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D-Code E-Portfolio Template

Name:

Only use this portfolio template if you are enrolled in a course that starts with "D" (ex: D218, D226).

Student Name:

Course Name:

Instructions:

Refer to your performance assessment for how to complete this template.

To insert a PDF document or previously created Word Documents, follow these instructions:

1. Click or tap where you want to insert the content of the existing document.
2. Go to Insert and select the arrow next to Object.
3. Select Text from File.
4. Locate the file that you want and then double-click it.
5. To add in the contents of additional Word documents, repeat the above steps as needed.

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1
Ethically Competent Practice.......................................................................................................................2
Scholarship..................................................................................................................................................3
Informatics and Technology........................................................................................................................4
Safety...........................................................................................................................................................5
Leadership and Professional Image.............................................................................................................6
Innovation...................................................................................................................................................7
Quality Assurance........................................................................................................................................8
Compassionate Holistic Care.......................................................................................................................9
Professional Communication and Collaboration........................................................................................10
Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development...............................................................................11
Appendix....................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Welcome to my e-portfolio. My name is [insert name here] and I am excited to share with you

my professional experience and knowledge that I have gathered through my time as a nursing

student. My compassion and inspiration to be in the medical field started from quite a young age.

I found that when I was around people who were suffering health wise, I always wanted to help

them. Therefore, I feel that being a nurse to me, can be classified as a calling that I hope to fulfill

by completing my education and finally being able to help people achieve healthier and happier

lives. As a student at [insert your school name here], my education has helped me attain excellent

skills in nursing and nursing related areas and fields. Some of these fields include ethical

competence, holistic and compassionate care, safety, informatics and technology, leadership and

professional image, innovation, quality assurance, professional collaboration and

communication, and personal, professional and leadership development. One of my favorite

quotes that I live by is “the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no

harm.” Find attached below my knowledge and experience in various fields.

1. Explain the differences between the roles of a leader and a manager.

While the roles of manager and leader overlap significantly, the key difference is their technique

for achieving corporate goals (Pandey, 2023). A manager is more concerned with resource

management and procedure optimization, but a leader is more concerned with encouraging and

allowing staff to work together toward a common goal. A manager's primary responsibility is to

strategize, coordinate, and monitor resources to achieve definite objectives within an entity

(Pandey, 2023). They focus on managing individuals, procedures, and systems management to

ensure that activities run smoothly and effectively. On the other hand, a leader's role is to inspire

and encourage people to strive toward a shared goal (Pandey, 2023). They focus on building

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connections and fostering a culture of trust and teamwork inside a firm. They are accountable for

establishing a clear vision and guidance, effectively communicating, and encouraging people to

take responsibility (Pandey, 2023).

2. Identify three present leadership skills and three present management skills (i.e., skills

you possess). Provide an example of how you use each of the leadership and management

skills identified in your practice.

Some of the management skills I possess are organization skills, time management skills, and

delegation skills. I possess organization skills since I create and manage processes, assess

advances, prioritize things, and keep groups on track to reach specific objectives. Maintaining

structure in my profession entails developing and sticking to project plans. I utilize Gantt charts

to outline activities productively, set deadlines, and assign resources. My organizational skills

guarantee that every team member knows their position and significantly contributes to the

project's successful completion.

Since I am responsible for a particular operation's daily progress, it becomes evident that I

possess time management skills. I finish assignments on time, meeting the deadlines; thus, I am

an effective time manager. Using practical approaches such as the Eisenhower matrix, I optimize

jobs based on urgency and gravity. I guarantee that projects move forward smoothly and without

needless backlogs through time management. While I can execute work independently, I can

delegate duties to others and trust that they will be completed correctly. By doing this, I depict

having strong delegation skills. Delegating duties entails determining team members' strengths

and delegating duties accordingly (Boogaard, 2019). In a recent project, I allocated research

work to my team member with their relevant experiences. Not only did my delegation skills

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improve our workflow, but they also empowered group members by acknowledging their

abilities.

Some of the leadership skills I possess are vision, communication, and emotional intelligence

skills. I am always more concerned with the strategic approach and the overall direction of the

day-to-day operations in my personal and professional life. Given this, I have vision skills and

the capacity to think strategically to get things done appropriately. I provided a clear picture of

the final objective and its value to a team project. This energized team members, uniting them

around a shared goal.

