the nursing professional portfolio

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J O U R N A L F O R N U R S E S I N S T A F F D E V E L O P M E N T � Volume 23, Number 3, 125–131 � Copyright A 2007 Wolters Kluwer Health l Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Portfolios are no longer solely the domain of art-ists, architects, photographers, and models. They

are considered an essential tool in demonstratingprofessional accomplishments and documenting pro-fessional growth for a variety of professions. TheAmerican Dietetic Association instituted the Profes-sional Development 2001 Portfolio, a certification pro-cess for registered dieticians and dietician techniciansto strengthen professional development and life-longlearning (Pertel, 1999). Teachers are also being en-couraged to create a portfolio that documents theirlearning processes related to a set of standards(Painter, 2000).

The value of a nursing professional portfolio hasbeen documented for several years (Bell, 2001;Jackson, 2004; Oermann, 2002; Meister, Heath,Andrews, & Tingen, 2002; Serembus, 2000). In 1996,the National Council of State Boards of Nursing(NCSBN) developed a position paper that recom-mended both the regular evaluation of professionaldevelopment needs and the use of a professionalportfolio to organize and evaluate professional de-velopment (NCSBN, 1996). As a means of documentingprofessional competence, the NCSBN recommends theprofessional development portfolio. Both Kentucky

and Ohio Boards of Nursing are considering plans torequire professional nursing portfolio for relicensure(Meister et al., 2002).

A recent conversation with a colleague revealedthat her first-grade daughter being considered for agifted program was required to submit a portfolio thatconsisted of examples of her artistic abilities. In ad-dition to recommendations from teachers, which re-mained the primary criteria, actual samples of herwriting and drawing were required to demonstrateclear examples of her ability and talent. It appearsthat portfolios can be useful in a variety of levels andsettings and are growing in popularity as a methodof demonstrating abilities and accomplishments.

The professional nursing portfolio continues to gainmomentum as a method to capture competency vali-dation. The Texas Children’s Hospital portfolio modelincludes a self-assessment step that enables the nurseto determine areas of personal strengths and oppor-tunities for growth. The tool is designed to providesuggested strategies to improve knowledge and skillsin a particular competency by creating a developmentplan. Consequently, the value of a portfolio lies inits ability to provide both a historical record and,perhaps more importantly, a pathway for futuregrowth and development.

It is important to consider that the portfolio ismore than an accumulation of documents and artifacts.A vibrant part of the portfolio is the continuous self-assessment of competencies and the establishment

The Nursing

Professional PortfolioA Pathway to Career Development

Myrtle Williams, MSN, RN, BC, CNAA, BC

Kathryn Jordan, MSN, MPH, RN, BC

................................................

Nursing professional portfolios have

moved beyond the traditional listing of

past experiences and accomplishments.

They now provide a format for self-reflection

on practice and for goal planning, capturing

both the art and the science of nursing.

This article describes the experiences of

designing and implementing the use of

a comprehensive professional portfolio

and the benefits realized by individual staff

nurses and their managers.

.................................................

..........................................Myrtle Williams, MSN, RN, BC, CNAA, BC, is Vice President of ClinicalServices at Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, Texas.

Kathryn Jordan, MSN, MPH, RN, BC, is a Clinical Training andDevelopment Specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, Texas.

JOURNAL FOR NURSES IN STAFF DEVELOPMENT 125


of goals. As each nurse reflects upon individual prac-tice needs, goals are set and plans are made to meetthese goals. The portfolio provides the means bywhich assessment, planning, and evaluation can beeasily addressed.

A desire to encourage professional development ac-tivities by staff nurses led to the investigation of meth-ods that would assist in bridging the gap betweentheir current practice and ever-evolving practice changesand in preparing for the roles and responsibilities thatthey envision for their future. The Texas Children’sHospital nursing leadership team determined that thenursing professional portfolio would be one such tool tobridge this gap.

