My Personal Statement - Critiques are welcomed and encouraged

[kuervojones]

I hadn't always dreamed of being a physician assistant, but that is mainly because I hadn't known about it until a few years ago. I had thought that patient examinations and treatment planning was the purview of doctors and nurses and it was only after taking an active interest in health care that I learned of the physician assistant profession. I was shadowing a doctor at his rehabilitation practice when he invited me to also see what his clinical practice was like. Unfortunately, or fortunately in this case, he had other duties to attend to while in his clinic so I was left in the care of the physician assistant. Not knowing much about the profession at the time, I was intrigued by her autonomy, professionalism, and care for her patients. During the course of several more shadowing sessions at the clinic I learned more of the duties and particulars of being a physician assistant and became more interested in it. Soon after I graduated college and decided to get some hands on medical experience before deciding on any career path.

 

Lamentably, at the time there was a recession, and jobs were scarce and hard to come by. Still wanting to get some medical experience though, I went out and started volunteering at a -----------. The staff there were a vast font of knowledge and experience which they were quite willing to share with me, from the various technicians up to the nurses and doctors. I spoke at length with many of them about their professions, their enjoyment of it, and as to why they came to work in the area. It was there that they impressed upon me that needed of need of qualified personnel in the area. South Texas is one of the many under served areas that need qualified medical professionals to better serve the community. One question that kept popping up was whether or not I wanted to work in health care, and I would share my interest in being a physician assistant. Their responses were always encouraging and they kept mentioning that there was a need for them in the area.

 

While volunteering at the hospital was extremely rewarding, there wasn't that much patient contact. At best it was rather limited to patient families and staff, so I started shadowing Dr. ------, a local pediatrician. While shadowing him I was given some limited duties of a medical assistant, mainly checking the patients vital signs and preparing patients for examinations while under the doctors supervision. More than anything else, what impressed me was the care that the doctor had for his patients and their families. Even with extremely difficult children and parents, he always had a sincere and caring disposition that would set them at ease. He often told me that one's disposition when treating patients was extremely fundamental in health care and would often help make the patients and family more comfortable and more likely in following the treatment plan.

 

That one lesson more than anything has served me well as a certified nurse assistant and currently as a mental health technician at -----------. Chief among my duties is being out with the patients, talking, monitoring, assisting them with various tasks that they need help with, and providing a safe therapeutic environment. When dealing with possibly volatile patients, what you say is just as important as how you say it, and having an amiable and courteous personality is an asset. Communication skills are not only important for dealing with the patients but your co-workers as well though. The health care field can be very stressful at times, and it is easy to let your personal feelings color your interactions with each other and the patients you are trying to treat. From my own experience in the psychiatric field, it is important to know when to step back from something and compose yourself, and when to step in before someone else loses their composure. You have to work with each other and help each other out for your own good and the benefit of those you are trying to help.

 

The thing that appeals to me most about being a physician assistant is that autonomy it has while still being part of a team. I will be responsible for the treatment of patients while at the same time being comfortable with the fact that I will have to pass certain responsibilities to the supervising physician because they're going to be outside my scope of practice. The mobility that the profession allows is also attractive. Many times many of the nurses I have worked with have commented on how fulfilling it is to be able to work in different units or wards, and at the same time have heard from the doctors and sometimes they wish they could work in a different specialty for a time and then come back to their current one. I believe I have the qualities necessary for a physician assistant, and that by becoming one I will be able to help those in need here in Texas.

[kuervojones]

Thanks for the critiques. I have re-written it. Hopefully it will meet with more approval than the previous one.

 

As always, be critical with it. It is only through pointing out my mistakes that I will learn. Although, I do hope that you offer a bit more constructive than simple criticism.

