INTRODUCTION

Nursing is a practice discipline that includes direct and indirect care activities that affect health outcomes. As a baccalaureate nursing student, you are developing new competencies in leadership, and in order to achieve mastery, you must apply those competencies to live practice experiences and situations. This Leadership Learning Experience (LLE) is designed to allow you to choose a clinical focus (e.g., practice, policy, education, population) in which you apply your leadership problem–solving skills. The LLE requires engagement with other people within the setting to complete.

You will develop a project within a practice setting that allows you to develop these leadership skills. You will identify a problem area in a practice setting that you specifically want to address (e.g., practice, policy, population, education) that aligns with organizational priorities. Example sources for the problem area may include the following:

• Practice: joint commission standards, core measures as quality indicators, other data

• Policy: legislation, staffing ratio, regulations from state boards

• Population: children with diabetes, adult obesity

• Education: future of nursing, Benner’s recommendations about nursing education

You will focus on a real-life solution for the problem. You should choose a topic that is timely, manageable, and realistic to the current healthcare environment. An external resource person (i.e., manager, clinical leader, clinical educator, policy expert, or population expert) must confirm the relevance of the selected project and your engagement in the setting as part of project completion. As with all projects, you should think how you, as a nurse, function in the following roles: detective, scientist, and manager of the healing environment.

REQUIREMENTS

Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. An originality report is provided when you submit your task that can be used as a guide.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

Note: Any information that would be considered confidential, proprietary, or personal in nature should not be included. Do not include the actual names of people, stakeholders, or other personally identifiable information. Fictional names should be used. Also, agency-specific data, including financial information, should not be included but should be addressed in a general fashion as appropriate.

Note: Your submission may be in a variety of formats (e.g., report, multimedia presentation).

A. Develop a written proposal by doing the following:

1. Identify a problem or issue related to practice, policy, population, or education that aligns with the organizational priorities you seek to solve.

Note: You may need to meet with your organization or practice setting, your manager, or your supervisor to help choose a current problem or issue.

a. Explain the problem or issue, including why it is applicable to the area of practice you chose and the healthcare environment.

2. Discuss your investigation of the problem or issue.

a. Provide evidence to substantiate the problem or issue (e.g., organizational assessment, national source documents, evidence from a stakeholder).

3. Analyze the state of the situation using current data.

a. Analyze areas that might be contributing to the problem or issue.

4. Propose a solution or innovation for the problem or issue.

a. Justify your proposed solution or innovation based on the results of your investigation and analysis.

5. Recommend resources to implement your proposed solution or innovation. Include a cost-benefit analysis of your proposed solution or innovation.

6. Provide a timeline for implementation based on your proposal.

7. Discuss why each key stakeholder or partner is important for the implementation of the solution or innovation.

a. Summarize your engagement with the key stakeholders or partners, including the input and feedback you received.

b. Discuss how you intend to work with those key stakeholders or partners in order to achieve success.

8. Discuss how your proposed solution or innovation could be implemented, including how the implementation could be evaluated for success.

B. Explain how you fulfilled the following roles during your process of investigation and proposal development:

1. scientist

2. detective

3. manager of the healing environment

C. Submit the completed attached “Professional Verification Form” from the organizational leader advising you in your leadership experience.

D. Acknowledge sources, using APA-formatted in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

E. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

TASK 2: PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO

INTRODUCTION

A professional portfolio will showcase your knowledge and skills to prospective employers and will increase your marketability as a baccalaureate-prepared nurse. This portfolio will help you, as a nurse, hone in on the concepts, strengths, and critical-thinking abilities that define professional nursing practice. Throughout your time at WGU, you have developed skills and knowledge that distinguish your practice as that of a baccalaureate-prepared nurse. Items that display your skills and knowledge will be showcased in this professional portfolio. You should organize your portfolio around the four areas of professional nursing practice: quality and safety, advanced evidence-based practice, applied leadership, and community and population health. This portfolio will expand on the portfolio you already created in your Professional Roles and Values course.

REQUIREMENTS

Your submission must be your original work. No more than a combined total of 30% of the submission and no more than a 10% match to any one individual source can be directly quoted or closely paraphrased from sources, even if cited correctly. An originality report is provided when you submit your task that can be used as a guide.

