Nursing Professional Portfolio - Monash University, Semester 1

This nursing professional portfolio details a student's journey through various clinical placements and academic experiences. The introduction outlines the student's background, motivation for entering the field, and commitment to providing empathetic and competent care. The placement experience record provides detailed accounts of rotations in pre/post-operative medication, oncology, mental health, and acute medical and surgical wards, highlighting the skills and knowledge gained in each setting. The portfolio also includes competency statements and achievements, detailing learning experiences such as stoma management, blood safety, PICC line management, and palliative care. Exemplars of academic work, including a mental health case study, a literature review on communication in dementia, and a teaching session on Warfarin, demonstrate the student's ability to apply theoretical knowledge in practice. A reflection on a learning contract focusing on pharmacology and pharmacokinetics further illustrates the student's commitment to continuous learning and professional development. The student consistently demonstrates a commitment to ethical practices, patient care, and continuous learning, adhering to the code of ethics and NMBA professional standards.

Running head: NURSING PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO
Nursing Professional Portfolio
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Assessment Task 4: Professional Portfolio
1) Introduction
I was born and brought up in India. I have migrated to Australia in 2005, when I was 26
years old. Currently I live in Victoria. I have completed my graduation in Monash University,
Burwood. I have attained certificates in the areas of nursing to increase my professional
competence. I have worked in three different hospitals and have gained a good professional
experience and I am planning to enhance my professional competence and skills to a higher
level.
I am a fun loving person and love to read books to enhance my worldly knowledge. I am
vivid reader of various scientific journals based on health and medicine. As a child I was always
inspired with the life of nurses as they make a difference to people’s life. I wanted to become
nurse since I was ten years old. I love the variety in routine involved in patient care. I feel
satisfied on helping people in difficult times. I am optimistic about this profession as I know I
will be successful on pursuing job of my interest. Moreover, it is a growing career. Therefore, I
have commenced my career with nursing.
Personal interest in this field has become strong after my placement in the Pre/post op
medication, in oncology department for acute medical care and mental health placements. My
graduation and clinical placements have improved my professional knowledge in regards to
illness, disease symptoms, pathology, diagnosis, evidence based practice, clinical guiltiness in
treatment and prevention of illness. I have learnt the communication required in the clinical
setting. This knowledge will help me in maintaing the health and safety needs of the patients in
the health care organisation.

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During my nursing journey the philosophy which I will stand by is providing empatheic,
compassionate, and competent holistic care. The philosophy is based on the values and beliefs
instilled in me by my parents. My values and beliefs are accompanied by respect, honesty,
affection, and compassion. These beliefs drive me as I care for my family and community. In
order to keep in stride with my philosophy I am engaging in continuous education and enhancing
my skills. I am confident about respecting the cultural and linguistic diversity of patients. I vow
to adhere to the code of ethics and NMBA professional standards. I will be accountable for legal
and ethical responsibilities. I will overcome the challenges and practice errors by engaging in
critical reflection process so that I can deliver my practice in a manner that will do no harm to
the patients.
“The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no
harm.” ― Florence Nightingale (Goodrads, 2017).
2) Placement experience record
1) My 1st placement was of 160 hrs in Pre/post op medication in ABX hospital- (put
semester and date)
In this hospital I was placed in the post operative care unit in a surgical ward. The
patients in this ward have undergone hip surgery. I have gained the knowledge of pre-procedure
assessment, pain assessment, supervising vital signs, giving discharge instructions, and patient
education.
2) Acute medical placement in oncology (3) weeks and Orthopaedic (2 weeks) 240 HRS
in Box hill hospital- (put semester and date)
I received exposure in this field through interview. In Box Hill hospital, I have learned to
direct the patient care involving chemotherapy. It was challenging because one needs to be very

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alert and responsible in administrating the correct patient with correct dose and drug and in
correct route. I have seen nurses struggling to manage the numerous symptoms of the cancer
patients. It is the nursing priority in oncology ward to manage the daily changing symptoms.
In orthopedic ward, nurses deal with the patients having musculoskeletal disorders.
Nursing includes treatment and prevention of acute problems such as fractures, and chronic
systemic disorders such as loss of bone density. When I was placed by my institute in the
orthopedic ward I could observe and learn monitoring the neurovascular status, care for the
patients with external fixation.
3) Mental health placements 3 (160 hrs) weeks and 2 (80) weeks in community
placements Alex medical hospital 240 hours- (put semester and date)
I received the placement here by communicating with some of the senior nurses who
informed me of interview process. I have learned about involuntary admission of mentally ill
patients in this hospital. I had to visit the (name of community) with my mentor/ I have learnt
about active listening skills when dealing with patient’s stories or narrations. I have learnt how to
ask open ended questions to the patient during collection of history, assessment, crisis
intervention, assisting patients with mental health drugs and therapies.
4) Acute medical and surgical ward for 5 weeks in Frank hospital. 200 hours (put
semester and date)
I have attended the Frank Hospital after receiving placement in acute medical and
surgical ward. In this ward I have encountered many elderly patients acutely ill with chronic
kidney diseases. In this ward, I was trained on administering the medications and educating the
patients and their families, giving the discharge instructions and admitting the new ones.
Working in this ward requires robust managing skills as I had to juggle from one patient to

