such as active work in a nursing organization. Whether you set goals only once
per year during your annual performance review with your supervisor or you
have daily goals, they serve to offer reflection for your practice and foster in-
creased awareness. All of nursing should be goal oriented, such as how goals
are always present in any nurse–patient interaction. Goals should incorporate
EBP, such as monthly exploring the use of a new EBP guideline or technique
for your practice.
Frequently, input from peers or other supervisors is requested as a part of
a performance review. This is the time to ask peers who have provided help-
ful feedback for your development, such as preceptors or mentors. It is also
helpful to organize your input, enabling your supervisor to get a full picture of
your accomplishments. Watson (2005) suggested a personal development file
or folder as a means to compile what you accomplish in your career because
those “little things . . . [merge] into a substantial amount of additional career
development activity” (p. 992; emphasis added). Make notes or include docu-
ments to remind you to include those items as a part of your review process.
If you expended a special effort to teach a nursing student on your unit, make
a note about it at the time to include in this self-appraisal. If you assisted with
data collection for a research project, try to obtain a study summary to include
for your records. Keep an accurate file of your continuing education documents.
Organized personal record keeping is important and provides objective data
for the performance review.Developing Team Leadership Skills
The impact of team effectiveness for one’s unit is significant (Timmermans,
Van Linge, Van Petegem, Van Rompaey, & Denekens, 2012). Interprofessional
collaboration is engaging with other professionals to provide evidence-based
care. It is essential for quality patient care (Institute of Medicine, 2010) and
requires a relationship between team learning and innovations in nursing
(Timmermans et al., 2012). To implement EBP on a unit, all members need to
be involved and work together to create the change. A small number of unit
leaders can positively influence other unit staff members to enhance patient
care with new evidence for practice change. Although nurses are likely involved
in making decisions, the unit staff is directed to implement the changes. This is
where awareness about one’s unit is important. Use informal and formal lead-
ers. Strategically organize common groups within the unit, such as those who
work similar schedules. An example of this is “communication groups” within
the unit where a small number of staff members are assigned to each group, a
leader is assigned who acts as the communicator to the other members in that
group, and the leader provides information, communicates about changes,
and/or clarifies questions.KEY TERMS
personal
development file:
A compilation
of career
accomplishments
career development:
Experience and
education that
contribute to one’s
professional growth
interprofessional
collaboration:
Engaging with
other professionals
to provide evidence-
based care460 CHAPTER 17 Developing Oneself as an Innovator