BSN C493
NEWEST PORTFOLIO
, Tara Troxell
WGU
BSN
C493 Portfolio
, This portfolio represents my personal, educational, and professional nursing growth throughout
the BSN program at Western Governors University. This program allowed me to advance my
education as a nurse as well as learn new ways to use my skills. My portfolio contains: learned
skills, projects, papers, and examples of how I was able to reach my professional goals while
attending this program. Lastly, my continued professional and educational goals are shown in
this portfolio.
A.1 Complete a Mission Statement
My goal professionally after completing my BSN is to become a NP who specializes in care for
special needs children. A major goal of mine is to continue to educate myself on how to provide
the best possible care for my patients and their families. This includes keeping up to date with
any current studies and research that may apply to this field of nursing. Providing quality care
with compassion, knowledge, and respect is my mission statement and something I wish to
achieve daily. Understanding and striving to find positive ways to communicate, especially with
non-verbal patients, has become something I feel very passionately about. Many people feel that
the patients I work with are unaware of their surroundings or feelings and that they are incapable
of expressing anything. In my experiences, this is very inaccurate. Every patient I have ever
encountered has adapted and is very capable of expressing themselves in some way (including
their wants and needs). By striving to achieve these goals I hope to have a positive impact on my
patients and their family’s lives while providing them with the highest quality of care.
History on how I reached my mission statement: Being a nurse became a goal of mine as an
incredibly young age. I enjoyed helping people and was always looking for ways to assist my
friends and family in any way I could. As time went on and life happened, my dream career of
becoming a nurse got pushed aside due to trials and life in general. But there was always the
nagging thought in the back of my mind that I was not doing what I had always wanted to do.
Finally, at the age of 28 I decided I was going to go to nursing school and obtain my goal. It was
not easy being a single mom with a young child. I encountered numerous challenges and feelings
of just wanting to quit at times. What kept me going were family, friends, and ultimately
knowing that I loved helping and caring for other people. After graduating with my ASN, I knew
I wanted to pursue my BSN. My goal of pursing my BSN was set aside at this time as started
work and time went flying by.
My first nursing job I took was home health working with special needs children. I went into this
job thinking it would be a steppingstone and I would move on to something quickly. I was told
this was true for many nurses that had done this type of nursing before. Working in this field of
nursing was daunting at first because I had not learned a lot about the cares and skills needed for
these children. Working with vents, tracheostomies, and gastronomies was not something I had a
lot of experience with nor had I learned a lot about in school. There were times of frustration
because I wanted to be more knowledgeable and proficient about everything I was doing. This
made me decide to educate myself through anything I could: books, pamphlets, manuals,
seminars, training sessions, using parent/family knowledge, and asking other healthcare
providers for help and/or answers. The more knowledge I gained, the more comfortable I became
with my skills and abilities to care for my patients. Even with the challenges, it did not take me
NEWEST PORTFOLIO
, Tara Troxell
WGU
BSN
C493 Portfolio
, This portfolio represents my personal, educational, and professional nursing growth throughout
the BSN program at Western Governors University. This program allowed me to advance my
education as a nurse as well as learn new ways to use my skills. My portfolio contains: learned
skills, projects, papers, and examples of how I was able to reach my professional goals while
attending this program. Lastly, my continued professional and educational goals are shown in
this portfolio.
A.1 Complete a Mission Statement
My goal professionally after completing my BSN is to become a NP who specializes in care for
special needs children. A major goal of mine is to continue to educate myself on how to provide
the best possible care for my patients and their families. This includes keeping up to date with
any current studies and research that may apply to this field of nursing. Providing quality care
with compassion, knowledge, and respect is my mission statement and something I wish to
achieve daily. Understanding and striving to find positive ways to communicate, especially with
non-verbal patients, has become something I feel very passionately about. Many people feel that
the patients I work with are unaware of their surroundings or feelings and that they are incapable
of expressing anything. In my experiences, this is very inaccurate. Every patient I have ever
encountered has adapted and is very capable of expressing themselves in some way (including
their wants and needs). By striving to achieve these goals I hope to have a positive impact on my
patients and their family’s lives while providing them with the highest quality of care.
History on how I reached my mission statement: Being a nurse became a goal of mine as an
incredibly young age. I enjoyed helping people and was always looking for ways to assist my
friends and family in any way I could. As time went on and life happened, my dream career of
becoming a nurse got pushed aside due to trials and life in general. But there was always the
nagging thought in the back of my mind that I was not doing what I had always wanted to do.
Finally, at the age of 28 I decided I was going to go to nursing school and obtain my goal. It was
not easy being a single mom with a young child. I encountered numerous challenges and feelings
of just wanting to quit at times. What kept me going were family, friends, and ultimately
knowing that I loved helping and caring for other people. After graduating with my ASN, I knew
I wanted to pursue my BSN. My goal of pursing my BSN was set aside at this time as started
work and time went flying by.
My first nursing job I took was home health working with special needs children. I went into this
job thinking it would be a steppingstone and I would move on to something quickly. I was told
this was true for many nurses that had done this type of nursing before. Working in this field of
nursing was daunting at first because I had not learned a lot about the cares and skills needed for
these children. Working with vents, tracheostomies, and gastronomies was not something I had a
lot of experience with nor had I learned a lot about in school. There were times of frustration
because I wanted to be more knowledgeable and proficient about everything I was doing. This
made me decide to educate myself through anything I could: books, pamphlets, manuals,
seminars, training sessions, using parent/family knowledge, and asking other healthcare
providers for help and/or answers. The more knowledge I gained, the more comfortable I became
with my skills and abilities to care for my patients. Even with the challenges, it did not take me
