The purpose of this assignment is to assist you in mapping out your future career in nursing which will hopefully clarify for you priorities you will need to plan for in the future to attain these career goals. It generally helps to divide these goals into incremental pieces that assist with attainment of goals and maintain a pathway to success. You may write this as one paper with two sections, short and long-term goals.

Short- term goals:

Write a professional paper, approximately one to two pages which encompass two short term career goals. The paper is to explain, (a) what you want to accomplish, (b) how you will accomplish those goals, (c) what you will need to accomplish those goals, and (d) give specific timeframes. Short term goals are considered to be within one to two years. When describing what you will need to accomplish those goals include resources, schools, research into programs, residencies, advanced practice programs, employers, as examples.

Long- term goals:

Write a professional paper, approximately one to two pages which delineate two long term career goals. The paper is to explain (a) what you want to accomplish,

(b) how you will accomplish those goals,

(c) what you need to accomplish those goals, and

(d) give specific timeframes. Long term goals are considered to be within 5 to 10 years. When describing what you will need to accomplish those goals include, certifications, resources, schools, employers, research into programs, relocation, as examples.

Career Goals Paper

The short term goals that I would like to accomplish over the next one to two years would be Congestive Heart Failure Certification by AAHFN (American Association of Heart Failure Nurses) and Wound Care Certification by WCEI (Wound Care Education Institute). Since, starting my new position with the VA HBPC (Veteran Affairs Home Base Primary Care) department I was asked to facilitate a new initiative for the Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) to help decrease the readmission rate for congestive heart failure (CHF). This HBC CHF initiative will be a year long process to address Veteran issues when being discharged from the hospital and questions why they have frequent readmissions. CHF is one of the top three (COPD, Alcohol & CHF) re-admission rate for the VAMC. Once college has been completed at the end of summer I will then pursue my certification in heart failure. Working as a RN in the home based care CHF initiative has opened new doors for educating and management of co-workers. Education of Veterans and their families on heart failure, diet and fluid restrictions to help them live longer and have better quality of life. With doing this HBC initiative, it will help me to reach my third short term goal of becoming a Nurse III at the VAMC. I'm excited to be apart of such an initiative and hope to make a significant difference in many Veteran's lives. I will be doing an online course for the CHF Certification through AAHFN in the fall and complete the certification by the end of 2016.

The second short term goal is Wound Care Certification through WCEI (Wound Care Education Institute). It will follow once I have completed the CHF Certification. I hope to have this completed by the end of 2017. I spent eight years in the Burn Unit at Wishard Hospital and when I accepted a position at the VAMC outpatient clinic my skills were utilized because they didn't have a Wound Clinic at the present time. It was a wonderful feeling to know that I could assist Veteran's with their wound care needs so they could stay at home until a Wound Clinic was opened by the VAMC.

My long term goals are going to be different from most students in this class. I feel one of my long term goals was getting my bachelors of nursing because I have wanted this since I graduated from nursing school in 1998. I had to put this goal on the side line so I could raise my children as a single parent. So, when I complete this class this summer it will fulfill a dream that I've waited for, for so long. I will continue to work for the VAMC for commitment obligations to the National Nursing Education Initiative program for the next three years. The VAMC has given me more opportunities to grow and develop my nursing career and I feel I will continue to flourish at this facility.

The second-long term goal will be to retire from the VAMC while working as a home based primary care nurse. I would never have thoughtof this fifteen years ago as I was working in the ICU setting and transitioning myself to home base primary care. I absolutely LOVE my job as a nurse and especially as an HBPC nurse. To accomplish this goal, I will stay with VAMC until retirement in fifteen years. My position as an HBPC nurse is rewarding, satisfying and fulfilling. I may be different from most students, but now it's time for me to enjoy life!