Define nursing career goals and aspirations
My goal is to expand upon my years of education, work experience and passion for helping people by becoming a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). I am motivated, enthusiastic and passionate about nursing. After beginning my career as a home health aide, I then completed nursing school and received honors on graduation in therapeutic communication, mental health nursing, and adult and pediatric care. For six years I worked in acute care which provided me with a variety of nursing experience in acute and chronic conditions across the lifespan; including mental health. I also worked in an inpatient youth recovery center for teens battling addiction. In 2007 I acquired a position as the clinical nurse supervisor for the acute care unit and enjoyed the opportunity to provide
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leadership, education and support to staff, patients and families. In 2014 I accepted a position with the outpatient side of the organization as RN Assistant Director of Quality. This role led me to realize the multiple health disparities related to social determinants of health, including the lack of equitable access to mental health care. How do you plan to use this degree after graduation? Obtaining this degree will help me fill a gap in services for the rural community of western Colorado as a PMHNP.
Primary care providers (PCPs) in western Colorado have increased screening for mental and behavioral health issues. However, PCPs are currently limited in their ability to integrate behavioral health roles within their practices, and often find inadequate resources as they attempt to refer patients for this specialty care. The behavioral and mental health specialist the PCPs find are often not able to schedule the patient for months. Consequently, the patient may not follow through with the referral or may unnecessarily utilize the emergency department. I aspire to utilize my education, experience, talents and skills to apply the standards of nursing practice to help those who need psychiatric mental health care. My interests also include implementing programs for health care workers such as the ‘Second Victim of Abuse’, to provide debriefing services after traumatic cases. The expertise of advanced practice nurses in mental health is in high demand, hence I am excited to be part of this healthcare
transformation. Why have you chosen this program? Shauna Acker, DNP highly recommended this program to me. Dr. Acker was an advisor on my MSN capstone committee. The UCCS program curriculum and requirements appear to fit my professional goals while balancing work and family. The UCCS program offers a DNP degree, which I would aspire to pursue after I begin working as a PMHNP. Completing the post MSN-PMHNP program would allow me to become a provider in a role that is in high demand in today’s health care landscape. I am excited to begin the next phase of my nursing journey and look forward to the opportunity to obtain this goal with your program.
Shultz, J.M. & Videbeck, S.L. (2009) Lippincott Manual of Psychiatric Nursing Care Plans. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/ Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Rather than preparing graduates in education or consulting as previous graduate nursing programs had done, this program educated psychiatric-mental health nurses as therapists with the ability to assess and diagnose mental health issues as well as psychiatric disorders and treat them via individual, group, and family therapy (ANA, 2014). Thus, the Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist (PMH-CNS), one of the initial advanced practice nursing roles (Schmidt, 2013), was born. After Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 led to deinstitutionalization of individuals with mental illness, PMH-CNSs played a crucial role in reintegrating formerly institutionalized individuals back into community life (ANA, 2014). PMH-CNSs have been providing care in a wide range of setting and obtaining third-party reimbursement since the late 1960’s. In 1974 a national certification for PMH-CNSs was created (APNA, 2010). Subsequently, PMH-CNSs began to be granted prescriptive privileges in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s, that practice has now spread to 37 states and the District of Columbia (APNA,
This article was written by several well educated professionals in the nursing field. The article appears in a peer reviewed nursing journal that covers topics in psychiatric and mental health nursing that has a 37-year history. The sources history, along with the use of various references from other professional sources establish the journal entries
These children had the worst histories I have seen in mental health nursing. The opportunity to work with this population was the most difficult and honorable thing I have done in my life. Part of my goal as a nurse practitioner will be to work with the underserved and difficult populations that others are not willing to work with. The next four years I spent floating around seven different units at CenterPointe Hospital. Some of the units include adult detox unit, geriatrics, acute adult, chemical dependency residential programs, and adolescent units. Child and adolescents are my passion but working with dual diagnosis, acute adults and geriatric/dementia populations gave me a well-rounded experience. I have also worked the last 3 years PRN as an eating disorder nurse. This vast experience working with every psychiatric population has taught me much about psychiatric disorders and provided me with balanced work history. In addition, I have worked as charge nurse of these units and gained leadership skills. I intent to use the experience and knowledge from my nursing career to help me assess, diagnose and treat, as a nurse
During her early career she has practiced as a psychiatric nurse in acute care and in community settings. She is faculty member in department of Nursing at the California State University at Los Angeles, professor
Stuart, G. W. (2009). Principles and Practice of Psychiatric Nursing (9th ed. pp 561). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
I am also looking forward to learning the skills of writing a professional report of diagnosis and treatment. During the program I plan on applying my knowledge through clinical work in a practicum and internship. I expect to practice the skills and techniques taught while working with clients and in real situations. I am prepared to spend long hours required of this program working to get the learning experience of the field work. In my internship I hope to explore and study areas of interest and specialization. While training I would like to find my role as mental health
Walsh, A & Clarke, V. (2009) Fundamentals of Mental health Nursing New York: Oxford University Press.