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another. Home visits have also helped me to learn how to care the patients at home. The
techniques that I have learned are chest tube insertion, bone marrow aspirations, intravenous
medications and blood transfusions.
3) Competency statements and attainments
4) Learning experience
My professional experience by attending various education sessions and the ward in-
service are as follows:
a. Stoma management- (Name of the hospital) - Attending the stoma management
session had helped me to deal with the patients having cancer and colostomy. I
have learnt to care for patients by skin cleaning, maintaing aseptic conditions,
assessment of the new stoma patients, and maintaing the integrity of the
peristomal skin, use of the one piece appliance and two piece appliances.
b. Blood safe at (name of hospital)- - I have leaned the clinical transfusion practice
and safe use of the blood components in two sessions. I have leaned the risks and
the benefits of transfusion and recognizing the transfusion reactions in patients in
one session.
c. PICC line management at (name of hospital)- - Experience in PICC line dressing
change, addressing complications such as catheter breakage, leakage, and
infections with three sessions.
d. Pressure area care management from (name of hospital)- - session on risk
assessment for pressure ulcer, negative pressure wound therapy and one session
on barrier preparation for preventing skin damage for people who are incontinent

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e. Palliative care at (name of hospital)- Had 8 weeks course to learn about optimal
care for patients and advocate as per patient needs and goals. I have learnt the
prognostic indicators of advanced disease states.
f. Watch total knee replacement surgery in theatre- in the (hospital name) Have
gained insights on how knee is replaced with artificial joint
g. Workshop on MET call simulation- discussion on when to call and whom to call
for help, skills in transportation and non-technical skills to conduct a MET call in
high acquity situations
h. CPR Resuscitation- two sessions on CPR, chest compressions between 5- 6 cm at
a rate of 100-120/min for adults
5) Exemplars of academic work
1. Worked on Mental Health case study- on Schizoaffective disorder (Appendix-1)
With this case study of George, I have gained a good insight of the Schizoaffective
disorder. I was able to demonstrate in my assignment the recovery oriented approach for mental
health nurse. I was able to depict the evidence based information promoting recovery in the case
of George. I was overwhelmed on completing the assignment as I could develop the care plan
that promote recovery oriented approach in mental health service. I have recived good score in
this assignment.
2. Performed literature review on communication in Dementia (Appendix-2)
I am grateful to get this assignment because I was able to learn what is PICO method.
Before, this assignment I was not competent in preparing the annotated bibliography. However,
with the help of my tutors, senior colleagues and online tools I could prepare literature review on
“Dementia: A Communication Challenge for Nurses”. This assignment is memorable to me as it

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helped me to understand the importance of promoting therapeutic relationship with dementia
patients. I can use this knowledge, when I will be placed in mental health setting future.
3. Presented a teaching session on Warfarin(Appendix-3)
The group presentation on Warfarin helped me to learn the team work. I was a well
organized presentation that has fetched me god marks. I was gaining more knowledge on how it
reduce complications when patient receiving warfarin, importance of anticoagulant and Dietary
precaution while on Warfarin. This assignment has helped me learn tactics of smart
presentations.
6) A reflection on Learning Contract 1 – Pharmacology and pharamacokinetics
My learning contract 1 is based on goal to improve the pharmacology knowledge and the
physiology of the drug action and the pharmacokinetics. I was uncertain not knowing as to
where I will be placed. However, upon reflection I have realized that I have a gap in the area of
pharmacology. Before my final placements, I needed a more clear understanding of the drug
mechanism and the pharmacokinetics. It will help me in delivering effective treatment care.
My first learning objective includes gaining clear knowledge of the fundamental
principles of drug actions. The objective is to understand how these drug actions in the acute care
setting. I wanted to establish the various mechanisms that would impact on pharmacology. On
evaluating myself with set of questions I could gauge on the knowledge acquired, learning levels,
and obtained. I have a successfully achieved the first objective. I was able to demonstrate the
rightful application of the drugs in the intensive care units. I was able to emphasize on the fact
that nursing skills must be correct when administering the drugs during the critical care
condition. It was clear to me that on what purpose the drugs are administered. I could
demonstrate the basic principles of care in pharmacology. I was able to understand the

