Personal Statement
It is a fact that we have a longer life expectancy than ever before. This has been achieved through years of thorough research, technological development, and most importantly resilient individuals. Doctors are constantly faced with different enigmas with no right or wrong answer. What first attracted me toward medicine was the desire to help and support, in particular, disadvantaged people. Coming from a country with an underdeveloped health care system has made me realised the impact it has on people’s life.
As described by Dr. Atul Gawande in his book Complications, medicine “is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge… fallible individuals” making medicine different from other scientific fields
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This role does not only allow me to shadow doctors while they engage with patients, providing an opportunity to gain invaluable information and advises. This role requires most of my attention towards patients’ needs, which helps to establish a professional relationship and understand what they expect a doctor to be: caring and sensitive but decisive. As English is not my first language, my bilingual skills give me a chance to help some patients through being a translator. It is not the dream job anyone imagines, hours of sleepless shifts, tremendous responsibility with no room for errors as dealing with fragile lives and not products. This only further strengthens my decision to pursue medicine. What I most admire is how empathetic a doctor can be yet unaffected during a critical situation. It is more than just a skill; it is a talent.
I do not only commit to volunteering work because it allows me to broaden my skills range but because it means I can make a difference to other people, even if by a little. I have been exposed to different people while helping out at the British Heart Foundation. However, the most exciting charity work has been ‘A rose for a life’. A fundraising event organised by me for the Great Ormond Children Hospital by selling roses. Through this project, many of my skills were tested, such as teamwork, leadership skills, time management but most importantly
“Working in a Hospital everyday is a new situation, so it keeps you on your feet.You don’t know what type of patient you may come across everyday.You interact with patients daily and give them their medication a certain time according to the medication. Other tasks involve you giving the patient's chart to the doctors. Sometimes when I go with the doctors on their rounds, i have the opportunity to counsel the patients about recommended course of
According to the Institute of Medicine, “At least 44,000 people, and perhaps as many as 98,000 people, die in hospitals each year as a result of medical errors” (Kohn et al.). Despite the unfortunate consequences, medical errors provide an important foundation for medicine. An immense uncertainty envelopes the medical field, and frequent leaps must be made. Some of these ventures are prosperous; however, many render unsuccessful. In Complications, Atul Gawande crafts an alluring view of the medical unknown using tales of his personal medical mistakes. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, Atul Gawande argues that medicine’s vast uncertainty has beneficial influence upon society.
They serve as pillars of wisdom and guidance while exhibiting communication adroitness with care teams and patients to engineer top-notch medical care. To maintain high standards, effective medical professionals are constantly taking in new information through continuing education, placing providers at the pinnacle of knowledge. Moreover, physicians require affective aptitude as they must convey empathy during patient interactions. All these attributes draw me to seek the personal challenge and resulting responsibilities that are demanded. I desire to become an important contribution to society in a field I am passionate
Atul Gawande in his article “When the Doctor Makes Mistakes” exposes the mystery, uncertainty and fallibility of medicine in true stories that involve real patients. In a society where attorneys protect hospitals and physicians from zealous trials from clients following medical errors, doctors make mistakes is a testimony that Gawande a representative of other doctors speak openly about failures within the medical fields. In this article, Gawande exposes those errors with an intention of showing the entire society and specifically those within the medicine field that when errors are hidden, learning is squelched and those within the system are provided with an opportunity to continue committing the same errors. What you find when you critically analyse Gawande, “When Doctors Make Mistakes essay is how messy and uncertain medicine turns out to be. Throughout the entire article you experience the havoc within the medicine field as the inexperienced doctor misapplies a central line in a patient.