I focus on motivation and empowerment rather than technical details. I always teach my team

members to identify answers rather than guide them only. Because of my communication skills, I

understand when to take the initiative, back off, and let others speak for themselves. During a

difficult time, I started holding regular group meetings to deliver updates, address issues, and

inspire open dialogue. Through communication, the team members remained knowledgeable and

involved and worked effectively.

I possess high emotional intelligence, which helps me inspire others to abide by me rather than

direct them to follow. I understand and empathize with others, build trust and genuine bonds, and

then encourage them correspondingly. I stayed calm and controlled in high-pressure

circumstances, calming group members and assisting in defusing stress. This emotional

steadiness aided the group's overall performance.

3. Identify three absent leadership skills and three absent management skills (i.e., skills you

currently lack). Provide an example of how you can improve upon each of the three absent

leadership skills

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Some of the leadership skills I lack include strategic thinking, empowerment, and crisis

management skills. I always need help to analyze the long-term objectives and connect them

with its mission. I lack the strategic thinking skills since I experience difficulty predicting

difficulties and prospects. I can develop strategic thinking skills by engaging in strategic

planning exercises, analyzing industry inclinations, and seeking mentoring from strategic

leaders.

I lack the empowerment skills to motivate my group members and cultivate an environment of

autonomy and accountability. To improve my empowerment skills, I can attend training in

leadership coaching, practice effective listening, and cultivate a trusting culture. I experience

some difficulties in negotiating crises skillfully, maintaining self-control and making judgments

under duress. Fast and effective decision-making, interaction, and adaptation are required for

crisis management (Owen, 2020), a skill I need to improve. To develop crisis management skills,

I can engage in crisis simulation sessions, learn from competent professionals, and pursue expert

development.

Some of the management skills I lack include project management, performance metrics and

analytics, and change management skills. I lack the project management skill that entails project

planning, organization, and management from start to finish (Viera & Kramer, 2020). To manage

my project management skills, I can pursue accreditations in project management, take project

management courses, and effectively manage projects to obtain hands-on experience.

I experience difficulties monitoring and analyzing operations’ effectiveness since I lack

performance metrics and analytics skills. To develop performance metrics and analytics skills, I

can attend data analysis classes, employ analytics tools to gain experience, and cooperate with

data-driven decision-making professionals. I rarely supervise operational changes since I lack the
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necessary change management skills. I can improve my change management skills by engaging

in change management workshops, understanding change management approaches, and getting

experience coaching teams through change projects.

D. Explain the importance of a leadership mindset and how it influences your professional

practice, including the following:

1. Discuss how having a leadership mindset supports long-term personal growth, including

two examples.

A leadership attitude promotes long-term personal progress through continuous learning and

adaptability and through resilience and goal setting. To promote long-term personal progress

through continuous learning and adaptability, leaders understand that the world is continuously

changing and that to remain relevant, they must be open to new ideas, views, and expertise.

Since I operate in a rapidly changing industry, instead of depending exclusively on my present

skills and abilities, my leadership mentality would routinely seek out seminars, online courses,

and industry conferences to remain informed of the newest developments. I also actively seek

input from mentors and coworkers to adjust my skill set to suit the changing needs of my sector.

A leadership mindset also supports long-term personal growth through resilience and goal setting

by recognizing that failures are inevitable in progress towards personal growth and achievement.

Instead of being disheartened by difficulties, they see them as chances to learn and grow (Britto,

2019). If I wish to advance to a leadership position within my institution, I would not be

discouraged by first hurdles or rejections since I possess a leadership attitude. Conversely, each

event is an opportunity to hone my talents, get constructive criticism, and alter my strategy. I

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would work diligently toward earning the essential skills and experiences for a leadership role by

setting regular goals.

E. Discuss how you would ensure equity and inclusivity as a leader in a healthcare

environment, including two examples.

To ensure equity and inclusivity as a healthcare leader, I would promote diverse recognition and

advocate for culturally competent care for everyone. I would optimize diverse representation at

all stages of the healthcare institution to enhance equity. This entails aggressively pursuing and

assisting persons from underprivileged backgrounds in leadership positions. I would also

champion culturally competent care techniques to increase inclusion. This involves offering

cultural awareness, linguistic availability, and comprehension of varied health perceptions to

healthcare providers.

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Ethically Competent Practice

Ethically competent practice is one of the main cornerstones and fundamental qualification that

healthcare professionals are required to be well acquainted with. For one to be able to understand

ethical practice in healthcare, it is vital that they first understand what some of the ethical issues

are. Myself, I am well versed with this field and I understand that some of the most common

ethical problems that nurses and other medical practitioners face include addressing termination

of life, protecting the confidentiality of the patients, improving access to care, and balancing care

quality and efficiency.

