Genevieve Chandler | PubMed Health

PubMed2002

The master's portfolio: validating a career in advanced practice nursing.

PURPOSE: To describe the process of portfolio development and faculty review that offers graduate credit within a framework of structural empowerment and mentoring for documented educational and clinical accomplishments for family nurse practitioners (FNPs). DATA SOURCES: Selected literature and examples from one student's portfolio to illustrate the process. CONCLUSIONS: The degree granting process assists certified FNPs to fulfill career aspirations through achieving graduate level education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, School of Nursing. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The portfolio process affords practicing FNPs not only the opportunity to acquire an advanced degree but a framework for examining and validating a career. For the student in this exemplar, it was a "significant, introspective, satisfying learning experience," a rare opportunity in a busy professional life.

Clinical Competence↗

PubMed2002

Making meaning: the creative component in qualitative research.

Findings in qualitative research are often wondrous and exciting, expounding new knowledge and perceptions previously unknown. Qualitative research requires the researcher to ponder and reflect on the data collected so as to find the meaning within. Helping researchers learn how to perform this step is not well discussed in the qualitative literature, yet this is one of the more crucial components of this type of research. In this article, the incubation, the meaning-making phase of qualitative research, is discussed in relation to the experiences of five researchers who have used traditional processes, models, metaphors, plays, pastiche, poetry, and quilt making and design to help them make meaning.

Attitude↗