PA Essay

[wrd3.extra.nos]

Here it is my first draft and it may be rough so please help me!

 

As I was preparing to graduate from Surgical Technology school my instructor encouraged me to continue advancing my skills, work ethics, and knowledge beyond the profession of a Certified Surgical Technologist and into an autonomous role of making medical decisions for those in need of care. Mrs. Jirsa instilled within me a strong work ethic, a desire to maximize myself as an individual of significance, and to make a difference in the lives of people that I come into contact with. However, it was not her words alone that catapulted me on a journey of finding my significance in this world but whom she was. Mary Jirsa was a Certified Operating Room Nurse with a BSN, Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army, Operation Desert Storm Veteran, Bronze Star honoree, and answered her call to duty once again when the United States activated the reserve units for the Middle East. Her role as the instructor, position in her profession, and servant of our great nation is what maximized herself as an individual with significance. She lived that significance up until the end of her life at the age of 46 to an aggressive cancer on October 2, 2005. At the time of receiving the news of my instructor, mentor, and friend’s death I was attending Clear Creek Bible College in Pineville, Kentucky. I was a biblical studies student, working as a Surgical Technologist, and still searching for options to maximize my potential. Due to the nature of her death and my mother’s diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma that year I began to picture and dream of a significant life of practicing medicine.

Moving forward to 2008 and graduation on the horizon from Clear Creek my wife and I began having daily talks about the future Physician Assistant program at LMU. We learned of the news from a friend at church and faculty member of LMU. These talks became deep and passionate conversation pieces with my family, friends, faculty, physicians, and medical staff. Once again I found myself searching for that opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people around me. It is now 2011 and after the encouragement and sacrifice of family and friends I have completed two years of pre-requisites and I am at that moment of opportunity to live a life of hope for others. This opportunity comes by becoming a successful Physician Assistant! Living a life of maximum potential and being a successful Physician Assistant is accomplished through sharing the hope and personal qualities that I possess with individuals that I meet daily.

It is 7:30 a.m. and I have just finished my surgical scrub and I enter O.R. room 5, I grab my gown and gloves, dawn them, and then began another routine of preparing the instruments and necessary items for a procedure known as total knee joint replacement. I used the term routine because for the better part of 12 years experience as a surgical technologist the operating room has been familiar to me as a controlled environment. During my years of service in all surgical services to include emergent cases such as an occasional appendectomy, bowel obstruction, and hip fracture there have always been routine actions that occurred during my role as a member of the surgical team. This routine left me with wanting and needing to do more, to live up to my maximum potential. So I began to think about my role as a caregiver in the field of medicine and how I could expand that role by becoming involved with the patient beyond the mechanics of surgical intervention to the moment the person enters the examination room. My thoughts led me to ask my friend and teacher Dr. Stephen King about the physician- patient relationship and what direction in medicine I should take. Our conversations confirmed to me that I had a strong desire to serve in a medical role of overseeing a person’s quality of life and to see that life improved physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This was exactly the maximum potential opportunity that I was seeking. Along with my new found freedom in knowing what goal was before me I needed HOPE! This hope would serve as my beacon of light to keep the pathway bright and serve as a reminder that one day I would pass this hope along to others.

I quickly realized during my searches for information about the Physician Assistant profession that I had discovered the perfect vehicle for delivering the hope that people needed. A concept that made me believe that this was my vehicle of choice was the idea known as “rural community access.” The concept of providing healthcare to those without it, as I had learned through my research, was going to be my battle cry and hope that I would need to carry me forward in pursuit of such a great profession. In some rural communities, PAs are the only source of medical care and I not only learned this but experienced it. Another aspect of the hope that I would dream about sharing grew out of the latter statement concerning rural areas. During my time at Clear Creek Bible College many students did not have the employment opportunity or insurance benefits that I did and were left to rely on a small campus clinic or trips to the Emergency Room. The clinic was staffed with a Registered Nurse, an assistant, and relied on area physicians to come as primary care givers when they had free time. The typical situation for a student that had come to Clear Creek was one of leaving behind their homes, jobs, and communities for an education in biblical ministries. These students, for the most part, relied on campus jobs, kindness of others, local churches, and the clinic. It was the clinic’s sole mission to provide healthcare to those without it! I became forever touched with a desire to share the hope of quality healthcare through my experiences while at Clear Creek. The opportunity has been discovered and the vehicle of hope provided but what fuels the drive to becoming a successful Physician Assistant?

The fuel to my success as a Physician Assistant hinges upon the personal qualities that I possess and without them, earning mutual trust, confidence, and respect of others, and seeing my life become significant would not be possible. So without reservation I began to make a list of what qualities I understood to be in my possession but refrained from going any further until I was confident that I was being objective in my review of me. I decided to ask my co-workers what they thought were my personal qualities that would make me a successful Physician Assistant. My co-workers believed that I possessed a caring attitude, was dependable for any task, stayed on task, helped others, and was always on time. Many of my co-workers saw a quality about me that I did not realize I possessed and that was being an observant-attention to detail individual. Compassionate was one quality that seemed to be used by all of my co-workers. Last but certainly not least I enjoyed having my co-workers call me a people person and a great communicator. I did so well in the area of quality communication this is what one of my co-workers had to say about me:

You'd be a good PA because you're loud and all of your old osteoporosis patients will be able to hear you. ;-) But besides being loud, you like to talk... and communication is very important with patients. You're observant and pay attention to detail and you have enough experience, both professionally and personally, to be compassionate. The responses that I received only encouraged me and gave me the edge I needed to pursue my journey. However there is one quality that I do want to mention that I believe makes all the other qualities possible and that is persistence. This is because I don’t give up easy and I have a wife and family that have sacrificed much for me to get to this point in my life. They have been persistent! Persistence allows me to investigate, research, and experience trial and error to make things work and succeed in whatever task is at hand. The persistence that I possess allows me to know my job and be the best at what I do. Without persistence I would not spend tireless nights studying to pursue a profession that is demanding and requires a higher degree of responsibility unto others. Possessing the quality of persistence means that I have a quality that will not allow my other qualities to fail. The equipment has been gathered and packaged; the land of opportunity has been discovered, the vehicle is tuned up, and there is no shortage of fuel for the journey. I am anxious to live up to my potential by giving others hope. I am ready to embark on a rooted journey of becoming a successful Physician Assistant

[mktalon]

Did you really put a smiley face in your personal statement?

[taotaox1]

Hahaha. Epic smileyface.... Keep it in there for Instant acceptance to the school of your dreams.

 

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[wrd3.extra.nos]

Thanks for the proof! That smiley face was a direct qoute from a co-worker by e-mail. I will take that out. If that is the only thing you have corrected me on I guess it is a fair essay????

 

Come on let me have it peeps, you would want honest critics too!