Having known this, I understand that I must implement the ethics principles that guide nurses so

I can evade these ethical problems. These ethical principles include autonomy, beneficence,

justice, and nonmaleficence. Aside from following these ethical standards, I also make certain

that I am culturally aware of my patient’s ethnicity and beliefs since this can also be another

cause of ethical incompetence. By doing so, I am able to ensure that I engage in ethically

competent practice.

By understanding how ethically competent practice is attained, I now understand what it is I can

and what it is I cannot do when it comes to patient care. I have also learned that ethics in

healthcare is highly important and violating these ethics can prove detrimental not only to the

healthcare organization I work for but for myself as well. This is because, breaking ethical

nursing standards can cause legal action to be taken against me.

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Scholarship
There is a quote by Florence Nightingale that states “For us who are nurses, our nursing is a

thing, which, unless in it we are making progress every year, every month, every week, take my

word for it we are going back. The more experience we gain, the more progress we can make.” I

believe this quote speaks volumes when it comes to scholarship. The nursing field is always

progressing and moving quickly with the times. Because of that, nurses and other medical

professionals are expected to keep up with it and this can only be done through continued

research into the field and continued critique of the existing medical data.

My contribution in this regard therefore is that, I aspire to continue learning more on the

different ways patient lives can be made better and how life expectancy for every human being in

general can be increased. To do this, I make certain to go through differing medical journals and

see their different point of views regarding different subjects. This enables me to compare the

different information available and be able to come up with the best possible plan of care for my

patients. Additionally, participating in research projects enables me to be versant in the nursing

field and to explore a lot that exists in the field. It is from research projects that I get more

evidence-based care and partake in innovative practices. This helps me broaden the

understanding and the advancement in my nursing profession.

This competence has taught me that scholarships in nursing do not only mean students getting

monetary compensation to study, but they also stand for partnerships within this field for the

purpose of coming up with more evidence-based practices that can be implemented in the

healthcare industry. Therefore, I plan to be on the lookout for research opportunities in the

nursing field. These opportunities will enable me to widen my knowledge base so I can have

access to more improved ways of providing improved care to my patients.

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Informatics and Technology

It goes without saying that the 21st century has been one where technology has taken over. From

sports to even the simplest of chores such as home keeping, technology is everywhere. As such,

it is quite crucial that as a person aspiring to be a successful and helpful nurse, one should be

conversant with how technology is implemented in the medical field. In this regard, I pride

myself as being an informatics and technology savvy individual when it comes to integrating

technology in healthcare. One of the ways I ensure that I am compliant with this requirement is

by ensuring that I understand the workings of Electronic Health Records (EHRs).

The EHRs are simply reports of patient data stored online instead of being stored on paper. This

form of technology has been of great benefit to the medical field since it allows, above all else,

easy access to patient records as well as improved collaboration on patient information sharing

where authorized among different medical providers. For instance, by being knowledgeable of

EHRs, I can be able to enter a patient’s data in the hospital’s system upon being checked in.

Then, when a prescription is provided by the doctor, I can enter the prescription into the database

and the hospital’s pharmacist can look it up on the computer and provide the patient with the

provided medication. This not only helps improve collaboration but it also helps clean the

environment since the use paper is reduced.

My main reflection from this aspect is that, technology is inevitable and it will, with time, play a

major role in the healthcare industry. As such, I have to be technologically advanced as early as

now. This will enable me to not only enable me to have better collaboration with my colleagues,

it will also allow me to provide my patients with the best possible health outcomes. I look

forward to a future where technology in the field of healthcare is fully and positively embraced.

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Safety
Not only in the medical field but in every aspect of life, safety is a key aspect. In the medical

field, safety ensures providing patients with the utmost best care while still ensuring that the

environments where the care is being provided are clean and safe from contamination of any

sort. In this consideration, one of the ways I ensure safety in my medical surroundings is by

ensuring that the hospital rooms are cleaned and disinfected every day. Another way I ensure

safety in hospitals is through cleaning my hands after coming in contact with a patient.

This makes certain that if by any chance I have any germs on me from that contact, I do not pass

over this contamination to the next patient I come in contact with. I also ensure safety by

reducing risks at the hospital that could cause the environment to be unsafe. For instance, for

patients who have a high risk of falling, I do things such as making sure they are close to the call

button, their beds are at considerable heights to make getting on and off easy, and also,

confirming that the rooms where these patients are staying are free from big floor obstacles that

might hinder them from moving freely.

