I Want To Pursue My Master's Degree At Robert Wood Johnson University

Since my summer term freshman year, I have been periodically shadowing Oscar Habhab, MD and Joseph Keenan, DO in the emergency room. Along with gaining more medical knowledge, I continue to shadow them in order to gain a better understanding of the personality required to become a successful physician.

It was almost midnight when I got the call from Dr. Seagraves. She told me to meet her in the physicians lounge at 7 am: we had a case. The next morning began like any other in the operating room. We met with the patient, I received permission to observe and then got suited up for case. The patient was an elderly African American woman, she called me handsome and smiled comfortably. When we made it into the OR I was asked to help lift the patient from bed to table, with a subtle warning of “watch out, it’s gooey.” Dr. Seagraves parted the patient’s gown, exposing a mass of raw tissue that somewhat resembled a leg. The patient had suffered a week’s worth of necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh eating bacteria. The wound had a certain odor, a putrid smell you do not forget. Our hearts sank in unison as we realized what we were up against. We had to act fast. Dr. Seagraves began scrubbing the wounded tissue as the Anaestesiologist monitored the patient’s progress. I had observed Dr. Seagraves on multiple occasions and never did she express concern for the outcome. For the first time in our relationship I heard her mutter, “This is not good. This is not good at all.”

“Never be a doctor if you’re going to have any loans to pay back.” “Don’t do this to yourself.” “You’ll never have a family if you go to medical school.” “The two worst jobs in America belong to physicians and teachers.” Without even soliciting their advice, physicians noticed my “Pre-medical Volunteer” nametag, and immediately approached me with words of discouragement. I participated in a volunteer summer internship at St. Mary Hospital in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, following my sophomore year of college, in an effort to gain more experience in the medical field and solidify my lifelong desire to become a physician. Throughout the eight weeks, I spent mandatory hours in both the Emergency Room and the Operating Room, made contacts with physicians in specific areas of interest, and spent time shadowing them. In addition, each of us in the program attended weekly business meetings in which administrators of the hospital and local physicians spoke to us about their particular positions and experiences. Unlike the many years of high school I spent volunteering at a hospital and a nursing home, where I was limited to carrying around food trays and refilling cups of water, I was able to gain hands-on and more intimate experience. Initially uneasy at the site of the blood gushing into plastic sheets draped around the orthopedic surgeon’s patient in the OR, it took only a few days to grow accustomed to the images on the television screen during a laparoscopic procedure and the

I shadowed Dr. Martin Skie at the University of Toledo Medical Center when I started contemplating a career as a physician. He is an orthopedic surgeon and I had the privilege to shadow during several surgeries, and throughout clinical rotations. I spent over fifty hours shadowing him over the course of a month. I also had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Zachary Ginsberg, an intensivist, in Kettering Medical Center’s intensive care unit. I was able to discuss the patients, their conditions, the lab results, imaging studies, medications, procedures, and the science behind the thought process while shadowing for over one hundred hours over several months. Both opportunities provided insight into different specialties and sparked my interest.Since

This interest evolved into a career goal as I recognized the role of internist as a detective, academic, team player, and compassionate physician. During my rotation in internal medicine and clerkship in cardiology, nephrology, and intensive care unit. I was impressed by the knowledge, clinical reasoning, and evidence-based practice of physicians trained in internal medicine. I discovered tremendous satisfaction in being with patients at the bedside, the challenge of managing multiple problems and keeping up with watch individual’s health maintenance, and privilege of participating in long-term care. During these rotations I discovered a love for teaching whether clarifying a test result for a patient pointing out interesting physical exam finding or discussing the art of case presentations with junior medical students, I find great satisfaction in sharing knowledge with

Throughout my experience as a surgical patient, I always noticed three things my medical team never failed to perform: inform, educate, and care for me. Through my frequent visits to the hospital I began to notice that these ideals were essential in every successful physician-patient relationship. As I progressed in my career as a student, I came to realize that the academic and extracurricular activities I was involved in were helping me perform those very qualities.

I was able to see the hospital setting for the first time during this experience. This shadowing took place in Palmetto Health's Pediatric ICU. I shadowed Dr. Hubbird during college, and I gained more under his leadership then with any other doctor. He truly showed the passion of healthcare in his daily routine, and he challenged me to use critical thinking skills under pressure to help patients. I witnessed surgeries to get children breathing again in front of their grieving parents, and I knew at this moment that I wanted to make a difference and save lives. The humanitarian spirit was released in me during this experience, and I know that I want to do this work for the rest of my

