Physician Assistant Personal Statement

Science and medicine has always fascinated me and has been interesting to be since my education started as a child. All my cousins used to play video games, playing house, playing cards, but instead I always forced everyone on pretending my patients and me treating them and caring for them as a doctor. I also wanted my family members to act if they were sick and they needed help. As time passed, I no longer had to play as it was the reality now and they really now needed help. I have witnessed my family members, my grandmother who passed away due to heart attack at an early age, my other grandmother who currently is sick, my grandfather who passed away also due to heart attack.

I want to be a part of Keiser University's Physician Assistant Program because it is one of the best in South Florida. I agree with its mission statements and goals. This 24-month curriculum will allow me to reach my goal of pursuing my career as a Physician Assistant, sooner than most programs. It is centrally located so that most students have a minimum commute of 15-20 minutes. I am impressed by Keiser's excellent reputation of job placement among graduating PA students. According to present students, this school has a low professor to student ratio. I am eager to participate in this type of learning environment. Also, I am happy to see that the PANCE rate has been improving as the program strives to prepare students for the national certification

My time as an Emergency Room Medical Scribe has been insightful to a point that it has solidified my career path. Prior to entering this field of work, I didn’t realize how little I had known about terminology, doctor-patient interaction, or procedures. With a behind the scenes look, I could not only view but understand the reasoning behind a physician’s medical decision making. For example, there was once a patient who had the chief complaint of abdominal pain. This patient had been to the ER multiple times in the past and after a multitude of physical exams and imaging there was nothing to show as abnormal. Hitherto, the physician I was working with had a lengthy discussion with the patient and decided to do a CT after explaining the risks.

This letter is my formal recommendation of Ajmal Khan to your Program. I had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Khan for a two month observership at James A. Haley Veterans’ hospital, Tampa, Florida. Dr. Khan observed inpatient and outpatients’ procedures, and attend rounds and teaching conferences. I worked closely with him and Dr. Khan stood out as an individual with curiosity and dedication to hard work.

Before being introduced into the medical field, I had always seen myself as an engineer. Growing up I was fascinated by how everything worked. When something would break down I would be the first with a screw driver in my hand ready to take it apart. Of course being at such a young age, I would often worsen the situation than fix it, but the thrill and excitement from fixing a broken object meant the world to me. I thought becoming an engineer was my lifelong passion.

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.

“Your optimism is killing me,” a patient replied after my attempt to encourage her to try to stand up, so she could attend a physical therapy session. Though I took her comment with a grain of salt, it was the cornerstone for the reputation I would build during my career as a Physical Therapist Assistant. Most clinicians shy away from challenging personalities; not me, I strive to be different. It’s been three years since that patient discharged home against medical advice. which ignited fuel to the fire of continuing to pursue my undergraduate degree.

My interest in family medicine began when I was in high school visiting family members in Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina and in northern Pakistan who were shaken by a devastating earthquake that took place that same year. I felt lost and helpless as I met people living in shelters who were desperately waiting for medical care. The experience motivated me to spend the next year becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) so I could help underserved areas. Over the next five years, I worked with doctors and nurses as a CNA, primarily helping geriatric patients as I worked toward medical school. I took deep interest watching physicians develop trust and rapport with their patients and taking the time to work with nurses and specialists to tailor treatment plans.

This experience positively affected me in a significant way and helped me to develop effective communication skills with patients to prepare for my career in

1. There are many attributes that I have that are much more indicative of my potential than my SAT scores. To begin, I am a dedicated student-athlete who also takes AP classes in all of my core courses. In field hockey, I was a four-year starter, First Team All-Conference for three years, Second Team All-State, and in my senior year I was voted captain by my teammates; to add, I am doing all of this while taking AP classes. This shows that even though my scores for a single standardized test were not as high as I would have liked.

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.

A school field trip to the hospital at just six years old is all it took and I was hooked. The hospital was a fascinating place for me. All I wanted to do was explore and learn more about what happened there. At the end of the field trip I was given a “doctors’ toolbox” which included a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, syringes, as well as many other necessary tools needed to take care of a patient. I immediately took action and started using it on my then pregnant mother, to make sure the baby was doing well.

Life may bring endless opportunities in which can shape and form a lifestyle. Opportunities allow each person to be individual and experience unique commodities. Personally, I have come to find that the career internship program has been a life changing opportunity. As it taught me great morals, the internship allowed me to get a hands on experience with my future.

As I progress through my clinical, I am feeling more confident interacting with patients as I conduct history taking and assessments. Adhering, learning, and following the guidelines will help me as I transition to practice as a nurse practitioner. Health care profession is a lifelong learning career as evidence-based research is conducted for better outcomes and as a clinician I am obligated to stay current with the evidence, provide patient teaching at ll times to promote health and prevent diseases. While caring for patients from different backgrounds, I have learned a lot from about their cultures and how they view their health. As a provider I respect patients view on their health and it is imperative to involve them in shared-decision making.

The desire and passion and the strong interest I have for a profession in the care industry derives from my role as a care assistant, which I have enjoyed for the past nine years .The role has been challenging and extremely rewarding at the same time, I am genuinely a compassionate individual but my role has also taught me to be more patient and empathetic when assisting someone. Growing up I never thought that I would one day be so passionate about something in my life. I did not really think much about the future nor what I wanted to do with my life. From where I come from it is normal that after finishing school girls marry, have children and become housewives for the rest of their lives.