I want to empower my patients to take control over their health; the best way for me to accomplish that is to remain in direct and prolonged contact with the same patients over time as their primary care physician. My own life and my teaching experience equip me with the tools and passion to care for patients over a lifetime through primary care.
My parents, both remarried, each struggle to find quality primary care providers in their communities; my mother is Mexican-American and my father lives in rural Appalachia. Having lived with each parent at different times in my life, I have experienced these difficulties in accessing affordable care firsthand. These hardships fuel my dedication to bring quality medical services as a primary care
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After college, I taught in my hometown at an inner city high school where I fell in love with the vocation. Through primary care, I can couple my passion for teaching and my excitement to heal. Other specialties, like surgery, although rewarding in their technical difficulty, would not provide me the direct and prolonged relationship building that I valued as a teacher. As an educator, in order for my students to trust in their own abilities, I had to prove each day that I was invested in their learning and success. I consistently showed up for them when few other adults in their lives had. Building that trust helped them to believe in themselves and in their future. They were empowered. Primary care will allow me to build similar relationships with my patients; I can strengthen their pride in their health through consistently investing in their wellness over time. This emphasis on relationship-building makes primary care so different from other specialties. I absolutely love that I am not in full control of the patient as a primary care doctor. I must constantly prove my value and trustworthiness as a healer to my community and build relationships in order to work with patients toward their wellness. Just as I prized teaching for being student-centered through relationship building, I am excited for a patient and community-centered career in primary …show more content…
Having grown up without access to affordable healthcare, I am dedicated to returning to underserved communities like my own to help others as a primary care physician. Raised in a dual-culture life, coming from both the Hispanic and Appalachian communities, I understand how difficult it can be to find affordable quality healthcare. I recognize that my future patients may similarly hesitate to visit a physician due to reasons including language barriers, finances, immigration status, lack of coverage, and lack of geographic access. I will use the skills I gained as an educator, as well as my personal hardships, to find creative ways to dismantle these complex structural barriers for marginalized populations. The longer I am in the educational and medical systems, the more I understand why so few are able to make this same commitment to primary care. I am sincerely, personally, and deeply devoted to this area of practice, and that is why I am asking for you to support my pursuit of these
Though my primary goal is to ameliorate my leadership skills, there are many reasons for my wanting to become a member of the National Honor Society. Not only would my membership appeal to colleges to whom I may be applying to, it would challenge me in such a way as to further develop valuable life skills, such as responsibility and character. Any collective efforts or activities made would allow me to build teamwork capabilities, hone project management aptitude, and make friends. My acceptance into the NHS would also guarantee future access to applications for the NHS Scholarship Program, which will financially aid me in entering the college of my choice.
It is well known that the United States is made up of several different cultures and the health care system delivers care to a very diverse population. However, depending on ones culture-receiving care may be a challenge at times. In this paper we are going to take a closer look at the culture of Hispanic Americans. The Hispanic population has grown to over 55 million residents with in the United States in 2015, with an estimated growth rate of 2.1% per year (Krogstad & Lopez, 2015). Making this minority group on of the fastest growing populations within the United States (DeNisco & Barker, 2016).
Having succeeded in the pursuit of my DMD as one of the top students in my class both clinically and didactically, my immediate goal was to broaden my horizons in understanding dental medicine. This understanding encompassed the multifaceted and dynamic collaboration of specialties- both of which share the goal of comprehending biomechanics concerning maxillofacial complexion and the proper treatment of various malfunctions.
Not only do I have a good understanding of the patient population I want to work with, I want to help reshape healthcare. I particularly want to improve the access of primary care to medically underserved populations. Everyone deserves equal access to healthcare and there should be no disparity in the quality of care provided. Therefore, each additional encounter I had with a PA or a patient has elevated my passion for helping people in need.
Unlike a school guidance counselor, the relationship built with a primary care doctor starts at a young age in-part due to school mandated annual physicals. There are many people in the city that share my background, but do not have the same support system. This is especially important in single parent households where resources and social capital are limited. Those precious moments are times to show that you care and are invested in their future. Health care is a lifelong necessity and right for all communities. I want young people to be there for themselves and ultimately for their future families.