During my visit, hearing current students share their early patient interactions during “Week on the Wards” as well as their outpatient clinical experiences inspired and energized me. I noted the genuine excitement and camaraderie the Emory students had while their fellow classmates shared their own individual experiences. It became clear to me that the collaborative atmosphere is not only present but also encouraged at Emory. The new curriculum’s preparation for residency, including finishing all of the core rotations before applying for residency in addition to the month long capstone, is more thorough than most and ideally designed to help me make a more informed decision regarding my match preference. The discovery phase is a uniquely important aspect to Emory’s curriculum as well. During my undergraduate career, I worked two years on graduate research projects and look forward to finding my passion at Emory in my own research. After hearing my student tour guide, Rachel, explain that her research project analyzes the ethics of patients understanding a new and complicated treatment, I realized I would probably prefer research that involves patient

With the busy environment of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, my presence was, understandably, overlooked by the health professionals. Observing that patients were eager to converse with me, I acquired the permission to hold conversations with the stable patients on the floor. This soon became my primary role as a volunteer, and I realized that my passion for the sciences was surpassed by the contentment and joy I felt with relationships I formed with patients. I began to consider a career choice in medicine, but the bureaucracy of a hospital limited my medical exposure.

Throughout this internship, I wasn’t forced to just watch on the sidelines. I was able to interact with patients and hear their stories. I was able to assist in performing electrotherapy, hot therapy, and cold therapy. I realized how important bedside manner is, especially when patients are despondent.

“Sir” a nurse whispered to me, “you’re covered in blood, let me help you get cleaned up as you’re scaring some of the other patients.” Looking into the mirror, my 18-year-old self was shocked at what was reflected back. 30 minutes prior, while working on a construction site, my finger had an unfortunate meeting with a saw blade. After cutting my finger, the spinning blade had spattered my body, head to toe, in blood. I was terrified I would lose my finger, however, working in the ER that day, was a highly skilled family medicine practitioner who was able to repair my finger to its full functionality. Although this experience had an immediate impact on me, it would be years before I would realize just how much the physician’s knowledge,

From a young age, I knew that I wanted to enter a medical profession, largely due to my foundation in a household of medical personnel. Hearing my parents’ fantastic tales about some lifesaving cardiovascular surgeon or a newly designed MRI machine sparked my childhood desire to inspire people with my own medical stories and health care standards. Through a medical education, I would be able to not only learn the medical terminology and skills to perform effective and reliable operations, but I would most importantly help others. Particularly in my high school years, I developed a desire to aide other in their personal issues or studies by tutoring and establishing strong friendships. My foundation as a helper and my goal to make fascinating stories

Hospitals are a great way for a medical student to serve the community as well as gain valuable experience in their future field. For this reason, I have spent around forty hours from the end of the summer up until now volunteering at HonorHealth hospital. I volunteered as a transporter, what this means is that I move equipment, medical documents and lab samples around the hospital. I also help discharge patients by pushing them in a wheelchair to their car. Through this experience I was able to make life easier on people who were vulnerable and trying to recover as well as the busy staff member who treated them. I had many interactions with people and by from this I have a better understanding of impact my service had. I will be discussing: How psychology can explain social interaction, how outside factors can influence a person 's sense of self, how behaviors and situations can help you understand a person, the importance of communication as well as focus, and the environment shapes the organization.

It was almost midnight when I got the call from Dr. Seagraves. She told me to meet her in the physician’s lounge at 7 am; we had a case. The next morning began like any other in the operating room. We met with the patient, I received permission to observe and then got suited up for the case. The patient - who I will call Cheryl - was an elderly African American woman. She called me handsome and smiled comfortably. Dr. Seagraves pulled back the patient’s gown with a subtle warning of “watch out, it’s gooey,” exposing a mass of raw tissue that somewhat resembled a leg. Cheryl had suffered a week’s worth of necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria. The wound had a certain odor a – putrid smell that is hard to forget. Our hearts sank in unison as we realized what we were up against – we had to act fast. Dr. Seagraves began scrubbing the wounded tissue as the anesthesiologist monitored the patient’s progress. I had observed Dr. Seagraves on multiple occasions, and never did she express concern for the outcome. For the first time in our relationship I heard her mutter, “This is not good. This is not good at all.”

My interest in medicine first stemmed from my freshman Biology class and my Nutrition class. I was intrigued by our studies of cells, genetics, and disease. Both courses incited a sense of awe and curiosity within me. Dissecting a frog, was the stepping-stone for my interest in medicine. Seeing the frog's heart made me wonder how the human heart worked. My research into the human heart inspired me to learn more about the medical field. I sought out volunteer opportunities that would give me insight into a doctor’s typical day. During my volunteer experience, I learned that as a doctor you experience many obstacles, including patient compliance and insurance approval issues. In my journey to pursue medicine, I learned that becoming a doctor means more than helping people, it means being the team leader, being compassionate, and most importantly being committed to the patient’s well being.