Professional Development Planning Research Paper

Nursing is a job fraught with many challenges and rewards, illustrating the need to develop a strong professional identity. The lessons outlined in this progam would help assist in helping me better able to understand the challenges I may face within the workforce, including salary, work availability, and stigmas attached with the job. Analyzing trends is also essential to professional identity; this includes patient characteristics, staffing, and typical practices. Professional identity also includes an understanding of leadership, management, and education. I believe that not only is it important to understand my own position within nursing, but that I should also endeavor to better understand all of the other professionals within the field that I will be working in conjunction with, such as other physicians, psychologists, or case workers.
I feel that being an empathetic person is a key trait that will help me be successful in this field of study. Patience and listening skills are also strong qualities that I continue to develop. I believe that with my history I have an innate ability as well as desire to help others even in ambiguous situations. Developing a framework to solve ethical dilemmas is essential for compassionate nursing. Virtue ethics refers to standards of behavior that we personally feel will make us better people. Developing a “good” life or career may be achieved with a framework based on virtue ethics. Virtue ethics is about achieving the fullest potential of our humanity. Honesty, courage, patience, compassion, and integrity are all virtues that are essential for a good nurse to possess. Decision making methods are a learning process, one may not always end up with optimal results, but by being prepared and thinking carefully one can lessen the chance of making a poor decision. In the medical field decisions can sometimes be life or death. Keeping a cool head and always thinking with honesty, integrity, and compassion in mind will surely help afford me success in nursing.
In conclusion, I believe this program is essential in helping develop my own professional identity. I hope to use my knowledge of legal and ethical practices to make my practice a success. Nursing has become an interest of mine, and I look forward to learning more through your program. In terms of developing my identity, I am still working to insure that I operate in a professional and ethical manner at all times worthy of this degree.