Professional Development Plan Part: Academic Resources and Strategies
Assignment: Academic Success and Professional Development Plan Part 2: Academic Resources and Strategies
New construction projects begin with a design phase, where architects blueprint the vision complete with design details. They work in collaboration with builders who use the designs to prepare the appropriate strategies, tools, and materials to bring the vision to reality. You are both architect and builder of your success. You have started to blueprint your vision in your Academic Success and Professional Development Plan. You have identified others with whom you will collaborate. Now you can begin to prepare the appropriate strategies, tools, and materials
How will you approach your studies? What types of resources are available to you, and how will you access and utilize them? Taking the opportunity to prepare these strategies, tools, and materials will help ensure you can “break ground” without incident and successfully move to the phase where you begin building your vision.
To Prepare:
Consider your goals for academic accomplishments while a student of the MSN program.
Reflect on the strategies presented in the Resources for this module.
The Assignment:
In this Assignment, you will continue developing your Academic Success and Professional Development Plan by appending the original document you began in the previous Assignment to develop the second component—academic resources and strategies. To accomplish this:
Identify and describe at least three academic resources or strategies that can be applied to the MSN program
Identify and describe at least three professional resources that can be applied to success in the nursing practice in general or your specialty in particular
Explain how you intend to use these resources, and how they might benefit you academically and professionally.
Academic and Professional Success Plan Template
Prepared by:
Week 2 | Part 2: Academic Resources and Strategies
The development of an effective academic and professional network formed the basis for establishing a clear and precise vision in pursuit of success in the Masters in Nursing (MSN) program. The network functions to provide varied inputs in both my academic and professional development in the increasingly competitive healthcare profession. However, such networks may have limited success in achieving the desired objective without the incorporation and efficient utilization of both academic and professional resources for students pursuing MSN programs. The academic and professional resources function to provide a wide breadth of information through which students can enhance their knowledge and skills for effective delivery of both their academic and professional demands in the MSN programs. In essence, the availability and accessibility to these resources are vital to implementing and applying the learning objectives acquired in class and the inputs obtained from the academic and professional networks formed. Therefore, it is important to identify effective academic and professional strategies and or resources towards ensuring an equally efficient integration of the different elements outlined in the academic and professional plan for success in the MSN programs. Provided herein are detailed descriptions of three academic strategies or resources and three professional resources employed for success in my MSN program and career in the nursing profession.
Academic Resource/Strategy 1: Journals
MSN programs often entail intense learning activities that aim to enhance the student’s knowledge and skill across different fields of post-graduate studies in the nursing profession. The enhanced knowledge and skill across different nursing specialties is integral to the development of competent nursing professionals to meet the equally increasing demand for quality healthcare services. The increasing cases of chronic illnesses among the American population, for instance, correlates to the increasing demand for acute care nurses in the United States and around the world, which necessitates the need for increased enrollment in higher education by nursing practitioners across different areas of specialty. Accredited nursing journals offer valuable information for nurses across the diverse specialties in the profession to help in advancing their knowledge and skill for the delivery of the desired quality care to patients. Peer-reviewed journals offer reputable resources for accessing additional information to enhance my knowledge as a post-graduate student in nursing and competency in my specialty. Nursing journals offer a wide range of knowledge and information concerning both the specific academic disciplines and the emerging trends in the nursing profession. Among such journals include the AACN Advanced Critical Care, Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal, American Journal of Critical Care, BMC Nursing, British Journal of Cardiac Nursing, and Journal for Nurse Practitioners CITATION Bon20 \l 1033 (Bond, 2020). The outlined journals are just but a few of the extensive list of nursing journals that MSN students can use to access more information for enhanced knowledge and skills in their diverse practices. The journals provide students with advanced knowledge in their areas of specialty and allow one to keep up to date with emerging trends in the profession and thus apply the acquired knowledge towards addressing the health care demands. Nursing journals also offer evidence-based practices to assist in the application of theoretical knowledge into practice, which further enhances my competence in the delivery of care.
Academic Resource/Strategy 2: Nursing Research Databases
Nursing research databases also provide another important resource for academic success in the MSN program. Among the learning activities characterizing the intense MSN learning programs include writing research papers on particular topics of study in the advanced nursing programs. Among the nursing research databases that can be used in assessing the required information for completing such writing tasks and other study projects include CINAHL, Cochrane, Medline, UpToDate, and Medscape CITATION Bon20 \l 1033 (Bond, 2020). For instance, Medline is a nursing research database that provides free access to research articles across different specialties in healthcare. UpToDate and Cochrane are effective platforms for accessing evidence-based knowledge and information for clinical decision making for nursing professionals and other practitioners in the broader healthcare profession. CINAHL is an accredited nursing research database that contains over 760 journals on nursing and other healthcare professions CITATION Bon20 \l 1033 (Bond, 2020). The database provides easy access to the research materials by indexing all the available literature on nursing and other healthcare professions. Like the nursing journals, nursing research databases are integral to my academic success in the MSN program as they provide wide access to additional knowledge and information on advanced nursing practices and emerging trends in the same. Enhanced knowledge further reflects positively in the delivery of quality care in my specialty.
Academic Resource/Strategy 3: Annual Conferences
One of the strategies to utilize in achieving academic success in the MSN program is attending the annual conferences organized by diverse nursing professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels. The annual conferences provide MSN students with an opportunity to interact and integrate with senior or experienced nursing professionals in their unique areas of specialty and in the nursing profession as a whole. The AANP Specialty and Leadership Conference, for instance, offers an effective platform for MSN students to interact with their fellow students and experienced nursing professionals within a given specialty CITATION Bon20 \l 1033 (Bond, 2020). Attending such a conference would play a significant role in providing the depth of knowledge and insight into my specialty’s shifting demands and thus enhancing my competencies in dealing with the diverse challenges that may arise in practice. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing Student Policy Summit also makes for another annual conference that functions to emphasize the need for MSN students to engage in politics CITATION Bon20 \l 1033 (Bond, 2020). Through such a conference, students get to learn of their important role in shaping the policies governing the profession by being active participants in politics at the local, state, and nati...