Even closer to final draft. Please give me all honest opinions and feedback.

[NEB1985]

After heeding some advice from my original thread, I feel that I've done a better job of focusing on the areas that adcom's will value, while still getting my original idea across. I'm ~700 characters over the limit now, but I'd like to make sure I have everything covered before attempting to trim things down. As usual, please be honest and thank you for any and all advice.

 

 

The alert bell sounds as a call comes in from an oil-rig located 130 miles offshore. On the other end, a 47 year-old male complains of generalized weakness and difficulty breathing. As the healthcare professional on the receiving end discusses the patient’s medical history in a virtual face-to-face interview, an ECG is performed by one of the patient’s coworkers. Instantly, the results are available remotely, revealing significant ST-segment elevation, suggesting myocardial infarction (MI). Within minutes, medications are dispensed and the process of bringing in the patient for additional critical care is initiated. While this is a prime example of the type of treatment that telemedicine can offer, it is only the tip of the iceberg. I envision a future in which PAs will operate as key cogs on both sides of the camera in a cooperative effort with all other levels of healthcare practitioners, in order to significantly expand their reach and scope of treatment.

 

My college life began with a rocky start, as I lacked career ambition and instead focused my life on the excitement of professional skating, a love that I had known since the age of 12. My wake up call came in the form of an unexpected pregnancy in the fall of 2008, which caused me to fully comprehend the consequences of my life choices, as I was no longer creating a world for just myself. It was challenging to raise a child while attending school and working nights, as there were rough times when I had to make the decision to make my family the top priority, leading me to withdraw from school in consecutive semesters. However, it was also the most rewarding experience of my life, as it allowed me to truly grasp just how blessed I was, while also showing me the benefits of continuing to strive towards a goal no matter how difficult the circumstances.

 

Though I had been considering a career in medicine since starting college, my job as an ECG/telemetry tech allowed me the opportunity to serve patients and their families for the first time and in turn see first-hand the reward that a life of service could offer. This experience, coupled with an increasing passion for biology and the human body, helped to assure me that a life in medicine was the one for me. However, the ultimate confirmation came from the incredible experience of raising a child. Creating a life for something so vulnerable and innocent instilled in me a sense of selflessness and a drive to help those in a position less fortunate than me, namely the medically underserved.

 

Once it had become completely clear to me that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine so that I could one day aid the underserved, I contacted the director of the ER at the hospital where I worked, regarding the opportunity to shadow him and his fellow employees. After a few months of shadowing, I was offered a position working for his developing telemedicine company, XstremeMD. From my first day at XstremeMD, I recognized the immense potential that this cutting-edge technology could offer to all areas of the medical field. I was especially intrigued by telemedicine’s capacity to greatly expand the reach and scope of medical treatment as a means of providing care for the underserved communities of the United States Gulf Coast. My desire to gain the necessary skills and knowledge needed to one day evolve the ways that these communities are cared for only grew stronger after I took a job working with uninsured psychiatric patients and I witnessed just how much of good could be accomplished by simply making an effort to create a positive impact on the lives of these individuals.

 

After coming to the conclusion that I wanted to utilize telemedicine in order to advance the treatment of the underserved, I began to consider which type of healthcare provider would put me in the best position to achieve my goals. During my time spent shadowing and working in healthcare I had witnessed first-hand the team-oriented mentality of PAs and how it equipped them to coordinate all of the different levels of medical treatment, all while establishing a personal level of interaction with their patients, yet still maintaining a level of autonomy that allowed them to make critical decisions. Additionally, one of the most appealing aspects of the PA profession was the ability to switch specialties and amass knowledge in a variety of areas, which, in regards to telemedicine, would allow them to serve many different roles, on all sides of the camera.

 

My goals moving forward are to use the hunger for service that the circumstances of my life have blessed me with in order to continue to build off of the experiences that I have gained working in telemedicine, along with the knowledge and skills that I will acquire in PA school, in order to help usher in a new brand of far-reaching care to the underserved communities of the Gulf region. As a PA, I will be able to gain expertise in a number of specialties, uniquely preparing me to treat a spectrum of conditions and function in an array of situations. I will be capable of working on both sides of the camera, either giving virtual directions for care across the camera, or receiving directions from an MD or fellow PA on the other end and treating patients directly. From the offshore worker suffering from an MI, to the child in the isolated rural community suffering from conjunctivitis, to the supplemental care of patients in overcrowded ERs, no type of treatment will be off the table. I understand that I will not be alone in this venture and I believe that the strong connections with other service-minded individuals that I will make during my time in PA school and in my career will serve to strengthen all of the remarkable possibilities offered.