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18 - Developing a portfolio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2009

Brian Smith
Affiliation:
Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Liverpool
Paul Rawling
Affiliation:
Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Liverpool
Paul Wicker
Affiliation:
Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Liverpool
Chris Jones
Affiliation:
Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Liverpool
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Summary

Key learning points

  • Definition of a professional portfolio

  • Structure and purpose of a portfolio

  • Collecting evidence for the portfolio

  • Uses of a portfolio for professional, personal, employment and educational purposes

When surrounded by subjects that have a specific clinical focus, it is likely that this chapter will be dismissed as being uninteresting and irrelevant. Compared with the obvious relevance of blood gas analysis or while exploring the complexities of neurological trauma, a portfolio's importance for personal and professional development and its significance for influencing patient care is perhaps less than clear. Developing a professional portfolio is often something that practitioners are intrinsically aware has to be done, but is avoided until it becomes necessary. At that point it is at best a chore and at worst a nightmare as it is often difficult to know where to begin, what to include and how it can be structured.

Nevertheless, the portfolio not only provides evidence of growth and achievement over time, it also allows individuals to be reflective and provides a forum to examine and thus improve practice. Practitioners should also consider it to be more than just a ‘good idea’: it is a ‘must’ for renewing professional registration with either the Health Professions Council (HPC) or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

This chapter therefore aims to outline the main purposes of the portfolio, discuss some of the complexities associated with it and provide a few simple principles that may help practitioners in this task.

Type
Chapter
Information
Core Topics in Operating Department Practice
Anaesthesia and Critical Care
, pp. 183 - 190
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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References

Baume, D. (2001). A Briefing on Assessment of Portfolios. Assessment Series 6. York: Learning and Teaching Support Network.
Brown, R. A. (1992). Portfolio Development and Profiling for Nurses. Lancaster: Quay Publishing.
Corcoran, J. & Nicholson, C. (2004). Learning portfolios – evidence of learning: an examination of student perspectives. Nursing Critical Care, 9(5), 230–7.Google Scholar
Driscoll, J. (2001). The contribution of portfolios and profiles to continuing professional development. Journal of Orthopaedic Nursing, 5, 151–6.Google Scholar
Endacott, R., Gray, M. A., Jasper, M. A.et al. (2004). Using portfolios in the assessment of learning and competence: the impact of 4 models. Nurse Education in Practice, 4, 250–7.Google Scholar
Kenworthy, N. & Redfern, L. (2004). The Churchill Livingstone Professional Portfolio. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Wenzel, L. S., Briggs, K. L. & Puryear, B. L. (1998). Portfolio: authentic assessment in the age of the curriculum revolution. Journal of Nurse Education, 37(5), 208–12.Google Scholar

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