 

My first job in the medical field was as a certified nurse assistant. I had volunteered at a hospital and shadowed a few medical professionals, but it was the first time I have really have direct patient contact and have to shoulder the responsibilities that come with it. It was an amazing experience for me, despite always having something to do, I always managed to find the time to speak to the residents and get to know them. Often, it is gestures like that which make the patients more comfortable with you, more likely to open up and talk to you about their personal lives, and give you the best insight into how to effectively treat them.

 

 

Interpersonal skills are crucial when dealing with direct patient contact, and it is one of the things that has been hammered into me by every nurse and doctor I have worked with. In my current job as a mental health technician at ----------, it is the most vital part. My duties range from helping the patients eat, taking vital signs, performing electrocardiograms, charting patients progress, registering patients, holding therapeutic activity groups, and translating for the non-Spanish speaking nurses. However, it pales in comparison to simply conversing with the patients, helping them calm down when they are agitated, cheer up when they are depressed, and turning uncooperative patients into cooperative ones. It is a rewarding experience to see the turnaround in attitude and behavior of the patients and know that you personally contributed to that. That is one of the reasons that health care is so appealing to me.

 

 

 

Just as important as being able to communicate with the patients is also knowing how to work effectively in a team. In the hospital it became far more clear to me how exactly vital each component was in the effective treatment of a patient. Very often it was up to the technicians to observe how each patient was adjusting to both the environment and the medications that they were taking. I was at the forefront of the treatment plan, observing for abnormal behaviors or reaction and reporting to the nurse, who in turn present it to the doctors along with any suggestions that they had. We accompanied patients to see both the psychiatrists and the internal medicine doctors, and provided any additional input that the doctors required.

 

 

Communication skills are not only important for dealing with the patients but your co-workers as well though. The health care field can be very stressful at times, and it is easy to let your personal feelings color your interactions with each other and the patients you are trying to treat. From my own experience in the psychiatric field, it is important to know when to step back from something and compose yourself, and when to step in before someone else loses their composure. You have to work with each other and help each other out for your own good and the benefit of those you are trying to help. As such, the position of leadership was fluid, letting each step up where they thought they could be of the most help and directing others in how they could assist.

 

 

During my college years I did not have much drive or focus. I had a general idea about what I wanted to do, but no clear and concise path of getting there. My college career was marked by the passing of several family members that still remain dear to me, and it was in fact my first experience with death on such a personal level. Compounding to that were some personal health problems that hit me in the first semester of my senior year and through my adamant, though now I recognize as foolhardy, determination I stuck through those months and got the help I needed. The next semester went much better. Now though, I have a clear goal, and after taking several courses and doing excellently in them I have the drive to succeed and make it happen.

 

 

My goal is to become a physician assistant. While the medical laboratory sciences also interest me, it is the direct patient contact of the physician assistants that calls to me, the responsibility of assigning a treatment plan to a patient while still having the mobility to move to different specialties. More importantly, it is the capacity of being able to make a difference in the lives of people, here in the under served areas of Texas, such as my home. The one thing that been rung out to me here in various medical facilities of South Texas is the need for qualified medical personnel, ones that have the expertise and ardor to help those in the area who are most in need. All I need is the chance to get the expertise.

[kuervojones]

I would really appreciate some more feedback from any other source. What do I need to change, what works and what doesn't, if it is decent, or if it is trash.

[StudentPA]

The thing that I am going to recommend is specificity. For example you state...

 

"My first job in the medical field was as a certified nurse assistant. I had volunteered at a hospital and shadowed a few medical professionals..."

 

As a reader this first statement left me with several questions. For example, which hospital? Where was it located? What type of medical professionals? What were their specialties? How long was the duration of your time shadowing/volunteering with them?

 

Now I know that this is a lot of information to put down. At least put down the name of the hospital, where it was located, and at the very least the exact type(s) of medical professionals that you shadowed. If these "medical professionals" were PAs it would help to give much more credibility. You see where I am going with this? By the way, where are you thinking of applying? Best of luck. I may return if I see additional things that need fixing.