer less knowledgeable nurse or a less experienced nurse. Conversely, a true mentoring is more over providing ad hoc help or answering sporadic questions (Wiesner-Hanks, 2009, p. 45). Therefore, it is about a continuous relationship of dialogue, learning, and challenge. The nurse in receipt of mentorship can be referred to as a protégée (female) a protégé (male), an apprentice or a mentee. Mentoring is a process or a procedure which it always involves communication and it is a relationship based, but its specific definition is hard to pin down. Mentoring is a course for the informal spread of social capital, knowledge, and the psychosocial support alleged by the recipient as germane to career, work, or professional development. Mentoring involves informal communication, frequently face-to-face and through a constant period of time, amid a person who is professed to have superior relevant wisdom, knowledge, or experience (the mentor) and a nurse who is alleged to have less knowledge and skills (Colins, 2008, p. 34) Skills coaching and mentoring Skills coaching have some commonalities with one-to-one or face-to-face training. Skills coaches and mentors combine a holistic strategy to personal development with the aptitude to focus on the main skills a nurse needs to carry out in their role. Mentors and skills coaches should be greatly experienced and competent in performing the nursing skills hence technical skill is require to train or achieve professional development (Harry, 2012, p. 67) Nursing services are changing at an ever-increasing rate. Therefore, traditional training programs are frequently too rigid to deal with the fast moving nursing requirements. In these case one-to-one skills coaching permits a flexible, adaptive time strategy to skills growth. It is also probable to relate skills coaching in working environments instead of taking nurses away from the job into a classroom where it is not easy to replicate the work environment (Henrietta, 2011, p. 23) Skills coaching programs are formulated specifically to the nurse, experience, their knowledge, maturity, and goals and are usually focused on attaining a number of goals for both the nurse and the hospital. These goals frequently include the nurses being able to carry out specific, well-defined duties at the same time as taking in to account the career and personal development needs of the nurse. Coaching, mentoring and evidence based practice Evidence-based practice (EBP) provide nurses with a technique to use critically evaluated and scientifically established evidence for delivering quality health care to patient hence, improving the quality of life (D'Antonio, 2010, p. 67). Most nurses are unable implement evidence based practice due to various reasons and barriers. One barrier, which some studies have pointed out, was the huge amount of health care writings, published in a diversity of sources that makes it about impossible for most nursing professionals to keep up to date. It is probable that around 9,000 articles related to family practice are being published monthly, and a family nursing practitioner would need to offer approximately 20 hours every day to stay abreast of new evidence, which poses major challenges to nurses. Other barrier related to lack of implementing evidence based practice the nurse not having adequate authority to alter patient care procedures and having inadequate time on the work to put into practice the new ideas. Lack of resources, lack of time, and complexity in understanding statistical analysis were reported to be the top barriers to adopting evidence based practice (EBP) by community nurses. Through coaching and mentoring of new professional nurse, it will be able to learn understand and appreciate importance of utilizing evidence based care (Fairman, 2007). Community of Practice can be defined as improving professional recital by engaging and division analysis and learning with populace who have a universal goal. The collection can develop in nature as the affiliates have a familiar interest in a certain area or domain. The grouping can also develop due to formation of goals, which can be attained through gaining information connected to that field. It is through the method of sharing knowledge and experiences with the exact group affiliates as they learn from one another. They have the chance to develop themselves professionally and personally. Community of practice subsist in real life for instance in a field setting where a grouping can share skills, at working place members can engage in ideas which can develop them personally and professionally or in a diverse place in the environment, but associates of Community of Practice (COP) do not need to be co-located. According to Dube (2005) they form an effective (COP) community of practice when they join forces in newsgroups, within debate boards and, or a portable community of practice (COP) (Dube, 2005, p. 23). According to Kietzmann et al. 2013 when constituents converse with one another through participation in community work and phones, they are able to share thoughts to develop competently (Kietzmann, 2013). (Judd, 2009, p. 67) Lesson Study is used to solve realistic dilemmas linked to instruction through contribution with other expert in methodically examining practice. Lesson Study is a training development process with its origin in Japanese elementary education, where it is a widespread professional development practice. Working in a small collection improves collaboration with one another in order to attain objectives and setting up the ways forward to maintain the gains of the explicit goals. Despite dissimilarity between Japanese and American educational systems, the practice is popularity utilized in the United States to instruct nurses, and more recently, it has been used in colleges as a form of staff growth. For a nurse to attain professional development they need to work together with other medical professions in order to offer quality patient care (Kalisch, 2006, p. 56) Technical Assistance can be defined as the process of assisting a nurse or an organization to advance by offering knowledge and resources, change efforts and supporting networking. Technical assistance is a help, which requires nurses to work more effectively. For instance, attendance to training session on volunteer organization as it inspires new skills and information, which will help an organization acclimatize and advance to improve the quality services they offer (Cowell, 2006, p. 65) Reflective Supervision means developing, supporting, and assessing the performance of nurses utilizing progression of inquiry. It encourages articulation, and understanding of the basis for their practices. Reflective supervision harmonizes the practices and objectives of personal development. Supervisee and supervisor convene frequently (for instance, for an hour in every week or in every month) to converse complex cases or unfamiliar cases. The direction and case of conversation or discussion are chosen by the supervisee that is the nurse, who is directed by the supervisor to inspect her thoughts or feelings concerning the case and use this responsiveness to better serve the patient (Summesrs, 2012, p. 14). The association amid supervisee and supervisor in reflective supervision models the preferred relationships amid provider and patient in a therapeutic relationship. Therefore, the relationship is based on choice, collaboration, control, and trust.  Conclusion Professional development refers to the attainment of knowledge and skills both for career advancement and for personal development (Judd, 2009, p. 66). There are various benefits related to professional development in the nursing profession. These include improving staff enrollment and maintenance through professional fulfillment and upholding of interest in organizational practices and values. In general, nurses want to engage in an ongoing learning process. It is up to the government, educators, and employers to address issues such as financial, workplace support and access to proper knowledge-delivery mechanisms. There are a numerous approaches to professional development, which includes consultation, community of practice, coaching, mentoring, reflective supervision, lesson study, and technical assistance. Bibliography Colins. (2008). The Charitable Imperative. Hospitals and Nursing in Ancien Regimé and Revolutionary France. Routledge: Klin. Cowell, B. a. (2006). Behind the Blue Door: The History of the Royal College of Midwives . London: Bailliere Tindall. D'Antonio. ( 2010). 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