The Advanced Clinical Practice Fellowship opportunity provided and supported by the Registered Nurses of Association has been an excellent learning experience for me both personally and professionally. It is a program that I hope to encourage others to partake in and one that has had a tremendous influence on my career focus and direction.

Points of learning

• The experience of preparing a detailed learning plan is a component that I will seek to continue to implement in my future practice and research. I have gained a great appreciation for its purpose and ability to structure and direct the steps necessary to meet a learning objective.
• The opportunity to immerse myself in the self-directed learning component of the nursing profession has further sparked my interest and desire to pursue higher levels of nursing education and research. The above-mentioned learning plan has proven to be critical to propelling forward such learning.
• The importance of refining the overall learning objective in order to more thoroughly meet all aspects of the learning goal became apparent a few weeks into the fellowship. Not only was the original overall learning objective ambitious but also the learning plan did not provide for enough time to naturally and comprehensively meet all individual learning objectives. A more specific focus would have better reflected the realities of the length of time for which the fellowship was structured. This learning point will most definitely be transferable to post-fellowships goals as well as future learning endeavours.

Highlights

• The opportunity to collaborate with my peers by discussing our joint learning needs has been of value to both my peers and myself. This fellowship provided the platform for us to discuss the many learning gaps present both in the subspecialty we work in (pediatric palliative care) and our work environment specifically. This naturally will lead to a variety of initiatives and goals within my sponsoring organization upon the completion of this fellowship.
• Receiving support from an interdisciplinary team including physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists in order to enhance my learning was an excellent opportunity to spoke to the collaborative efforts necessary to meet common objectives for the sake of our patients and families.
• Presenting along with medical director and pharmacist of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Palliative Care Program at the First National Pediatric Palliative Care Symposium organized by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) on an interdisciplinary approach to pediatric pain management was an absolute privilege. The support of my mentoring team as I prepared for such a presentation was very encouraging.

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