You must use the rubric to direct the creation of your submission because it provides detailed criteria that will be used to evaluate your work. Each requirement below may be evaluated by more than one rubric aspect. The rubric aspect titles may contain hyperlinks to relevant portions of the course.

A. Complete the following, using OneNote:

Note: The directions to access and use your e-portfolio can be found in the web links section below, which will take you to the “Knowledge Base Article.”

1. Create a professional mission statement (suggested length of 1 paragraph) that includes the following:

a. Reflect on how your professional mission statement will help guide you throughout your nursing career.

2. Complete a professional summary (suggested length of 3–4 pages) that includes the following:

a. Explain how the specific artifacts or completed work or both in your portfolio represent you as a learner and a healthcare professional.

b. Discuss how the specific artifacts in your portfolio represent your professional strengths.

c. Discuss challenges you encountered during the progression of your program.

i. Explain how you overcame these challenges.

d. Explain how your coursework helped you meet each of the nine nursing program outcomes.

Note: Refer to the attachment “Nursing Conceptual Model.”

e. Analyze how you fulfilled the following roles during your program:

f. Discuss how you have grown professionally since the beginning of your program.

B. Complete the following within the section “Quality and Safety”:

1. Reflect (suggested length of 1 page) on your professional definition of quality and safety developed in Professional Roles and Values, including any necessary changes to your definition.

a. Discuss how the program assisted you in developing your professional definition.

b. Identify the artifacts in your portfolio that support your definition.

i. Explain how these artifacts support your definition from part B1.

Note: The artifacts should be attached within the portfolio.

2. Discuss the importance of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) certificate for your future role as a professional nurse.

C. Complete the following within the section “Evidence-Based Practice”:

1. Reflect (suggested length of 1 page) on your professional definition of evidence-based practice developed in Professional Roles and Values, including any necessary changes to your definition.

a. Discuss how the program assisted you in developing your professional definition.

b. Identify the artifacts in your portfolio that support your definition.

i. Explain how these artifacts support your definition from part C1.

Note: The artifacts should be attached within the portfolio.

2. Reflect (suggested length of 1 page) on your understanding of evidence-based practice and applied nursing research by doing the following:

a. Discuss how you are able to evaluate current primary research and apply the concepts to your nursing practice, considering the following:

b. Explain how your experience in the program helped you achieve excellence in evidence-based practice.

D. Complete the following within the section “Applied Leadership”:

1. Reflect (suggested length of 1 page) on your professional definition of applied leadership you developed in Professional Roles and Values, including any necessary changes to your definition.

a. Discuss how the program assisted you in developing your professional definition.

b. Identify the artifacts in your portfolio that support your definition.

i. Explain how these artifacts support the definition from part D1.

Note: The artifacts should be attached within the portfolio.

2. Summarize (suggested length of 1 paragraph to 1 page) your Learning Leadership Experience task by doing the following:

a. Discuss the importance of professional collaboration for effective nursing leadership.

E. Complete the following within the section “Community and Population Health”:

1. Reflect (suggested length of 1 page) on your professional definition of community and population health you developed in Professional Roles and Values, including any necessary changes to your definition.

a. Discuss how the program assisted you in developing your professional definition.

b. Identify the artifacts in your portfolio that support your definition.

i. Explain how these artifacts support the definition from part E1.

Note: The artifacts should be attached within the portfolio.

2. Summarize (suggested length of 1 page) your Community and Population Health task by doing the following:

a. Discuss what you learned during your Community Health Nursing task.

b. Discuss what you learned that led to your community diagnosis.

c. Discuss how your initial focus and diagnosis evolved after working with your population.

3. Discuss the importance of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) certificate for your future role as a professional nurse.

F. Provide an appendix to your portfolio by doing the following:

1. Include all the documents, prior assignments, and additional items that are examples of your best work to support your mastery of all sections given in parts B, C, D, and E.

2. Include the following materials:

3. Provide an updated professional résumé.

Note: If you have a LinkedIn account, you can take a screenshot and include a copy with the rest of your documents.

4. Provide professional references, using one of the following:

5. Include a copy of your IHI certificate of completion.

6. Include a copy of your AMNH certificate of completion.

G. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.

H. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.