Of the many fields in nursing, after self-care and self- awareness, I would choose safety as the

third most important tenets of medical care for me. This is because, when safety is not

considered, patient recovery may be delayed, causing extended hospital stays which further

translate to increased billing. I therefore believe that safety is a really strong aspect to consider in

healthcare. And as such, all healthcare facilities as well as healthcare professionals, should be

keen to ensure safety is maintained at all times.

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Leadership and Professional Image

Over the course of my education, I have found that good leadership and a professional image are

also key aspects of ensuring that one is an all round professional nurse. Before this course, I first

thought that nursing was all about aspects such as ethics, proper patient care, quality assurance,

and innovation. However, I have come to learn that proper leadership and a professional image

are just as important. My interest on leadership in nursing was first sparked when I heard about

leadership in nursing, I wanted to learn more on this and so I made sure to set time aside to learn

how nurses and other medical staff incorporate leadership in their practices.

I also attended a short online leadership seminar on leadership in nursing and I am glad I made

the decision to do that. Throughout that seminar I was able to understand the intricate workings

of leadership in the medical field and because of that, I learned how to become a better leader in

my field and how to inspire other people around me to be good leaders themselves. One other

thing I have learned in relation to leadership in nursing is that, at times, a nurse leader is not seen

as such because of their position of authority, but rather because of their actions.

Meaning that at times, people who are leaders because of their authority will at times be

considered team members while someone else becomes the leader. This in turn will promote a

professional image since by accepting to step back as a leader and allowing someone else to take

up that role denotes excellent professionalism where the leader understands other individuals

also have the power to offer guidance.

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Innovation
Owing to the continued advancements in the medical field, new innovations are bound to happen

and these innovations serve as a fundamental force in enabling the continued advancements.

These new innovations often serve as tools for transforming medical practices and further, they

aid in improving patient care. Towards this end, I plan to enhance efforts in innovation by

increasing the acceptance of these innovations. One recent innovation in healthcare are wearable

medical gadgets such as watches. Therefore, my role in this is to encourage people to use the

gadgets so they can have better control over their health.

Another way I can push increased innovations uptake is by encouraging people to accept

telemedicine as a primary form of medical care. I can do this by showing them exactly how

beneficial this technology can be. Some of the benefits of telemedicine include that it reduces on

health cost, reduces wastage of resources such as time, and it enables easy access to medical care

services from the comfort of one’s own home. Innovations in healthcare are always exciting and

they string along with them numerous benefits.

Owing to this therefore, I have made a promise to myself to make certain that I let people know

of these innovations and encourage them to use them by showing individuals how important and

beneficial the innovations are. Aside from telemedicine and wearable devices, other innovations

in healthcare that I would encourage patients to look into include use of machine learning to

detect various illnesses such as neurodegenerative disorders and innovative medical devices such

as the red-blood cells derived vesicles

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Quality Assurance
Healthcare needs continuous assessment and improvement like any other field. In this aspect of

nursing, informatics and technology plays a big role since it is through customized software that

healthcare facilities can automate some of their processes which in turn make assessments easy

to make. As a nursing staff, one of the ways I ensure quality assurance is by comparing the

length of stay at the hospital for patients in different time periods. By doing this, I am able to

understand the times of year when patients indicate longer hospital stays.

From this conclusion, I am then able to do research on what could be causing these extended

stays and then come up with solutions to these issues. Since quality assurance consists of

frequently checking the healthcare processes and ensuring they are up to the required standard,

one thing I learned is that, incorporating evidence-based practice is a crucial aspect to be

considered. This is because, nurses depend on the most recent research and findings to compare

their practices against.

Throughout my studies, I have learned that quality assurance can also be done through nursing

auditing. This entails reviewing and evaluating the current nursing practices and comparing these

to the accepted standards. I plan on learning more about this form of quality assurance and

starting to use it within my practice in due time. When planning to learn more about nursing

auditing, one of the major questions I would like answered is, when this auditing happens, how

long does it take? This would be essential for me to know because it would help me to

understand the time period when the findings of the audit apply.

