Personal Narrative: My Future In Medicine At Cedars-Sinai

“Americans can take come pride in the fact that attaining what the medical profession calls “cultural competency” is a goal of most health care institutions. However, achieving this goal in today’s health care environment, filled with diverse patient and provider populations, is no easy task. American hospitals are increasingly being staffed by and serving diverse populations. This creates the ideal breeding ground for conflict and misunderstanding among the staff and inferior patient care” (Galanti, 2011). To gain a more thorough understanding of this concept, I will be giving four examples or viewpoints that are completely different, when looking at the Hispanic belief against the Native American point of view.

Studying to be a physician requires lots of effort and time. To an immigrant like me, I tried to manage my studies, volunteer work, and adjusting to a new culture at the same time. I like to stick with my plans, and it has always been my plan to enter medical school on 2018. However, my road to entering medical school didn’t come as easy to me. After transferring to University, two of my close family passed away.

I was never a kid that knew who I would become when I grow up. My interests ranged from wanting to become an interior designer to having a strong desire of becoming a pilot. I was often surrounded by healthcare professionals but I never imagined myself striving to become one. Little did I know that I would end up at a stage in my life where I would be sure about pursuing a career in healthcare. Although I have decided on my career path, I have yet to discover a particular field within healthcare that grabs my interest. The RA Internship will help me learn more about medicine and help me find a right field of study through clinical research experience and monthly lectures offered to me as an intern. Though this opportunity I will be able to

Mercy Medical Center is where it all started. On August 4th, 2004, 6:47 p.m. I was born. My name all started as a simple idea 4 years before I was even born. It originated from an American singer-songwriter Shannon Hoon, the lead vocalist of Blind Melon. Eventually, Shannon had a daughter, and named her Nico Blue. My mom liked the name and decided she would name her first child that. Though my first name isn’t actually Nico, it’s Nicolynn. She added her middle name to the first half, leaving me with no middle name.

Recent reports have noted that the racial/ethnic composition of our nation is projected to transmute drastically in the coming decades. Given this information, it is ergo consequential that our nation’s health professions amend their efforts to provide culturally competent care to all patients. My contribution to advancing diversity in the medical field includes expecting volunteering opportunities where I was not in the majority, but where I was the minority. You will note that throughout my years of giving back, I have always served in areas were I could reduce health-care disparities and/or serve in underserved communities.

A significant volunteer experience that augmented my leadership skills and expanded my understanding of medicine was at the Honolulu Harbor Medical Clinic sponsored by the Seafarer’s Ministry. The Seafarer’s Ministry provides spiritual, emotional, and social support for the undocumented foreign fishermen docked at Honolulu Harbor. The clinic began with few volunteers and two doctors who provided medical care to undocumented foreign fishermen from a box of supplies out of a truck. This expanded my capacity to understanding, to humbly accept circumstances and encouraged me to practice medicine with culturally sensitivity.

Dr. Nelson, the general practitioner for whom I volunteered for two and a half years, had always told me that the desire to become a doctor must come from deep within. In his office, I took patients’ vital signs and helped them feel more comfortable. I also spent a significant amount of time with Dr. Nelson learning about the physician’s role. He became my mentor. I learned of

After volunteering and interning at the clinic for a couple of years, I knew how the clinic created an impact on the Spanish-speaking community of the Triangle. With an ever-growing Hispanic population in the United States, CELAH provides care to accommodate the increasing demand of Spanish-speaking medical providers. And since CELAH is a part of a teaching hospital and is connected to a university, CELAH opened its doors to student volunteers. Right around the five-year anniversary of the clinic’s opening, I joined as a student volunteer. In the beginning, it was routine work

The underserved communities in the United States are victimized and discriminated against when it comes to the provision of proper medical health care majorly because of their ethnicity and immigrant statuses. Individuals from these communities often live in marginalized areas where health care is not easily accessible because of poor infrastructure. In addition, most of the immigrants and the marginalized minority groups that include Latino’s and African Americans are uninsured making access to proper medical services impossible. Nonetheless, the Nurse Corps has been at the center of providing care to the underserved communities by meeting their medical and non-medical needs. Given the opportunity to serve as a member of the distinguished Nurse Corps, I will find ways to interact and connect with my patients so that I am able to fully understand their backgrounds and hence initiate the proper treatment.

Today in clinical, I offered a male patient to perform a full bed bath. It was my first time performing a full bed bath on a male and the thought of this made me feel a little nervous because I had only practiced this task in the simulation lab and the thought of performing peri-care on the male gender was intimidating. I began to gather my items and throughly think about how I would normally perform a bed bath on a female and the difference of genital areas. As I brought the items into the room, my patient was friendly and helpful in directing his preferences of which areas he wanted to be washed first. His friendly personality made me calm down in a situation where I would normally be on my toes, as I was not thinking about my

In the summer of 2010, I made a journey, a scary one, a novel one, that took me to Yale School of Medicine to participate in the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program. Hailing from Miami, Florida, I settled in New Haven, and learned, in what now feels like a fleeting 10 weeks, that the ache of homesickness can be tempered by the joy that pervaded the halls of my dormitory. As I saw how countless people, differing in - creed, nationality, gender, socio-economic status - migrated to this institution. It highlighted that there is a common thread that is essential to each and every one of us. That that common thread can take a girl from Eritrea, one from Colombia, and one form Nigeria, and forge common ground. I saw during those illuminating

The ideology of following your every whim may seem romantic to some youth in their philosophy of this inherited world, but it is impractical. Truth be told, 13 years of medical training and $419,738 of student debt (according to CBS News) does not ensure you a position as a doctor. Perhaps, instead of pursuing your dream job as a surgeon at the nation’s number one facility, you consider assisting Doctors Without Borders, a noteworthy cause. Driven by the longing to solve existing problems will help you to realize where your true passion lies. Many

The decision to apply to medical school was not taken lightly. I knew that medical school would require a huge commitment of my time and energy. Therefore, before applying to medical school, I knew that I needed to prove both to myself and to the committees that would be reviewing my application that I had what it takes no not only survive, but to excel in medical school. Therefore, while continuing to work around 50 hours per week, I returned to school with a full-time load, and prepared myself for the MCAT – all in a period of about 6 months. This was one of the most mentally and physically exhausting periods of my life, but the tools I developed to spend my time both wisely and efficiently helped me stay organized. My passion for the coursework

This week I had rotation at Genesis and also Cumberland Hall. Genesis was very different that what I expected. When I think of a “rehab” I think of people all sitting around with major withdrawal symptoms, a very strict schedule, multiple one-on-one session, and with no smoke breaks. At Genesis, throughout the day the client was able to do their own thing until the scheduled group session and smoke breaks. I was placed on the male unit and I was very surprise of the self-awareness that I experienced. Just listening men talk and tell their stories brought on a whole new prospective and quickly changed the image of the addict stereotype. While I was there we also established that all the clients was first timers and all fathers, and afterwards I was able to sit and think about how grateful I am to have my father who’s not an addict. I have had the luxury of always having a clean and sober father; which I had taking for granted.

My biggest challenges to applying to medical school came from finding a balance between working to afford school and having enough time to study as well as coping with the fact that my parents moved to Germany and I wouldn't be able to afford to see them. These two problems on top of the normal stress of starting college took a toll on my first year and a half and is something that I'm reminded of every time I look at my grades from those semesters. During this time what helped me the most was my determination and my willingness to seek help when I needed it. I have never been one to take defeat and I refused to let these set backs keep me from trying to achieve my dreams. While overcoming these challenges have not been easy I'm grateful for