IDEA FOR USE OF A PORTFOLIO

Review of American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Stan-dards and Scope of Practice for Professional Nurs-ing Development by the centralized nurse educationteam at Texas Children’s Hospital resulted in theconcept of a portfolio to enhance the professionaldevelopment of the nursing staff (ANA, 2000). One ofthe ANA practice standards for evaluation states: ‘‘Theeffectiveness of the learning activity is evaluated inrelation to the learner’s achievement of the educationalobjectives and the development of the individualnurse’s portfolio, which includes documentation ofongoing professional development, career planningand continuing professional nursing development.’’Use of a portfolio was appealing to the educationteam because it was seen as a tool to help provide astructure for identifying the strengths and learningneeds of nursing staff.

The decision to develop and require all registerednurses at Texas Children’s Hospital to adopt use of anursing professional portfolio was an easy and quickone. In 2001, the hospital embarked on a $345,000,000expansion (457,000 square feet) that required theaddition of over 300 pediatric nurses. Many of thenurses recruited to staff the new acute care facilitywere novice nurses (Benner, 1984). The ongoingdevelopment of all members of the nursing team wasidentified by the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) as a long-term priority of the nursing department. The CNO andthe nursing directors viewed the use of a portfolio as avehicle to assist in fostering the professional develop-ment of nurses, and they were very supportive of itsuse. Additionally, the portfolio was in direct support ofthe department’s philosophy of nursing, which states:

� Nurses must be nurtured from novice to expert.� The environment in which nurses practice must

support and foster accountability, professionalgrowth, and career satisfaction.

� A family-centered, age-specific, safety conscious,interdisciplinary, collaborative approach that resultsin patient and nurse synergy provides the founda-tion for quality nursing care.

� Advanced education is essential to the advance-ment of nursing.

� Nurses are encouraged to participate in nursingresearch and to incorporate findings into practice.

In addition to the traditional methods used toadvance the knowledge and skill level of eachnurse, senior nurse leaders decided that theportfolio would also be used to facilitate theirongoing learning and career progression. Further, aportfolio would be designed to help enhance theongoing development not only of novice nurses butalso of more seasoned nurses.

BENEFITS TO NURSE

The value of the nursing professional portfolio to thestaff nurse is twofold. It provides structure anddirection. Structurally, the portfolio offers a mecha-nism to track both formal competency validation andcontinuing education activities, and the less formalacknowledgments that exhibit the art of nursing. Whena patient or family member sends a personal thank younote, or when a supervisor or committee chair sends anote of appreciation, most nurses read and discard, orsave the note in their locker for a short time beforediscarding it. The portfolio provides a place to maintainan active reference file that provides examples of hownurses meet the complex needs of families and thedemands of professional practice.

The portfolio is designed to stimulate the staff nurseto reflect on successful interventions and capturethem in an exemplar. Meeting the physical, psycho-logical, cultural, and religious needs of a patient pro-vides an ongoing challenge for nurses. The portfolio isan excellent tool to capture examples of successfulinterventions (Figure 1). Once written down for theportfolio, it is a small step to a journal for publication,thus sharing these practices with other professionals.

Continuing nursing education certificates are fre-quently found at the bottom of a drawer or in a folderthat requires frantic searching to update a resume orrespond to an audit by the Board of Nurse Examiners.The portfolio can house these documents and keeptrack of programs attended that met developmentgoals but did not offer CNE credits. Listing of awards,committee assignments, and professional organizationsand depth of involvement in them may also bemaintained in the portfolio.

Precepting and mentoring of new nurses is anaccepted role of experienced nurses, but they rarelykeep track of who and when they precepted or

126 May/June 2007


mentored. Nor do they always record all of the projectsor short-term activities in which they have beenengaged. Community activities and committee workmay not have been viewed as relevant enough forinclusion. The portfolio provides a place to recordthese activities and programs that establish a degree ofcommitment to the organization and to professionaldevelopment.

The portfolio design provides some standard formsfor maintaining records of activities such as certifi-cations, honors/awards, and committee participation(Figure 1). The creative and innovative aspects ofnursing are often overlooked, and the development of

new tools to enhance safe practice often goesunnoticed. By providing an area to capture this, suchas a page for exemplars and notes of appreciation,nurses may begin to realize their creative potential(Figure 2). For nurses just beginning their professionalcareers, this section of the portfolio may stimulate ideadevelopment that otherwise might not have beenconsidered.

