Professional Development and Career Pathway in Nursing

Author(s): Modupe O. Oyetunde, Kolawole Ifeoluwapo Oluwafunke

The professional (registered) nurse needs to possess the necessary skills and competencies in discharging her duty to the society. These skills are acquired through professional development, clinical experiences and educational advancement. The nurse personally develops the ambition while the institution helps to actualize this. Professional development is one of the criteria that make nursing to be a profession especially in this world of professional leadership tousle among health care workers. It is expected that the nurse develop herself through evidenced base practices, reflective practices and continue education. The competent nurse engages in ongoing self-directed learning with the understanding that knowledge and skills are dynamic and evolving; in order to maintain competency one must continuously update the knowledge, she also demonstrates leadership in nursing and health care through the understanding that an effective nurse is able to take a leadership role to meet client needs, improve the health care system and facilitate community problem solving. Ensuring that nurses have the appropriate skills, knowledge, competencies and professional values to achieve reform objectives is contingent upon their engagement in higher education. The time has come for the nursing profession to outline a preferred future for the preparation of nurse educators to ensure that these individuals are appropriately prepared for the responsibilities they will assume as faculty and staff development educators and to implement strategies that will serve to retain a qualified nurse educator workforce.

Career Pathway, Professionalism, Competency, Educational Advancement, Specialization

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