ermahgerd second draft! tear it to pieces y'all!

[yoyoma]

Sunlight pours through yellowed, lace curtains. I sit on my grandmother’s bed tracing the stitches of an outdated floral quilt. The smell of pine trees floats through the open window and infuses the thick, humid air. A thin-framed graying woman dresses her demented, bedridden, overweight husband one cumbrous movement at a time. She sees only the human in need, never the illness. I was six then, and though I did not know it, I would come to find that I have inherited my grandmother’s small frame as well as her intense determination and innate need to serve. “And though she be but little, she is fierce”-Shakespeare.

 

 

Years later, during an all-nighter in the ER, I am the one lifting and dressing a patient one velcroed shoe at a time. An old man had come into the hospital I volunteer at after falling. His sisters sat patiently in the room as we watched the Physician Assistant apply Dermabond to his elbow. After the PA left, I began dressing and talking with the patient and his sisters. I beamed when they told me that I truly had a knack for putting patients at ease and that a career in healthcare was the right fit.  At 4am, nothing could have ruined my euphoric mood.

 

 

Serving others has always given me joy, but the path by which I would do so in my professional life was unclear. Volunteering at nursing homes in high school fueled my passion to find a profession that would give me such a sense of fulfillment. Subsequently, I began volunteering at the hospital. The staff constantly gives me opportunities to help with patient care. I spend my time helping apply casts, restraining patients, performing EKGs, cleaning wounds, escorting patients and ensuring patient comfort. Additionally, I have witnessed pelvic exams, chest tubes, central lines, suturing/stapling, overdoses, conscious sedation, gastric suction, and death. This exposure, as well as my hours of direct contact with mentally ill individuals, has reinforced my yearning to be medically educated. I desire nothing more than to become a PA student.

 

 

I was first introduced to the role of a PA while volunteering. I loved the easy, personable way she talked to her patients, and the time she allotted to each of them.  After seeing this, I dove deeper and began shadowing internal medicine and orthopedic PA's. Their collaboration with doctors and nurses was inspiring, and allowed me to see the value of teamwork. Additionally, having the ability to work in multiple areas is enticing. I want to work where I am needed, and to continuously be evolving. The versatility of a Physician Assistant degree will allow me to do so.

 

 

 

While trekking through this medical journey, I have pushed myself to grow in my educational endeavors. Because I started taking college courses at 16, I am able to take classes outside of my degree plan and still graduate early. Additionally, I was able to spend a year developing a butterfly lab. I spent hours of with a professor who pushed me to continue my medical journey. Having a professor as a life mentor was an insightful experience. She made me realize that though I have a passion for the medical field, the world has much to offer. I want to immerse myself not only in medicine, but in life; befittingly, the PA profession allows a perfect balance between life and labor. Expanding my perception in this way has given me a different mindset, and allowed me to gain maturity which will benefit my patients.

 

 

In my personal life, I continuously work on finding different ways to serve. In college, I was fortunate to find work as a Resident Adviser. As an RA, I dealt with suicidal students, and students who were unsure of their life path. Moreover, the experience of receiving emergency medical calls at midnight has trained me to be focused and attentive. This position made me aware of the diversity of people in this world, and how to help them psychologically. My time as an RA gave me the confidence I needed to face difficult patients. I will always remember being asked to sit with a hostile patient whose ammonia levels were elevated. She had repeatedly tried to pull her IVs out. It calmed her to have someone listen to her story, and she soon gave up on her mission to remove the IVs. I was proud of myself for connecting with her, but I wanted more. As I left that night, I felt confident I had chosen the right profession. In the future, I will be able to not only listen to my patients, but heal them.

 

 

Becoming a Physician Assistant is not easy, but I love a challenge, especially when the end result is so rewarding. My experiences fine tuning my people skills as an RA, broadening my understanding of medicine as an ER volunteer, and learning a PA’s role as a shadow have all prepared me for this journey. I am young, but far from naïve. I am ambitious and forever willing to serve those in need. There is no doubt in my mind that this is what I am called to do. I want to be a Physician Assistant.

[nguim21]

I love you intro!  I think you do a great job in the beginning, but then get more into resume mode in the middle/end.  Keep going with your story and your experience in the hospital with the patient.  Great job painting the picture!

[jen0508]

Not so pleased with the fact that your only healthcare experience is as a hospital volunteer, but it reads very well.

[Martinace]

Some parts of this narrative are eerily similar to the statement user paplease783 recently posted...