The portfolio also provides the vehicle for assessingcareer direction and in designing a path to achieve agoal. A key feature of the portfolio that illustrates this isthe development pathway and the subsequent de-velopment plan. As nurses assess their strengths and

FIGURE 1 Sample page from the nursing professional portfolio of Dilcia Courtney, RN, Pulmonary/Adolescent Unit, TexasChildren’s Hospital.



growth opportunities, they formulate short- and long-term goals. A nurse may have only a vague sense ofcareer direction, but the pathway suggests incrementalsteps toward professional advancement. Joining pro-fessional organizations or becoming active on organi-zational committees becomes more attainable whenincluded in a personal development plan. This aspectof the portfolio elevates the process from merelymaintaining a historical record to planning for thefuture in an organized, intentional manner.

The following timetable was developed to guide the3-year implementation of the nursing professionalportfolio at Texas Children’s Hospital (Table 1).

DESIGNING THE PORTFOLIO

As previously noted, a review of the literature revealedvery little evidence regarding the use of portfolios toenhance the professional development of nurses in anacute care hospital. There were examples of portfoliosused by other professionals and by nursing students, butthose examples failed to offer a practical solution forintegration of the tool into the work life of a registerednurse in an acute care hospital setting. Ease of access andease of use are keys to the success of the portfolio.

A small work team of educators was asked to focus onthe development and implementation of a portfolio.

FIGURE 2 Sample page from the nursing professional portfolios of Adrian McKinney, RN, NICU II, and Liz Bolds, RN, NICU II,Texas Children’s Hospital.

128 May/June 2007


The team identified seven purposes of the portfolio: (1)establish career goals, (2) showcase professionalaccomplishments, (3) illustrate specific areas of exper-tise, (4) enhance knowledge and skills, (5) plan foradditional career opportunities, (6) help gain admissionto school in order to advance academic preparation, and(7) apply to participate in the hospital’s clinical ladderprogram.

Once the purposes were identified, the next stepwas to design a basic format for the portfolio thatwould help nurses achieve the stated purposes. Threeguiding principles were created to help provide focusto the design process. The design guiding principlesstated that the portfolio must: (1) be easy to use andupdate, (2) challenge nurses to move outside theircomfort zone, and (3) be flexible enough for electronicor paper use.

One team member then developed a draft of aportfolio template. After a period of refinement by theteam, the draft template was ready for introduction tokey nursing stakeholders. Nurse leaders felt that thetemplate met the designated purposes and wereparticularly excited about its use in the applicationprocess for our clinical ladder. Although staff nursesfound the template easy to use, the developmentpathway overwhelmed them. The development path-way outlined ongoing growth opportunities thatnurses should consider at various stages of theirnursing career. Incumbent nurses seemed particularlyintimidated. Many felt unsuccessful because they hadnot taken advantage of opportunities outlined on thepathway. The pathway was revised and the directionsfor use were altered to indicate that the pathway wasintended to provide ideas for growth opportunities.

Due to its comprehensive design, the portfoliorequires some time to complete. In an effort to assiststaff nurses in completing the portfolio, the unitleadership teams attended a 1-hour training session.These training sessions detailed information about theuse of the portfolio and strategies on how to fosterstaff nurse buy-in. The leadership teams then facilitateduse of the portfolio on their units. The feedback, re-inforcement, and support of the leadership teams wereinstrumental in the success of the development andimplementation of the nursing professional portfolio.

Each nurse is required to submit a portfolio priorto the annual performance appraisal. The comprehen-sive picture of the nurse that is exhibited in theportfolio assists in the selection of committee appoint-ments, sabbatical recipients, and candidates for leader-ship positions.

RESULTS AND NEXT STEPS

Before our hospital’s quest for Magnet designation in2002, the portfolio was introduced as a component ofthe clinical ladder application process for registerednurses. One of our best practices identified by Magnetsite visit appraisers was the clinical ladder program. Webelieve that the enhanced focus on professionalaccountability, which is driven by the portfolio, helpedto demonstrate added strength for the professionaldevelopment force of magnetism.

In May of 2005, all registered nurses in the inpatientand perioperative services at Texas Children’s Hospitalbegan using the portfolio as a part of their perfor-mance management process. Initial feedback indicatedthat filling out the portfolio was overwhelming for manynurses but most of them could recognize the long-termbenefits of a portfolio.

