Topic 1 DQ 1
Setting long-term goals in education and career is essential, especially for nurses. Professional goals help nurses to focus on what is important to them and concentrate on how to attain them. The nursing profession and field is one of the most critical health care provision areas with many specialties and room for advanced education and training to help promote health in communities and among individuals (Gunawan et al., 2018). Imperatively, as I pursue the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), my educational goals include advancing my achievements at attaining a terminal nursing degree either in research (Ph.D) or in practice (DNP). These terminal degrees are important as they mean that I possess not just knowledge and skills but also experiences and effective application of competencies and evidence to serve different health populations and individuals with diverse health conditions.
My career goals in the long-term is to specialize in a certain area like being a family nurse practitioner (FNP) or pediatrics nurse handling health issues and health promotion for children. My nursing career goals include increasing use of technology and the associated skills, getting certifications to demonstrate the specific abilities that I possess and to improve nursing communication. I want to improve efficiency and care optimization so that patients can attain better outcomes when I serve them in different areas and capacities (Mlambo et al., 2021). Attaining advanced education will allow me to be in a better position to be a nurse leader and take on managerial position.
What drew me to this major and future vocation was the need to help individuals and communities have better health, especially preventive care. Today, the diversity in our nation calls on nurses and other healthcare providers to cater to the needs of different patients and health population through promotion of primary care (Rasmussen et al., 2018). My choice to be a nurse and pursue a BSN is a calling because I believe in serving people, especially those unprivileged and underserved in the nation. I will be able to serve these people through my advanced education because it will offer me the requisite skills to attain optimal care.
References
Gunawan, J., Aungsuroch, Y., Sukarna, A., & Efendi, F. (2018). The image of nursing as
perceived by nurses: A phenomenological study. Nursing and Midwifery Studies, 7(4), 180. DOI: 10.4103/nms.nms_24_18
Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing
professional development, a meta-synthesis of the literature. BMC nursing, 20(1), 1-13. DOI: 10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2.
Rasmussen, P., Henderson, A., Andrew, N., & Conroy, T. (2018). Factors influencing registered
nurses’ perceptions of their professional identity: An integrative literature review. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 49(5), 225-232.
DOI: 10.3928/00220124-20180417-08.