In this essay I will be discussing how the evidence from my portfolio demonstrates that I have achieved one specific proficiency. ‘A professional portfolio is a collection of carefully selected materials that document the nurse 's competencies and illustrate the expertise of the nurse.’ (Oerman, 2002). The proficiencies are based on the NMC 2013 code of practice. I will be exploring how the proficiencies principles were attained and how my evidence connotes the achievement- the evidence I have provided is from my placement in semester 5, it was based within a drug community treatment team. I will also concur what else I could have done to improve my portfolio evidence, then develop an action plan for future placements.
The proficiency I shall be discussing is 3.1.5- manage risk to provide care which best meets the needs and interests of patients, clients and the public, from domain three. For this proficiency I have selected three pieces of evidence to support that I have accomplished the principles that underpin the proficiency; all three pieces of evidence were assessed at bondy level four, as all three pieces were done with minimal supervision (Bondy, 1983) shown in appedix V. All of the the pieces of evidence shows elements of risk management which is a fundemental area for nurses to monitor in order to help to protect our clients from harm (NMC 2013). It is important that we address client’s potential risks and seek to eliminate them in the client’s best interests. Risk management is described as; ‘a process to raise the quality and safety of services… it is a particular approach to improving the quality of care’ (Currie et al 2003). However, although it is important to try to eliminate potentially harmful situations from happening, we should also have the ‘positive risk taking’ attitude rather than risk assessing everything and disabling our clients. Positive risk taking involves weighing up potential benefits and harms of a situation and
References: • Barker, J (2010) Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses: Introduction: What is Evidence-Based Practice pp.3. London: SAGE Publications Ltd • Currie, L., Morrell, C., Scrivener, R. (2003) Clinical Governance Toolkit: An RCN Resource Guide. London: Royal College of Nursing • Morgan, S. (2000) Clinical risk management: a clinical tool and practitioner manual. London: Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health • Morgan, S. (2004) Health Care Risk Report: Positive Risk Taking and Whose idea has come. [online]. Available at: http://practicebasedevidence.squarespace.com/storage/pdfs/OpenMind-PositiveRiskTaking.pdf • NICE (2013) British National Formulary (BNF) London. • NICE (2013) Drug Misuse- Psychosocial Interventions [online]. Available at: http://publications.nice.org.uk/drug-misuse-psychosocial-interventions-cg51/guidance • NMC (2013) The code in full [online]. Available at: http://www.nmc-uk.org/Nurses-and-midwives/Standards-and-guidance1/The-code/The-code-in-full/ • Oerman, M (2002) Developing a Professional Portfolio in Nursing Orthopaedic Nursing 21: pp.73. • Somerville, D (2004) A Practical Approach to Promote Reflective Practice Within Nursing Nursing Times 100(12): pp.42. • The University of Nottingham (2009) Range of Evidence My Portfolio A Guide For Students 1: pp.12.