I quickly recognized I wanted to practice medicine as part of a team and under supervision. However, I still desired sufficient independence with extensive and in-depth training. With this in mind, I began forming opinions about the various careers in healthcare until I came across the PA profession. By shadowing Araya, a PA, at a clinic, I observed how she provided sensitive and comprehensive care to the patients. She took time to explain to the patients their diagnoses in a warm, personable,and comforting attitude, which were all personality traits that I possess. I was extremely pleased of the lengths the PA went to in order to make the patient feel included and taken care of. Prior to this experience, I knew I wanted to construct strong relationships with my future patients and understand and treat patients as a whole. Not only was this palpable within the care Araya provided to her patients, but I now have the opportunity to build relationships with patients as a healthcare volunteer at Jamati Clinic by listening attentively to their main concerns as well as their outlook on their
In the 1900’s, an individual could expect to live on average of 49.2 years; by 2001 an average of 76.9 years (Rice and Fineman, 2004). This increase in life expectancy resulted from the reduction of infant mortality as well as the declining death rates from chronic diseases (Rice and Fineman, 2004). Improvements of living conditions, lifestyles, technology and pharmaceuticals are what to thank for this decrease in deaths from chronic diseases, however, it comes with a price (Rice and Fineman, 2004). With an increase in life expectancy comes an extension of living with chronic diseases which has coined the phrase “the failures of success” (Rice and Fineman, 2004, p. 462). Canadians have more complex medical
I am drawn to family medicine by this same appreciation for humanism that is evident to me among practitioners in this field. I am similarly motivated and excited by the intellectual challenges, scope, and meaningfulness offered by a career in family medicine. I strive to join a residency program that will provide rigorous clinical training among a diverse patient population while offering extensive resident responsibility for patient care. I believe that a family medicine residency program will inspire me to excel and arm me with the tools I need to achieve my future goals. Upon completion of residency, I aim to devote myself to serving the underserved while dedicating time to conducting research and participating in community and medical
the beginning but their careers did not attract me. Their involvement with the patient was
I come from a small rural town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. My hometown is split down the middle by a set of railroad tracks. On the north side, one can find pristine neighborhoods, newer schools, most doctors’ offices, and the only hospital in town. The south side of the town stands as a stark contrast. On the south side, you no longer find the wealthy neighborhoods but rather dilapidated and condemned homes and housing projects. One seems to find abandoned buildings on every corner, many inhabited by those that have lost their homes. Limited help is coming for those who need it, mostly through churches and volunteer programs targeting the underserved. Many doctors, dentists, and nurses are giving their time and resources to help
A physician must be well rounded in a variety of fields to provide effective care. First, an interest in learning scientific knowledge must be accompanied by the ability to translate that knowledge into methods of treatment. Because science is constantly changing and improving, a physician should be continuously expanding their scientific learning within and outside of their respective fields. Most of the coursework that I have taken reflects my interest in the intersection between biomedical science and its applications through an anthropological lens. For example, I have performed public
Samuel Hahnemann once said “The physician's highest calling, his only calling, is to make sick people healthy to heal, as it is termed.” Over multiple years of being posed the question “What do you want to be when you grow up? I have come to the conclusion that I want to become a physician or at least I think I do. Who wouldn’t want to help save lives? As a physician, I am presented with the opportunity to help better communities all around the world for the rest of my life. I always wanted to try to make a difference that people would appreciate. As I researched this profession, I discovered that because of physicians and their ability to use medical science, the life expectancy in the United States has more than doubled between 1990-2013
their illness. It is important that they feel they are not alone while they are in the hospital.
The more that we study the human body and learn more about it the greater our medical knowledge will become. Furthering the education of health and medicine benefits everyone. Without continuing the education of the human body the less we will accomplish. 100 years into the future medication will be a thing of the past. That’s why it’s important to learn about how the advancement of medicine, surgery, and technology have benefited our culture. Soon we will be able to say that we have the cure to alzheimer's, cancer, and
For as long as I could remember, I have seen my father rushing to the hospital in a white coat, answering pagers in the middle of important family conversations and attending night calls even in the most terrible weather. I had always wondered; what could be so important that it belittles every other responsibility in his life. It was only after many years of anguish and protests that it finally made sense to me. This defining moment of realization occurred when I first met a patient in his office. I saw how the gratitude in the patient’s eyes can provide a sense of fulfillment that triumphs all other feelings in the universe. It was human life that was most important. Being a doctor does not make you a mere healer but also gives you the responsibility of a caregiver. I had never felt more proud of my father and that was the day I felt the urge to relive this feeling many times over. It was there in that moment that I decided to pursue a career in medicine.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. “ Those words, spoken by Confucius, represent the goal of not only mine, but many others when it comes to finding your true calling. The voyage to find your purpose in life can be quite difficult. Often times this journey proves too challenging and forces an individual to give up all together and instead settle for something easier to obtain and inferior to their original goal. This can commonly lead to feelings of unfulfillment and regret in the choices you have made. It’s not until you find your true calling that you go from thinking about your job as something that you have to do to something that you love doing.