Nursing involves alleviating suffering by doing a diagnosis and treatment of human response, preventing illness and injury to individuals, populations and communities. The professional growth in the provision of patient care depends on setting goals that contribute to development of the career and skill enhancement as the caregiver. Goals in the nursing profession can be short term or long term. Short term goals are those that are achievable in a short time frame and more immediate as they take one to two years. They help in reaching long term goals.
Profession of Nursing is always regards as a complex, dynamic and noble. The nursing profession requires many things such as hard work, a vast knowledge, excellent communication skills, and a passion for the noble profession. All these qualities are needed to be an effective nurse. Today, nurses are living in a world of ever changing field of medicine .The present patient statistics poses, nurses are expected to take responsibility of accomplishing the requirements. The requirement for excellent nursing skills is added as well as well-formed skills in different aspect. Because of the high demand in excellent nursing care, the IOM have declared the recommendations for the future of nursing.
Health care is a multi-professional discipline that requires the participation of many practitioners for ensuring optimal health outcomes. It happens from time to time that few professionals are willing to participate in health care processes due to a myriad of reasons. The key role of registered nurses is providing services at the primary level of health care. Advancements in medicine require the progressiveness of professional roles to include basic knowledge of some of the most common problems in health care. Mental health is a comorbid factor of many illnesses, and nurses must help psychoanalysts in dealing with cognitive therapy.
Psychiatric and mental health nursing is a unique specialty of nursing that strives to promote the mental health of clients. Psychiatric mental health nurses work in partnership with their clients to manage their mental illness. In Canada psychiatric mental health nursing is guided by seven standards of practice, which provide guidance for nursing practice to ensure that safe, competent, and ethical services are delivered to the clients (Canadian Federation of Mental Health Nurses [CFMHN], 2006). Of these standards, standard five, which addresses the nurse intervening through the teaching-coaching function, will be the focus of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to identify standard five from the Canadian Standards of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (2006), describe five of the indicators within that standard, apply them to clinical practice and reflect on the importance of each indicator through literature.
Registered nurses who pursue Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) degree must hold many qualities that will set them apart from others. For example, APNs must possess impeccable communication and leadership skills, ability to collaborate with professional and paraprofessional staff with ease, rely upon evidence-based data during assessment, diagnosis, treatment development, and evaluation. Above all APNs must also recognize their stewardship role. In this paper the following three aspects will be discussed: (a) definition of stewardship, (b) how stewardship relates to advance nursing practice (ANP), and (c) incorporation of stewardship in my Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner practice.
Not only am I a skilled communicator but also an effective messenger passing off information from my seniors to the men that were under my supervision, making sure that all the safety protocols were being followed at all time. This has not only helped my leadership skills but also trained me to become an excellent listener. These abilities shall help me through my residency in Psychiatry and I am determined and willing to handle all that I shall face during my intense training in that field. To work in an environment where there is constant advancements in the field of Psychiatry, based on years of research and an unparalleled patient care led me to search for a Psychiatric residency in USA knowing that it would not only give me an opportunity to learn and work as a team but also strengthen my clinical skills, bringing enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism to the work and contributing to the field of Psychiatry in terms of patient care and clinical advancements.
I have always wanted to become a nurse since I was a little girl, seeing both of my grandmothers working in a hospitals and always helping everyone in need. My goals in becoming a nurse is just the basic foundation of just helping people who physically cannot help themselves. I want to be able to shed light in people's lives who are losing it because of their situation. I feel as nurses is the backbone in the hospital. The nurses are there day in and day out with the patients, holding their hands and walking them and their families throughout such a difficult time. Nurses are also their supporting the doctors and all other staff. I’ve found especially in these past few years that I want to spend my life helping others and that's what I can