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mechanism by which the drugs are inactivated and the receptor ligands mechanism of drug
synthesis. However, based on my assessment results, the article that I have selected for the
purpose of gaining the concept of pharmacokinetics was relevant. I have realised that I could
have chosen better article that would have been easy to understand the release of receptor in first
attempt. I was happy to find during evaluation hat basics of drug synthesis was more or less
clear.
I have gained in-depth knowledge on the localized action of the drugs on brain,
different body organs and the neuro-muscular junction. It was difficult for me to understand the
factors affecting the absorption of drug such as metabolism and distribution. Upon assessment I
found that my knowledge pertaining to this was insufficient. I have chosen better reading
material. I was able to highlight that the drugs can exhibit unwanted relationship with the
receptors that may have adverse consequences. I could highlight from my readings that the
nurse must establish the patient factors such as diet and age as well as genetic factors. Overall I
was confident about the basic functioning of drugs, concentration locus of cation, the binding
effects and biotransformation.
Talking about my second objective, which was to analyse the various aspects of
pharmacology and drug management, I was able to meet this to satisfactory extent. I had
minimal confusions in this area which could be cleared easily by consulting my mentor. For
attaining this objective, I was able to demonstrate specific patient characteristics that would
effect on the drug response. I could explain basic underlying of drugs, impact of drug action on
pregnancy and age, and any undesirable clinical effects, and influence on drug interaction. I have
presented the classification of adverse drug reactions and was appreciated for work by
professors. My classroom presentation on anticoagulants (warfarin) previously was also helpful.

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I evaluated the learning experience by taking online test, questionnaires, quiz and multiple
choice questions. As per my self- evaluation using online tools I was able to meet the second
objective as well. I scored more in MCQs and less in online quiz contest. For better score next
time, my strategy is to maintain Q cards. Time was the main factor that hindered my performance
in online test as I was not able to recall certain words quickly. However, experiences from my
previous placements in medical and surgical ward, palliative care and post op medication has
helped me in relating with concepts. Bulk of my pharmacology comes from this placements.
My third learning objective was to understand nursing interventions and protocols in an
event of adverse drug reaction. To meet this objective, I was engaged in group learning activities
and group presentations. I could demonstrate poor understanding of the plans aiming at ensuring
maximum effective communication in crisis situations. For future I need to collect evidence
based options in implementing the nurse responses and protocols. Upon reflection I have realised
that I should have used better learning materials.
I was good enough to choose the reading material such as “Food, K. (2008). Drug
Administration. 2005. Food code, 18, 123”, for meeting the first learning objectives. Later I
realised there are better papers in lucid language. Next time I have to implement better literature
search strategy and use good databases. I need to implement smart search strategy. I need to
increase my concentration while reading and increase the catching power. This factor was
hindrance to completely achieve my learning objectives.
Obtaining the first learning objective gave me the confident to attain my first clinical
placement. The most helpful learning strategies were making sticky notes and maintaing short
notes while learning. Use of flow charts and concept map was even better. Later I realised that
there were some good videos available online. It was my mistakes not consider this strategy. For

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my future learning I would use videos as it is a quick process of catching concept. Further, the
use of websites http://accesspharmacy.mhmedical.com, http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs are
reliable said my seniors. These websites were helpful in meeting the second learning objectives.
Due to regular reading habits, I was competent in understanding the abbreviation, and medical
terminology. These factors helped me in achieving my learning objectives. However, I need to
use better reading resources for meeting the third learning option. I have used more websites
such as “www.merckmanuals.com and www.nurseslearning.com” than pharmacology journal
articles. I will use more books and journals on pharmacology for adverse drug reactions and
nursing responses. I will also have to keep drug name suffixes and prefixes handy.
Overall the learning contract 1 was a good opportunity to prepare for placements. It gave
me a good experience and helped me understand my flaws, which I would omit in my clinical
placements. In addition, the class assignments and group work has also helped in learning team
work. It will be helpful for my profession. Performing in online tests and real clinical setting is
different. Therefore, before my final setting I will keep watching more videos on emergency care
mediations by nurses, to apply pharamacology appropriately in real life situation. In addition, I
need to be more competent and dedicated to work.
7) A reflection on Learning Contract 2 – NMBA Competency
During my clinical placement, I was able to conduct COPD diagnosis of patient. I was
able to design evidence based care plan. While administering the medication, I knew the
rationale for drugs, the pathology of disease, treatment modalities and appropriative nursing
interventions. I was able to use the Calgary-Cambridge Model of Communication when
interacting with the nurses and the patients. It helped in nurse patient interview and examination.

