Process Essay: Ongoing Professional Development

“The most successful nations in the future will be those which develop high quality, skilled and motivated workforces and make good use of them.” Government White Paper (1994)

The important of continually improving knowledge and practice is that you can ensure that you are aware of any new relevant legislation and also you can improve the service that you provide. It also gives you the opportunity to reflect on what you are good at as well as what you are not so good at, so that you can see what areas you can improve in.

* It helps in recognising lifelong learning and society’s need for a productive and capable workforce.

My supervision is always held in a confidential setting, between myself and my Manager. My Manager records details of what has been discussed, targets identified, and achievement target dates to be met by me and my Manager. This is my personal development plan, and helps me to record training received, training identified, and knowledge gained. My supervision is my opportunity to discuss issues I am concerned about. Sometimes prior to my supervision, I write down notes on issues I want to raise, so that I do not forget whilst in my supervision.

The purpose of this unit is to assess the learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills required to promote the professional duty to maintain the currency of knowledge and skills and the need to continually reflect on and improve practice.

Supervision should provide support and knowledge, to allow the growth of the supervisee, ensuring development and training is provided for the supervisee to develop into the role expected of them.

Within my role, it is important to continually improve knowledge and practice so I am aware of how to give the best diverse and equal care to children, stay fully up to date with all standards and legislations.

Once the required level of supervision has been determined, it is important to consider the following disciplines in order to ensure safe supervision and to make all other family members aware of them also.

Psychotherapy-based models of supervision often feel like a natural postponement of the therapy itself. “Theoretical coordination informs the observation and selection of clinical data for discussion in supervision as well as the meanings and relevance of those data (Falender & Shafaanske, 2008). I feel that this model utilize psychotherapy theory to apply similar techniques used with clients in the supervision setting, as a supervisor I would put emphasis on the importance of client-clinician, and clinician-supervisor relationship.

In my role it is important to continually improve my knowledge and practices. In health and social care ways of working and legislation as well as good practice are constantly changing. Therefore it is important to keep up to date with training and also any changes in legislation. This will enable me to deliver the best service possible to the tenants I support and also enables me to keep staff upto date with any changes in the way that we work. It also forms part of The codes of practice for social care workers to keep skills and knowledge up to date.

In furtherance of a lifelong desire to become an advanced practice nurse, I herewith articulate my professional development plan (PDP) based on Walden University’s program of study (POS), in alignment with my personal and professional goals. I welcome this opportunity to begin the development of professional portfolio of evidence documenting my course of nursing practice. I am equally hopeful that this will be a springboard for recording my career progression as an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio). The e-portfolio gives added benefits of conciseness, confidentiality, portability, and ease of access over traditional paper portfolio. Also, it gives the benefit of career mapping to organizations intent on helping to shape and advance my professional career path (Thompson, T. 2011). I intend to leverage upon these benefits to showcase my competencies, professional attainment, and lifelong learning as I articulate my value to the healthcare industry.

Reflective practice can be used by workers to enhance their performance and practice at work.

1. Understand the purpose of professional supervision in health and social care or children and young people’s work settings.

This assignment describes my own Professional Development Plan (PDP) for the first six months of my nurse registration. Following a PDP will show my commitment to Continuing Professional Development (CPD), otherwise known as PREP (CPD). PREP stands for Post-Registration Education and Practice and is a set of Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards and guidance that help nurses give the best possible care (NMC PREP Handbook 2006 p3); part of which is a commitment to CPD. CPD is a process of learning activities designed for individuals to reach their full potential, so they provide the highest possible standards of patients care (NMC PREP Handbook 2006 p9). By following a PDP I will develop my knowledge, understanding

Other modes included consultants “sharing surgical theatre sessions” and interactions with colleagues (peers, juniors, other healthcare professionals). Not only was a Effectiveness of Continuous Professional Development page 34 conference a “chance to network and to talk to colleagues”, explained the interviewee, but it’s “rather like going round a library in that you serendipitously find out things that it wouldn’t have occurred to you to look for in the first place”. Is it the case though, as one interviewee working in a Postgraduate Deanery put it, that, instead of “using CPD as a real opportunity to uncover their unknowns”, most individuals will use the CPD and learning cautiously and not venture out of their comfort zones? This was because of the “scoring” through which CPD is assessed and accredited, observed another interviewee whose post involves a half-time clinical role and half-time academic role. That consultants tended to stay in their comfort zones is like junior doctors deliberately selecting their non-contentious cases for the assessment