Your guide to using the RCNi Portfolio
The RCNi Portfolio (in association with RCN Learn) is for the nursing support workforce, students, and healthcare professionals who do not need to revalidate with the NMC.
It helps you to organise and document time spent on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as well as prompts to assist with reflective accounts and storing practice-related feedback. There are areas to safely upload certificates and documents, and you can download your Portfolio into an easily transferable and organised PDF document.
RCNi Plus and *NS Student subscribers also get access to over 400 CPD multiple-choice quizzes to help enhance your knowledge.
Let’s begin!
To start, click "create Portfolio". You will then be asked if you are required to revalidate with the NMC. Nurses, nursing associates, and midwives in England should select "Yes". If you do not need to revalidate with the NMC, please select “No”.
If you are logged in as an RCN Student member or a *NS Student subscriber you will bypass this step and go straight into your new Portfolio dashboard.
Your Portfolio dashboard
At the top of your Portfolio will be your name and the year of creation, for example ‘2024’.
Your Portfolio has six section tiles:
Continuing Professional Development
This is where you can store your CPD. Click ‘add’ and a form will open with various information fields to fill in. You’ll be asked to give your CPD a title, and to fill in the date the CPD was undertaken. You can select the method of CPD, whether online, course attendance, or structured learning, and there is a drop-down of CPD activities to select. You can add key points or any thoughts upon your learning activity, how long the activity took, and you can upload any supporting documents to the entry. When ready, click ‘save’.
Your entry will be saved in a table that shows you at a glance the date, title, CPD activity, and time taken. Here you can manage the entry either by editing or deleting. If you are also an RCNi Plus or NS Student subscriber, you will see your CPD quiz entries appear below the table. You can access this section at any time by clicking ‘view’ from the CPD tile in your main Portfolio.
CPD quizzes
If you are an RCNi Plus or *NS Student subscriber, you can use this section to help build your individual CPD. We have over 400 interactive, multiple-choice CPD quizzes based on peer reviewed CPD articles. You can search by different topics and specialties, or sort results alphabetically or by latest published. You have the option to read the associated CPD article before starting the quiz. Once you have completed a quiz, you can add the certificate, and CPD time, directly into your Portfolio. These can be found in the forementioned CPD section.
If you are not a subscriber, this area will be greyed out. Find out more about subscription packages here.
Written Reflective Accounts
Use this section to reflect upon an appraisal, event, or incident that took place during the year. Click ‘add’ to open up the reflective account form. Give your account a title, and add the date (this could be the date of your reflection or the date of the event). There are three prompts to help you fill in this section, and useful links to other reflective models which might be of interest. You can also upload documents to support your entry. Please do not include any information that might identify a colleague, patient, or service user. Click ‘save’.
Your entry will be saved in a table that shows you at a glance the date and title of your reflective account. Here you can manage the entry by editing or deleting. You can access this section at any time by clicking ‘view’ on the Written Reflective Account tile in your main Portfolio.
Practice-related feedback
Click ‘add’ to open up the practice-related feedback prompt form. Enter the date on which the feedback happened, and you can choose from a drop-down menu of the source of feedback given, whether it was from a patient, a colleague, or through another means, such as annual appraisal. The next drop-down menu invites you to choose the type of feedback given, be it verbal, letter or card, or another means, and then you can write about the content of the feedback and how it has influenced your practice. You can upload a supporting document if you wish, and then click ‘save’.
Your entry will be saved in a table where you can see at a glance the date, source, type, and content of feedback. Here you can manage your entry by editing or deleting. You can access this section by clicking ‘view’ on the Practice-related feedback tile in your main Portfolio.
Certificates
You can use your Portfolio to store certificates and evidence of learning. Click’ add’ to upload your document, and click ‘save’.
Your entry will be stored in an easy to view table where you can see at a glance the date and document title. From here you can download your document, or delete it from your Portfolio. Access this section by clicking ‘view’ from the Certificates tile on your main Portfolio.
Supporting documents
Throughout the year you may gather documents of interest to your studies or career that do not fit the other sections. Use this area to upload them to safely store in one place. Click ‘add’ to upload your document, and click ‘save’.
Your entry will be stored in an easy to view table where you can see at a glance the date and document title. From here you can download your document, or delete it from your Portfolio. Access this section by clicking ‘view’ from the Supporting Documents tile on your main Portfolio.
Downloading your Portfolio
Your Portfolio is available to be downloaded into a single PDF document. Click the ‘download’ button in the section tile, and it will generate a nicely organised Portfolio PDF that has your name, the year of the Portfolio, and lays out the sections and documents you have uploaded. This may be useful for appraisals, reports, or as a reflection of the year’s achievements or highlights. It’s important to remember that if any documents you add are password protected, they will cause your download to fail. So only add unrestricted documents to your Portfolio.
Managing your Portfolio
Each Portfolio lasts for one calendar year, and auto-generates a new Portfolio for the next calendar year. This is to help organise your files and information. You can access your old Portfolios at any time. To access previous Portfolios, go up to the header where your name appears. On the right hand side you will see the date for the current portfolio, and below that it will say, “Previous portfolio”. When clicked, a drop down will appear showing you all your previous Portfolios.
If you ever need to create a Revalidation Portfolio, you can manage that change by clicking ‘Portfolio type’.
Calculating and inputting time to your Portfolio
Time is calculated in imperial format, so two hours will be 02:00. Seven hours and thirty minutes will be 07:30. Fifteen minutes will be: 00:15.
Uploading forms into sections
You can do this in one of two ways. Either download the form to your computer, fill it in, save it to your computer, and upload it into the correct section. Or, if it is a form you have printed to fill in long-hand, or for it to be physically signed, you can take a photo or scan the form to upload into your Portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
We have compiled a handy list of answered queries to help you make the most of your Portfolio.
Got an issue the guide hasn’t covered?
We are happy to hear from you. Contact customer services.
Would you like to download / print this guide?
*NS Student is the name of RCNi’s student subscription offering.