Second Draft, suggestions please.

[Henry519]

Hello there everyone, thank you for your time in reading my 2nd draft. Please provide any feedback on this. I am still having a length issues so if anything can be cut or reworded I am all ears. Any and all comments on this are greatly appreciated. I figured I would start with a story to draw people in. Am I missing anything important in my PS? Thank you all again. God bless.

 

My day had begun like any normal morning in the Pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU). I stocked the carts, made my patient/family rounds, removed IVs, and assisted nurses with feeding tube placement and resuturing of central venous lines.. I was told that we would be receiving an admission from the Emergency Department, usually a patient with a cardiac history that has a fever. However, as I returned from taking a patient down to X-ray the unit was in complete disarray. The admission patient was swiftly being intubated and soon after chest compressions began. Tom, the Physician Assistant (PA), was leading the chest compressions and giving the nurses orders while the physician was readying all of the drugs and prepping the Automated External Defibrillator. Once the surgical team responded to the bypass page I sent out they arrived and immediately readied the eleven year-old boy to be placed on bypass. The family was no stranger to heart issues with their son, but the look on their face said otherwise. After letting the surgeons take over, Tom went directly to the family and began explaining what happened and why they were doing what they were, answering any question he could. Their faced seemed a little more at ease than they had previously. During this code, Tom displayed great empathy, therapeutic communication with the family, and professionalism among the nurses and physicians. This is the profession that I wanted to dedicate my life to, that moment reassured me that I was called to be a physician assistant.

My interest in medicine began after fracturing my elbow in seventh grade, consequently requiring surgery. Playing soccer continued to increase my interest in a medical profession as I frequented many hospitals and clinics with broken bones and strained tendons. After healing from my injuries I was consistently grateful and amazed at the ability the medical professionals to get me back to where I was pre-injury. I wanted to be able to help people continue to live their lives as they wanted but in a very tangible way. I began researching the different professions in the health care realm and narrowed it down to physician assistant (PA) or physician.

After graduation I went on a vacation to Utah. Two family friends, one a physician and the other a PA, accompanied the family on this trip. Having visited both doctors and PAs through my own health care I was familiar with both of the professions. I was allowed to hear everything they did and did not like about their profession as well as why those chose the profession that they did. Upon returning home I had decided that the PA profession was more suited to my future goals.

After my trip I began pursuing my future career. I continued volunteering at the hospital in my hometown, I joined the Pre-Physician Assistant Association at the University of Florida, and I took a Certified Nursing Assistant class outside of my college courses and received my certificate all while driving back home nearly every weekend to work my part-time job. I majored in Health Science which allowed me to get a background in health topics and to take my classes down by Shands hospital. Being surrounded by the medical community there continued to assure me that I was making the right decision. I got married two weeks after graduation and immediately began my hunt for a job where I would actively be involved in health care and treatment of patients.

I got my current job in the CVICU a few weeks out of school. I quickly learned how to take vitals, do blood draws, and and how my unit works. Early into my job, staffing issues required the nurses and techs to float to other units such as hemo-oncology and other acute pediatric floors. There I was able to see and experience other procedures and scenarios outside of the cardiovascular realm, like bone marrow draws and chemotherapy. These experiences continued to increase my compassion for the families and knowledge about other medical issues. A PA was present on every unit I visited, allowing me to see how their role fit into the team model of other units.

I have continued to pursue education about my future profession by shadowing other PAs, attending journal club meetings that discuss current medical research, and stepping up to help the unit in anyway that I can. I currently have around 1500 hours working with patients and I am still fulfilled every time I walk a discharged patient out. I know that I am called to be more actively involved in bettering patient’s lives and I know that the PA profession is that way. Through my job and shadowing experiences I have seen the need for critical-thinking medical professionals with empathy for their patients and passion for what they are doing.

With the opportunity to become a PA, I plan to work with critically-ill children in either surgery or intensive care. Ideally, I would work in a family practice to further develop my clinical skills and help serve the under-served areas through medical mission trips. I would then continue my education and expand into surgery or intensive care. I feel that my experiences in the CVICU and shadowing along with my desire to better people's lives through health care, becoming a physician assistant is the profession where I can make a lasting difference to the people in my community and around the world.

 

Thank you!

[Henry519]

Bueller? Bueller? Please y'all, any feedback at all.