Running head: PROFESSIONAL GOALS IN NURSING Professional Goals in Nursing NURS 6565: Synthesis in Advanced Practice Care of Complex Patients in Primary Care Settings 02/29/2020 PROFESSIONAL GOALS IN NURSING 2 Professional Goals in Nursing Professional goals in nursing involve specific statements that enable all professionals regardless of their job description to define what they hope to archive or what they would like to realize over a given period of time. According to Duke (1990), professional goals play a crucial role in providing individuals in their careers to ensure growth and provide the best services. For goals to be practical, they ought to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Time-bound. This paper explores both long-term and short-term goals, their relation to my professional career and self-assessment of my clinical skills. Short-term Goals Jannach, Lerche & Jugovac (2015) argues that short term goals include goals that take a relatively short time to realize preferably 1-2 years. One short term goal is developing my interpersonal skills and capabilities, as well as being able to establish an appropriate diagnosis. The primary reason for selecting these goal is that during nursing my practice, an average practitioner meets around 17-25 patients. This necessitates communication and collaboration in all aspects of my day, and in order to be a great Nurse practitioner, being able to have an appropriate diagnosis is a need. Therefore, realizing these goals within 1-2 years ensures efficient communication with every individual, including the patients as well as appropriate diagnoses. Achieving these goals will involve engaging with my patients in and out of the hospital and collaborating with the entire organization’s workforce, such as doctors, as well as other nurses. Another professional goal involves developing clinical experience. This goal involves working independently full-time for two years. The selection of this goal involves concentrating and laying emphasis on the treatment of the patients before teaching given criteria. Achieving PROFESSIONAL GOALS IN NURSING 3 this goal will involve obtaining a relatively practical, comprehensive as well as clinical experience. To achieve this goal, I will also focus on emergency medicine and specialized fields, including pediatrics and family practice. The third short-term professional goal is acquiring as many certifications and hands on training within my field of work. This goal is measurable in the sense that it allows me to obtain my practitioner, obtaining a job within my scope fulltime. This goal will be attained within two years. The selection of this goal is a result of improving my academic qualifications while improving my skill set in healthcare. This will also make me eligible to teach at either clinics/hospitals or health facilty. Long-term Goals Long-term goals primarily involve goals that require more time, usually 3-5 years (Jannach, Lerche & Jugovac (2015). Professional Goals in Nursing Journal Reflection

One long term goal includes securing a job as a primary care nurse practitioner in a primary care office or health facility. This goal is measurable by working independently on a full-time basis. This goal will be realized over the next three years, and its selection is due to the urge to enhance my professional career as a nurse and provide the best patient-centered care. This relates to my professional career development since the goal heavily influences satisfaction levels and patient experience. To achieve this goal, I will undertake service in any given organization that provides new nursing practitioners with posts in a primary care setting or teaching facility. The second long-term goal is to pursue a degree in doctor of nursing practice that is measurable by full-time work. Attaining this goal will require five years. Although it is not a necessity for all advanced nursing posts, selecting this goal mainly to allow me to advance to more complex leadership roles. This relates to my professional career development such that the PROFESSIONAL GOALS IN NURSING 4 DNP degree is essential for teaching and research and also advance my professional career development significantly. Achieving this goal involves enrolling for further studies, particularly the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree over the 5-year period. Professional Goals in Nursing Journal Reflection

Another long-term goal is to organize and engage in both community and academic programs, such as community health affairs that aim at enhancing the health and wellbeing of the community. This goal is approximated to take place within four years. The selection of this goal is due to the idea of promoting and changing people’s health-related behaviors and to a greater extent, to prevent diseases. This directly relates to my professional career development since working as a nursing practitioner aims at improving community health and wellbeing. To achieve this goal, I will take part in most of the community programs in a period of 4 years and working independently on a half-time basis. 5 PROFESSIONAL GOALS IN NURSING References Duke, D. L. (1990). Setting Goals for Professional Development. Educational Leadership, 47(8), 71-75. Jannach, D., Lerche, L., & Jugovac, M. (2015). Adaptation and evaluation of recommendations