Feedback from the nurse managers indicated thatthe portfolio also served as a valuable tool to assistthem in identifying and recognizing nurses whoparticipate in various professional activities, of whichthey may not have been aware in the past. Nursesparticipate in many activities, such as communityservice projects and professional organization commit-tee work, during nonworking hours and do not alwaysshare this information with their managers. The port-folio highlights this information for nurse managers.Also, being able to identify the involvement of nurses invarious professional initiatives is a critical element of asuccessful Magnet journey.

Next steps are being planned to continue advancingthe use of the portfolio. One step is short-term andinvolves the development of formal indicators tomeasure ongoing outcomes associated with profes-sional development of our nurses. Indicators will focuson staff nurse and manager satisfaction with use of the

TABLE 1 Portfolio Project Timeline

.............................................What When

Gain agreement for the use of the portfolio 2002

Design portfolio template 2002

Solicit feedback from key stakeholders 2002

Introduce into application process for clinical ladder 2002

Pilot test use of portfolio 2002

Refine template 2003

Create and communicate portfolioimplementation plan

2003

Provide portfolio training 2004

Encourage and coach nurse managers andindividual staff nurses to plan for use of portfolio

2004

Implement housewide use of portfolio 2004



portfolio and the number of staff engaging in traditionalgrowth and development activities as well as nontra-ditional growth and development activities such asgrant awardees, adjunct faculty positions, inventions,and patents (Figure 3).

When originally implemented, only a paper versionof the portfolio could be offered. The portfolio couldbe accessed electronically and stored on a disk, but anysupporting materials such as thank you letters andcertificates had to be stored in a binder. An electronicversion with the ability to scan documents into theportfolio is in the exploration stage.

Benefits that nurses have realized include the abilityto logically depict professional experiences and theability to easily create a career progression plan. Itallows nurses to stretch and reach beyond their day-to-day expectations and explore ways to advance boththemselves and the profession. Along the way, thenurse accepts accountability for his or her growth anddevelopment.

The organization gains from the innovation andcreativity of the nurses, and as they become moreinvolved in the profession, nursing continues toadvance. Few nurses begin their career with specific

FIGURE 3 Sample page from the nursing professional portfolio of Helen Currier, RN, Renal Dialysis/Pheresis, TexasChildren’s Hospital.

130 May/June 2007


career goals in mind, but a tool such as the portfolioprovides a formal pathway for ongoing professionaland personal growth.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to acknowledge the supportand assistance of the nursing leadership team at TexasChildren’s Hospital in the development and imple-mentation of the nursing professional portfolio.

REFERENCES

American Nurses Association. (2000). Scope and standards of

practicing for nursing professional development. Washington,

DC: American Nurses Association.

Bell, S. K. (2001). Professional nurses portfolio. Nursing Adminis-

tration Quarterly, 25(2), 69–74.

Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert: Excellence and power

in clinical nursing practice. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley

Publishing.

Jackson, R. (2004). Behold the power of a portfolio. Nursing

Management, 35, 12–14.

Meister, L., Heath, J., Andrews, J., & Tingen, M. S. (2002). Pro-

fessional nursing portfolios: A global perspective. MedSurg

Nursing, 11(4), 177–183.

National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (1996). Assuring

competence: A regulatory responsibility. Retrieved August 9,

2004 from http://www.ncsbn.org/resources/complimentary_

ncsbn_competence.asp.

Oermann, M. H. (2002). Developing a professional portfolio in

nursing. Orthopedic Nursing, 21(2), 73–82.

Painter, B. (2001). Using teaching portfolios. Educational

Leadership, 58(5), 31–34.

Pertel, D. G. (1999). How to design your professional design

2001 portfolio. American Dietetic Association Journal, 99(5),

536–537.

Serembus, J. F. (2000). Pocket full of miracles: A professional

portfolio can be a powerful force in your career advancement.

American Journal of Nursing, 100(11), 67.

Trossman, S. (1999). The professional portfolio: Documenting

who you are, what you do. American Nurse, 31(2), 1–4.

ADDRESS FOR REPRINTS: Myrtle Williams, MSN, RN, BC, CNAA,BC, Texas Children’s Hospital, 6621 Fannin Street,MC1-4461 Houston, TX 77030 (e-mail: [email protected]).


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