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Compassionate Holistic Care

One critical thing I have learned in my course of learning how to be a great nursing professional

is that it is always bets to provide patients with compassionate holistic care. This includes

providing patients with attentive, compassionate, and present care. Meaning that, as a healthcare

professional, it is one’s job to make certain that they not only listen to their patients but they

listen presently, attentively, and compassionately. By applying these elements of holistic care, I

have found that it becomes quite easy to hold a conversation with a patient and allow them to

open up. As such, even when dealing with a client who was shy or unable to express themselves,

showing them compassion allows them to feel safe and open up.

Therefore, I am able to provide them with the best possible care because of my compassionate

and holistic care towards them. Although it might at times seems hard to provide such care to

some patients, I will push myself to learn more ways of connecting with them to ensure that no

patient suffers improper care. I have also learned that I can only provide patient with

compassionate holistic care when I take care of myself first.

As the famous saying goes, “you cannot pour from an empty cup.” As such, I should take care

not to suffer burnout when at work because, if I experience burnout, I will find myself not being

attentive to the patient. I will also find that I have very little patience with my patients which

might cause a bad relationship between the patient and I. To avoid this, it is important that I first

take care of myself before taking care of theirs.

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Professional Communication and Collaboration

Aside from understanding and gaining knowledge on communication and collaboration from my

education, I have also learned a lot of helpful pointers when it comes to professional

communication and collaboration in other formal and less formal settings. These settings have

included research groups, hospital groups, and study groups. I have noticed that for professional

communication and collaboration to be achieved, some elements must first be fulfilled. One such

aspect is that, communication should be done transparently among team members. When this is

done, it becomes easier to deal with queries that might arise s well as aid in decision making.

I have noticed this is true since when I am a leader in my various situations, I have observed that

transparent communication enhances professionalism since anything that comes up is discussed

where everyone can provide their opinions and as such, all members are satisfied. Furthermore, I

have made certain to enhance professional collaboration by ensuring that when collaborating

with other professionals, I maintain my professionality by providing only the authorized and

required information. By doing so, I maintain professionalism through the aspect of avoiding

breaking patient confidentiality or privacy.

Another important aspect that I have learned is that, in nursing, professional communication and

collaboration does not always have to be between individuals performing the same task, i:e,

nurses. Instead, professional communication and collaboration is required among all individuals

across all departments. This is because, a healthcare facility requires different departments to

run. These departments therefore have to communicate and collaborate effectively with the aim

of attaining the overall objective of improving patient’s lives.

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Personal, Professional, and Leadership Development

Throughout my learning and professional lives, my personal, professional and leadership

development have been impacted by several factors. However, the main factor that has impacted

my development in these three areas I would have to say is the urge to be better and provide

better services to my patients. Some of the actions I have undertaken in order to be the best at

what I do is that I have taken up several online courses that have enabled me to get certified in

various areas.

These include getting certified in high-quality CPR skills and culturally competent nursing care.

Attached below are my certificates of completion. There is no doubt that I have gathered a great

amount of knowledge when it comes to the area of nursing, but I still believe that there remains

more aspects to be learned and understood about the medical field and I look forward to gaining

more knowledge.

Aside from gaining more knowledge, I also hope to do better in regard to having improved self-

care and self-awareness. I have learned that these are extremely important aspects when it comes

to making sure that a healthcare personnel, I provide the best form of care to my patients. If I am

suffering from burn-out or fatigue, I will find myself offering substandard care to my patients

which will not be a reflection of provision of the best possible care. Therefore, I have learned

that it is extremely important that I fist look after my wellness before taking up the responsibility

of maintaining the wellness of others.

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Appendix
Fig 1: High-Quality CPR Skills Certification

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Fig 2: Culturally Competent Nursing Care Certification

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References

Boogaard, K. (2019). Management skills vs. leadership skills: What is the

difference? GoSkills.com. https://www.goskills.com/Leadership-Management/

Resources/Management-skills-vs-leadership-skills

Britto, J. (2019). Six attributes of a leadership mindset: Flexibility of mind, mindfulness,

resilience, genuine curiosity, creating leaders, and enterprise thinking. Crown House

Publishing.

Owen, J. (2020). The leadership skills handbook: 100 essential skills you need to be a leader.

Kogan Page Publishers.

Pandey, N. (2023). What is the difference between a leader and a manager | Emeritus India?

Emeritus - Online Certificate Courses | Diploma Programs.

https://emeritus.org/in/learn/what-is-the-difference-between-leader-and-manager/

Viera, A. J., & Kramer, R. (2020). Management and leadership skills for medical faculty and

healthcare executives: A practical handbook. Springer Nature.

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