Coming To a Close

The semester is winding down and finals are coming quickly. A bittersweet time as it is rewarding to complete another semester and have fourteen weeks of hard work payoff (hopefully!). On the other hand, it is saying goodbye to roommates, peers and teammates. The global health crisis threw us a curveball, yet we are managing to go on with our lives and pursue our goals. Reminiscing on the semester and what I have learned has made me even more excited to become a nurse. My professors and clinicals this year taught me so much building my professional nursing foundation strong. Things coming to a close academically and my nursing assistant job starting up soon has encouraged me to think about my next steps and the future. As a rising junior at Bloomsburg University, I will be placed in more intensive clinicals and advanced nursing classes requiring higher level comprehension and critical thinking. While I will be building on my nursing skills and education, I will also have to continue to grow as a professional.

A professional in my eyes (specifically in regard to the healthcare field) embodies confidence and knowledge while remaining approachable and constructive. It is important for healthcare professionals such as nurses to embody these characteristics for the highest quality patient care. In this course, we worked on our resumes and wrote a letter of application that can be used in our future professional lives. Although we are no longer assigned it, the e-portfolio would serve this purpose as well. One thing all these documents have in common is the importance of knowing the audience you are writing to. We constructed our documents to the audience of Dr. Martin, probably the human resources contact or position recruiter (letter of application) and future employers. Being specific in narrowing down the audience helps to craft the diction and style of any writing. Knowing this was my audience, I emphasized using technical and to-the-point style to best portray professionalism as this was a showcase of my personality to land a professional position. In the e-portfolio article about audience by Gallagher and Poklok, it was concluded that many students failed to address the multidimensional audience their portfolios were for and swayed to writing towards a general audience. Failure to write to a specific audience can negate the effects of writing completely. For example, as a future nurse failing to identify my audience as people with knowledge of healthcare can make my resume or portfolio look generalized and ignorant. To effectively address an audience requires analysis of who it is, what their experience is and possibly find the common ground such as the company that is employing both parties. This information can guide the document’s style to better show why the applicant is the right person for the position.

The e-portfolio is similar to a resume in the sense that it depicts one’s work and experience that makes them suitable for a professional position. As students at Bloomsburg, we have access to many resources on My Husky and Professional-U to aid us in showcasing professionalism and character. Keeping track of community service, awards granted to, scholarships, club involvement and achievements are important areas to keep updated as parts of an academic profile to base professionalism off of. Much like what was done in the resume when using past, what may seem inapplicable, experience or knowledge- these academic doings can be used to show character, involvement and work ethic. Community service is a great way to show a selflessness, compassion and voluntariness. While it may have only been a few donations or an hour here and there, it all adds up overtime and can effectively portray one’s personality just through acts of service.

The semesters coming to an end means graduation and the real world is one step closer. While we are to enjoy our time at Bloomsburg, considering the future and how to build my professional platform is crucial to my success. This course has offered me insight on professional and technical documentation that I will use to effectively showcase my achievements and why I will be a great nurse.