Professional Portfolio????

I too have been a nurse for about one year. Before we graduated from school we were told to gather info for professional portfolios. Everything you have listed plus transcripts from NSG school-if they were pretty good- and any school related awards, etc. We were also told to include any professional organizations we belong to since our resumes/portfolios are still education and not experience driven. Good luck!

I would also consider keeping a calendar or journal with brief descriptions of care given in particularly challenging situations, such as patients with very complex needs, cases where you ID'd early s/s of complications and intervened to prevent serious problems, difficult social situations that you handled well, etc. Also keep a record of the times that you have gone out of your way to be of assistance to your unit, manager, or co-worker.

These items may not be considered as part of a "professional portfolio", but they come in VERY handy at evaluation time!

I'm in my first semester of nursing school and compiling a professional nursing portfolio was one of the projects we had to do.

Some of the suggestions my instructor had for us:

• essay on our personal values & beliefs of nursing - can weave in why you decided to go into nursing here
  
• essay on professional goals - 5 yr, 10 yr, more longterm goals
  
• essay on how we will utilize the portfolio (more for my instructor I think...)
  
• Immunization records
  
• Languages spoken
  
• resume
  
• List of volunteer positions
  
• Professional nursing organizations you belong to
  
• Applicable certificates
  
• Courses taken - can be from nursing school
  
• Sample of academic work - like papers, care plans, pt research
  
• List of clinical rotations
  
• Patient populations you've worked with
  
• Preceptorship sites
  
• Instructor/Peer/Self/Manager evaluations
  
• Etc etc

Did you go to any workshops or conferences? Maybe it's because our instructors encourage us to go to some, but I've already attended a couple. You could put down a list of those with pertinent details in your professional portfolio as well.

Basically, I think perhaps it would be helpful to draw upon your schooling experiences to make the portfolio seem more complete. That's what I did, for sure, but then again, I haven't graduated or anything!

Hope this helps!

wow thanks for all the suggestions. I have not attended any professional conferences--our unit only sends 2 nurses to any conference and the newbies need not apply. (thats the unspoken message). but I will include my membership cards to the two nursing assoications I belong to.

I slid on my volunteer work this year since I was focused on starting my career, but I am set to begn two new hospital-affiliated volunteer activities, maybe I will add that too.

Thanks everyone.

Get letters of rec from coworkers, charge nurse, house supervisor, etc.

wow thanks for all the suggestions. I have not attended any professional conferences--our unit only sends 2 nurses to any conference and the newbies need not apply. (thats the unspoken message).

Thanks everyone.

Yeah... conferences are hard to attend straight out of school (or while you're in school, for that matter! )

No in-hospital workshops? I've attended a couple put on by my clinical rotation hospital on aggression & delirium in the elderly already, for example. I just assumed that nurses take advantage of those opportunities since it's free and everyone's welcome to attend during their lunch hour.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you might have more stuff to put in your professional portfolio than you thought initially. :) Maybe you can list the important topics covered in your orientation, if there were some classes included in it for example.

All the suggestions you received were good. I would really encourage you to journal about professional experiences with patients. Write your story & make sure to ask yourself questions such as: How did I make a difference with this patient or family? In what ways have I improved in my abilities since graduation? How did I anticipate or handle changes in a patient condition? Make sure you answer these questions in your journal entry. This IS part of a professional portfolio. It is called reflective practice or nursing narrative. I have reviewed many, many portfolios for career advancement. Narratives are often the most telling portion of a portfolio. They allow the reader to understand how you think and how you interact when caring for patients without being at the bedside to directly observe. Not only will this habit of reflective journaling help in your portfolio development, it will help in your professional and personal growth and development!

These were all such good suggestions.