It is incredible the change that can come with proper education on management for chronic illnesses. As an emergency nurse, we see patients who come to us when those steps have failed. It is frustrating to see patients deteriorate when a healthy, full life is possible if appropriate steps are taken earlier. Education has provided me this privilege to serve and educate my community as a nurse over the last two years. I am certain advancing my education will allow me the opportunity to assist in the continuing positive changes for the people of my
Financial barriers to access health care are common in a low-income family when they are uninsured or underinsured. Many uninsured and undocumented immigrant received federal and state health care coverage. Latinos and African American are the ethnicities that are disproportionally get affected. Limited access to a doctor when they are sick, taking non-prescribed medication and holding off recommended treatment is only some of the problems they encountered (Carrillo et al., 2011).
In a perfect world, race, ethnicity and culture would have no negative effect on the medical care we receive, yet problems do arise and it affects the quality of care the patient receives. Language barrier, poor socioeconomic status, and poor health literacy also contribute to health care disparity. For Lia, it was more than her skin color, it was all of the above, her parents did not speak English and they were illiterate. They had trouble understanding the American healthcare system, had trouble or little interest in adjusting to or understanding the American culture. They didn’t work, which in addition to cross cultural misunderstanding, helped contribute to animosity between the Hmong and the host community, because some in the Merced area did not like or appreciate the fact that some Hmong did not work and relied on welfare to make ends meet. All these factors, contributed to the poor quality of
Health care is one of the most controversial and discussed topics in the United States. This is mainly because of the enormous issues that surround this subject matter, such as the goal of creating a greater diversity in the medical professions, the goal to reduce health care disparities, and mainly to improve health care for all. In my personal experience this issues have affected me and my family very closely. As immigrants, I saw my parents struggle with the language, adapting to a new culture and even seeking healthcare. Health care disparities is an imminent issue that affects many of us, including me. On top of the financial struggle my parents faced as immigrants, they also faced the barrier of not being understood. I witnessed how my
Primary care access is a growing concern for all Americans and the reason behind this concern is an imbalance between demand for care and capacity to provide care. Demand is growing as the population expands, ages, and faces chronic illnesses and the capacity is shrinking as the ration of primary care clinicians to population drops (Ghorob & Bodenheimer, 2012). A primary goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to improve access to quality health care for uninsured Americans, largely through public and private insurance expansions (Polsky et al, 2015). At the same time, the architects of the law recognized the need to increase the availability of primary care providers to meet the increased demand for health care (Pg. 538, 2015).
Within the United States some populations groups face greater challenges then the general public with being able to access needed health care services in a timely fashion. These populations are at a greater risk for poor physical, psychological, and social health. The correct term would be underserved populations or medically disadvantaged. They are at a disadvantaged for many reason such as socioeconomic status, health, and geographic conditions. Within these groups are the racial and ethnic minorities, uninsured children, women, rural area residents, mentally ill, chronic illness and the disabled. These groups experience greater barriers in access to care, financing of care, and cultural acceptance. Addressing these
I have had a passion for becoming a healthcare provider for children for quite a while (for a long time). Children are one of the most important individuals of society because they are the future and will one day be in charge of the world. Their health at a young age is indicative to how their health will be as adults. Childhood has a great effect on how a person turns out to be so I hope to help children I hope to use prevention and education to preserve and restore the health of my patients. My career goals are to prevent children from having to spend time in hospitals or in pain and to help them live out their life and dreams to the fullest extent. Children play a very large role in their families, and when a child becomes sick, the whole family becomes distressed. Pediatricians not only heal children, but they help and prevent a family from suffering. I love medicine and children, and I hope to combine these two passions by becoming a pediatrician.
The Affordable Care Act set forth millions of dollars to address the problems and concerns that are associated with existing physicians shortages. The Affordable Care Act also has provisions that are aimed to improve the education, ongoing training as well as to help with the recruitment of nursing, physicians, doctors as well as other health care personnel. In addition, there are provisions in place that help to increase workforces’ cultural competency, enhance faculty training of healthcare professionals, and diversity. The provisions also play a vital role because of the fact they are put into place to examine innovative reimbursement and care delivery models that highlight primary care services value and offer in improvement in the patient care coordination.
Developing long-term relationships with patients is what I’m looking forward to as a Family Physician. Through my experiences as a medical student, intern, hospital volunteer, and observer, my most enjoyable moments are those spent listening to the patient. I have learned that communication, empathy and good listening skills, attributes
I’m interested in the medical field; cardiology and/or a General GP practitioner. A cardiologist is a doctor with special training in the act of finding, treating as well as preventing diseases associated with the heart and or blood vessels. A GP is a general practitioner who does not specialise in a particular area in medicine. General Practitioners provide routine health care and assessment of illnesses and injuries.