Really Rough first draft--Thank you for reading!

[Rondaben]

Ok, a bit of context may prove useful on this. I'm older(44) with a boat load of HCE. GPA is the weakspot in my application (3.3 Ovr /3.2 Sci). I blew the first year or so in college but have a really strong upward trend and good graduate GPA (3.9) when I got my masters. I want to at least tangientially address that, but not focus on it. Thank you for suffering through reading this! I still need a conclusion but wanted to know if I am anywhere near target with this.

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Often times the most rewarding of journeys take us over bridges that we believed had been long burned. My journey, as many who seek to enter medicine, began as a rudimentary understanding of healthcare, equating the practice of medicine as being relegated to physicians as the director and all others as actors in the play. Armed with these misconceptions the exuberance of immaturity I sat forth to be met with predictable results.

 

The struggles that resulted took me down a road that I would never have foreseen. I became a Medical Technologist, eager to be in healthcare and still hoping that my latter academic performance would allow me to move beyond that role into the director’s seat. It was at this time that I learned that real education begins after the schoolwork ends. Working in rural hospitals for the majority of my 22-year career I learned that roles within healthcare are not separated by unbreakable glass walls. If a nurse needs help starting an IV I will do so when I draw blood. If respiratory needs help drawing a blood gas, I am there. If there is a need to do chest compressions or bag a patient because there is only myself, a nurse, and the provider on hand I do it. It is a team effort with the common goal of the patient going home to their family. Healthcare is not the idealistic environment often portrayed in media. Death and suffering are ugly yet we make it our duty to fight against both on a daily basis. We do not go away untouched from the experience, even in a field like medical technology that is often seen as being antiseptic. When I do a differential on a child and see the smear loaded with blasts, it is not an abstract study. There is a scared, sick child on the other side of that microscope that is about to have their life change forever and parents who are about to understand the true meaning of what fear. I think of my own children and think of myself in their place. If those experiences were all that that filled our days, I could not imagine having the fortitude to continue. Occasionally, however, we also get to see that same child leave the hospital in remission. We get to see the impact of our efforts and how transformative they can truly be.

 

As healthcare professionals we are the product of our education and experience. Both have taught me much about intricacies of clinical diagnostics, and both have given me a desire to do more. There are several reasons why becoming a Physician Assistant is appealing. The scientific foundation of medical technology correlates well with the medical model taught in PA schools. The time required to complete PA training is also less, a consideration when both of my children will be going to college within the next five years. Finally, the costs associated with the training are substantially lower than other programs.

 

I have been asked why I would want to undertake the rigors of PA training at my age and at this point in my career. The answer, though not simple, is because the time is right. My children are older, and the long classroom hours and study sessions would be much less disruptive than they would have been when they were younger. Our family is settled in this area and I hope to return here after PA school to fill the need that is so obvious in our rural community.

[Rondaben]

Thanks Brodan!

 

I REALLY appreciate the feedback.  Everything else is done but this essay is weighing me down.

 

You are right about the work.  I would never be asked to do any of those things at a larger hospital.  Heck, I AM respiratory therapy at 3 or 4 of the facilities we cover.  Its one of those trial-by-fire things I just had to learn how to do. IVs are the same--its pretty much whoever gets there first starts the IV and gets the blood to keep from sticking the patient multiple times.  I don't know how well that translates though--perhaps negatively because it is out of the typical scope of service MTs perform.

 

The MA was in education.  It was used in developing college program curriculum for a few universities here in Texas (CNA, LVN to RN, Phlebotomy) and for Abbott Diagnostics for their global training program (mostly other Med Techs using diagnostic equipment but also some for nutrition/pharma divisions).  

 

HCE is a strongpoint.  >20,000 HCE (a lot of it phlebotomy, assists with spinal taps, bone marrows, etc as well as the ancillary stuff I spoke of earlier, patient education, etc.) and another 20,000 indirect healthcare. 

 

Those are the things I'm wanting to convey, so don't worry about being harsh.  Better to be honest now and admitted later!