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Thus I could practice and apply the medical interview process. I could accurately apply my
medical knowledge. Therefore, I could successfully achieve my first learning objective to enable
the learning skills needed for ensuring building of confidence levels among students like me.
I was able to achieve my objectives due to care guide and online tools, search guide by
educator/buddy nurses, group learning objectives, and personal experience. I was also able to
achieve some of my objectives due to learning contract 1. In learning contract 1, I could
demonstrate the pulmonary care process during presentation in my class on COPD. I scored
above average marks and the learning materials were appropriate in gaining this knowledge. I
was appreciated for citing work from American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine,
and International journal for quality in health care. It helped me to meet the second learning
objective of demonstrating basic understanding of how the structure and function of lungs and its
gaseous exchange. My presentation on COPD is evidence that I have strong knowledge on the
respiratory system and lung. As per my online formative tests, my concept on gas exchange in
alveoli and progress of pulmonary disease was adequate in learning contract 1. The website
“https://www.proprofs.com” was a good source for online quiz. I have also achieved my third
learning objective which was to have basic understanding and administration of drugs in
pulmonary care (COPD) from learning contract 1. As evident from my COPD presentation I
could introduce the concepts of injury, inflammation and necrosis which include the
pharmacology drug action, absorption and drug development. I have learnt where to look for
protocol and guideline of the attended hospital; and I am also confident about the IV
administration and drug calculation from my previous placements.
However, I was inefficient in depicting the drugs used in management of pulmonary care.
In some of my assignments I could not meet the learning objectives. It was due to lack of time

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management and distraction from work and from ad hoc task and lack of skills in taking running
note and non-skillful communication. Overall I could meet all the learning objectives of learning
contract 2. Despite completing only three NMBA competency learning objectives, I am well
acquainted with the role and responsible of a competent nurse. I future, if I encounter any
challenges in my profession I would refer to NMBA – National competency standards (Taylor,
2010) for the registered nurse. However, I have not encountered any ethical issues so far and that
is one area where I am nervous.
In future, my goal would be to practice ethical behavior in nursing. As per my previous
clinical placements, the lesson I have learnt for future nursing profession is the enhancing
effective communication skills. This strategy for future nursing will help develop collaboration
with the interdisciplinary team members especially in emergency and medical-surgical ward. In
my future placement I will keep asking more questions and clarify my doubts on time with my
seniors. It is necessary for building strong rapport with my seniors and mentors and learn to
address ethical dilemma in work place. I plan to be more empathetic, and sensitive to patients for
building therapeutic relationship with clients. Overall the learning contact 2 has given me
deep insights of the “Nursing Midwifery Broad of Australia’s” competency requirement (Nursing
and Midwifery Board of Australia, 2017). Since the work pressure for nurse is very high, I will
engage myself to work and accustom to the climate as soon as possible as initially it will be
difficult to implement the theoretical knowledge in practice in future.
8) Professional Goals and Actions
a) My clear goals for future are-
 Complete a graduate nurse program (specialize in medical and surgical ward)
 Attain diploma in aged care nursing

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 Become senior clinician in the field of emergency nursing care, and be able to
bring up junior nurse, within the next 10 years
 Familiar with essentials of pharmacology in my workplace’s clinical setting
within half year from work start
 Develop both verbal and non-verbal communication skills to deal with patients
effectively
b) Strategies identified for career development are-
 Apply for graduate nurse program wherever vacancy
 As an alternate option I would apply for the post of registered nurse to have
related experience for professional growth
 Continuous engagement in studying and updating with latest information on
pharmacokinetics and drug management. To be equipped with authentic
information from journal articles, online databases with free access to articles
 Collaboration and get together with nursing colleagues to share professional
experience and learn strategies on compliance with NMBA standards
 Engage in Gibbs reflective cycle method for self evaluation of nursing
competencies
 Respect cultural diversity in Australian society by communicating with people
from culturally and linguistically diverse background. It will help attain cross
cultural skills, that will help in dealing with patients effectively by addressing
their concerns and needs

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References
Goodreads (2017). Florence Nightangle > Quotes, Retrieve from:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/83031. Florence_Nightingale
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (2017). Professional Standard: National competency
standards for the registered nurse, Retrieved from:
http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-
standards.aspx
Taylor, B.J. (2010). Reflective Practice For Healthcare Professionals A Practical Guide. 3rd ed.,
McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire, Retrieved from:
http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.lib.monash.edu.au/(S(0rzalhyvs20hkfm1pkwuyt1n))/
Reader.aspx?
p=771426&o=90&u=vUCIssqYUX8%3d&t=1465651284&h=7D213516A8229DA17E40F
016046B8964B5667667&s=25938397&ut=233&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-
1&sd=1

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Appendix
Appendix- 1 case study

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Appendix- 2 Literature review on chemical challenges for nurses in Dementia ward

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Appendix- 3 presentation on warfarin