Keeping A Ongoing Record Of Your Achievements
So what achievements have you been able to do, have you been able to go on various courses, have you been able to get feedback from patients.
Any feedback that you get from any of your patients, any course that you go on, any certificates, you would have emails, you can ask your patients who, if someone says something really nice about you, you can have that in writing so you can show your manager or whoever's doing the appraisal that it's more than just my lip service.
This is what I am saying, but look, these are the achievements that I have been able to do by keeping a folder.
I have a folder here, with all my certificates, with everything that I've trained for, everything that I do is in this folder so that I can show it and say, this is what I've done.
So when preparing for your appraisal it's important to do things as you go along.
In terms of, don't wait until you appraisal time before you are getting patient feedback or you're putting your certificates together, write things as you're going along.
When someone says something really nice about you, you can have a book or a journal where you write things so that when it is time for that appraisal you are able to systematically go through everything that you've done.
And as you're preparing for your appraisal it's important to do things as you are going along, meaning that, as you're getting these certificates, as you're getting patient feedback, write things down, have a journal, whatever the case may be, but don't wait until it's time for the appraisal before you start rummaging and running up and down looking for all the resources and everything that you need.
Have a folder, have something that you can systematically look through and say, this is what I've been able to achieve over the time that I have been here.
Think About Setting Goals and A Time Frame
Another thing that's important is writing down your goals.
What is it that you would like to achieve?
You've been here for a certain amount of time, things might be getting a bit repetitive, you might want to learn a new skills, be able to say that, you know what, I've achieved all of this so far and I would now like to take things to a different level,
I'd now like to achieve this skill and that skill.
This is your personal development, this is your time to say what it is that you would like to do.
Give yourself a timeframe, give yourself certain goals that you would like to achieve.
Another important thing is, how are you gonna achieve those things?
Requesting Allocated Time To Achieve Your Goals
Do you need more study days, do you need more study time?
Things like that, these are the important things, because the truth is you're not always gonna have enough time to speak on these matters, everybody's busy, especially for me in GP world, everybody's in their rooms, everybody's just getting on with it, seeing their patients, so this is the time for you to tell them everything that you need.
Are you getting the study days that you need to achieve the goals that you want?
The problem with study days is obviously, it costs your work for, when I say your work, it costs your Manager to let you go off and have those times.
So they're not going to automatically give it to you.
If they're nice they will, but you have to request it and say, do you know what, I've been on this course and I need to have a certain time out to be able to achieve what I can, to be able to achieve the best that I can in this course, so I need that study time off.
And firstly, which is for me, very important, is a pay review.
Requesting A Pay Review
You've been able to say that I've done this, I've done that, patients are happy with me, everything seems to be going well, can I have a pay rise?
Can my pay, and obviously this mainly applies to GP Nurses, as we have to negotiate our pay, whereas in other fields of Nursing that go by the Agenda for Change, this might be a time for possible career progression in terms of banding.
If you are in a ward setting, seeing if there is a Junior Sister Role, or Senior Sister Role available for you, or a time where you can now specialise.
If you are working on a vascular ward, maybe you want to become a tissue viability Nurse, or on a respiratory ward, you wanna become a specialist, this is the time to be able to say that I actually want to change my banding and, or this is a time to say I've actually been thinking about various other roles that I can take, other responsibilities that I could take which could obviously in turn lead to a pay rise.
And then it's also important to be honest with yourself, where you are at the moment.
About this contributor
GP Nurse
I am a newly qualified GP Nurse in London. After my first degree in Biomedical science, I realised that I wanted a patient facing career, leading me to study nursing as a master’s degree. This is one of the best decisions I’ve made as I am loving my new career and progression prospects.
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