Medical Field Personal Statement

“Letto diciassette!” I froze at the sound of “bed seventeen,” and watched with horror as the Italian nurse ran into my grandmother’s hospital room. The monitors were beeping out of control, yet my heart seemed to be beating even faster and louder. I stood at the end of the dimly lit hall, shaking and unable to move. A health care provider spotted me standing there, desperate, alone, and vulnerable, and made her way over to comfort me. The feelings I experienced next were what I remember most when I look back on that dark and gloomy day in Italy. ***The feelings of hope, reassurance and genuine kindness. The feeling that a missing piece of my heart had been put back where it belonged. That is what I remember most and that is the role I want

My first exposure to the healthcare field was in the United States Army, Medical Corps as a Healthcare Specialist (68W). This occupation is more well-known as a Combat Medic. My military occupational specialty (MOS) turned me into a proud healthcare provider and fostered an environment where I developed a passion for medicine and helping others. My experiences and training prepared me to provided treatment to patients and aiding the directing physician.

I am drawn to family medicine by this same appreciation for humanism that is evident to me among practitioners in this field. I am similarly motivated and excited by the intellectual challenges, scope, and meaningfulness offered by a career in family medicine. I strive to join a residency program that will provide rigorous clinical training among a diverse patient population while offering extensive resident responsibility for patient care. I believe that a family medicine residency program will inspire me to excel and arm me with the tools I need to achieve my future goals. Upon completion of residency, I aim to devote myself to serving the underserved while dedicating time to conducting research and participating in community and medical

I come from a small rural town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. My hometown is split down the middle by a set of railroad tracks. On the north side, one can find pristine neighborhoods, newer schools, most doctors’ offices, and the only hospital in town. The south side of the town stands as a stark contrast. On the south side, you no longer find the wealthy neighborhoods but rather dilapidated and condemned homes and housing projects. One seems to find abandoned buildings on every corner, many inhabited by those that have lost their homes. Limited help is coming for those who need it, mostly through churches and volunteer programs targeting the underserved. Many doctors, dentists, and nurses are giving their time and resources to help

It is a fact that we have a longer life expectancy than ever before. This has been achieved through years of thorough research, technological development, and most importantly resilient individuals. Doctors are constantly faced with different enigmas with no right or wrong answer. What first attracted me toward medicine was the desire to help and support, in particular, disadvantaged people. Coming from a country with an underdeveloped health care system has made me realised the impact it has on people’s life.

In August of this year, I will be entering my final year at Grand Canyon University and will graduate with my bachelor’s degree in biology with a pre-medical emphasis in April of 2018. Upon graduation, I am planning on attending a medical or physician assistant school to pursue a career as a health care provider. I am not completely sure which route I want to take as I believe that there are benefits and drawbacks to both, however, I have been finding myself to be more drawn to the physician assistant route. At the beginning of my junior year, I spent a small amount of time working with PhysAssist Scribes in two different emergency departments. During this time, I was exposed to physician assistants and began to develop an interest in their line of work.

In spring 2004, a phone call from my mother changed my life. She told me in our native language, Aramaic, “the doctor dropped your godson Allen during the C-section”. Investigation reveled Allen birth trauma was caused by the physician due to being under the influence. I became my godson’s primary care taker because my family barely spoke English. The action of the physician demonstration of neglangce while the action of the home care nurse who provided excellent care till the unfortunate accident which lead to his death on Thanksgiving Eve 2007.

43 degrees Fahrenheit and realizing I had forgotten my arm warmers and iPod, I recognized the 26.2 miles ahead of me would require some grit. Yet before the starting pistol fired and the recording of Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York” played, I knew all the preparation done in the months and weeks prior had primed me for a successful finish. There is a mantra in distance running, “the hay is in the barn,” to affirm that all of the training and miles logged up until race day will lead you to success. And it is this mantra which has guided my preparation for a career as a physician assistant.

I am applying to Touro University’s MHS program to advance my medical knowledge and prove I am a worthy candidate for the PA program. Between the ambulance and the emergency room, I have worked in the field of emergency medicine for the past 17 years. To be able to help another person in their worst moments and help turn their situation around is the best part of my job. I want to magnify the impact of my contribution by acquiring the skills and knowledge available in Touro’s Physician Assistant Program.

The old woman, wrinkled and tired, looked up at me with tears in her eyes and asked, “When will you be back? I don’t want you to leave.” We had been visiting for some time and she was visibly distressed to see me go. As I left my job as a nursing assistant that day, I was deep in thought, pondering where I was in life and what I wanted to do. This statement, uttered by a woman who I had worked with for a long time, stuck with me.

I am interested in pursuing the Physician Assistant (PA) certification because of both my familiarity as a professional in the medical field and as a patient. The PA profession offers me the opportunity to continue my lifelong passion of helping others, providing a team approach to patient-centered medicine, giving back to my community, and provides me with further opportunities to educate. My sophomore year I was recruited by the director of the local Red Cross to join a HIV/AIDS peer education program. After attending classes on evenings and weekends for a few months at the florescent lighted, wood paneled walled, Red Cross building our education was complete and our team’s presentation skills were developed enough to head to the community.

At the start of my seventh grade year, the idea that I wanted to become a Physician Assistant made its debut in my mind. At that time, I was not aware of the responsibilities that I would be undertaking as a P.A., or of the steps that would become necessary to pursue my goal. Now, through shadowing and research into this profession, I have gained a better understanding of the role of Physician Assistants. There is a certain art to medicine that is manifested through the work of P.A.s. In addition to this artful aspect, I am attracted to this career because of the fact that I could be comforting and healing people on a daily basis, which is something I have always dreamed of.

Healthcare is a universal concept and regardless of where we are in the world, access to medicine is a necessity. Having been born in Vietnam and raised in the U.S., I have gotten to witness the drastic differences between both of these healthcare systems. When my family and I moved to the U.S. in 2003, I was immediately immersed in a world of vast culture and endless opportunities. The education in America has fostered many of my early aspirations and allowed me to find my niche in medicine. Through numerous experiences growing up, I have developed a sense of compassion and desire to help others.

Throughout my life, there have been many experiences that have sparked my interest in biomedicine and in the healthcare Field. My initial experience that peaked my overall interest was my biology class was biology class my sophomore year of high school. This class not only expose me to the biomedical field, but it also revealed to me to my own passion for human science and medicine. It was the topic of DNA replication that really sparked my interest in the health care field. When reading about transcribing and altering jeans to help improve human life I knew I wanted to be apart of that process.

Humankind has always had a technophilic mind, it is what has allowed us to evolve into the sentient beings that we are today. Our path through time has been coupled with that of technology’s; as we evolve, technology evolves with us. Due to our entwined existence, technology has a rightful place in every aspect of modern human life. It is ubiquitous, constantly assisting us in our ever task, from the apparent use of a cellular phone, to the glasses or contact lenses that myriads of people use to see every day. In the workplace, technology continues to have an everlasting and continuous impact on the way humans can work, there is no field that is functional without the use of technology.