"Please describe your motivation towards becoming a physician assistant" 5000 character max.
Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!!
When I was eight years old sitting in Boston Children's Hospital, I said to my mother, "Mom, I want to work in the medical field because I know how it feels to be sick and want to feel better." This mindset has always stayed with me. After researching different positions in the medical field growing up, I finally decided in college that being a physician assistant (PA) would be the perfect fit for me. My demanding schedule throughout college, service as a Peace Corps volunteer, and firsthand experience of the health care field in a third world country, have all served as motivators to enter the PA profession. These steps cultivated the path I needed to endeavor in order to become a successful physician assistant one day.
During college, my time was occupied with cross country practices twice a day, traveling to competitions on the weekends, working up to three jobs at a time, shadowing an orthopedic PA, and maintaining a 3.96 GPA all while graduating a semester early. I possessed the skills I thought I needed to become a PA - excelling in academics, the drive to work long hours, and having the sedulity towards achieving my goals. I was encased in a bubble of solely academics, my running career, and work. However, a key component I was missing - real life experiences - was found in Guatemala.
Four months after graduating college, I boarded the plane, ready to begin my two year service in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer. My initial partisanship of being a PA rather than any other medical profession was espoused with the idea of mobility of specialties, serving as a key contributor to the overall productivity of the clinic, and freeing the physician to attend to more complex cases. However, during my Peace Corps service I have realized being a PA is so much more than these rudimentary descriptions. When passion is rooted from experience the PA can serve as a liaison between the underserved populations and the medical attention they deserve.
The past year I have been working in rural villages in the Western Highlands of Guatemala as a preventative health technician. Every morning I begin my day in the health center and later go out to the villages to teach preventative health through the use of Health Promoter groups, HIV workshops, and home visits. I am in constant interaction with medically underserved families, teaching them as much as I possibly can so that they can improve their lifestyles. However, as important as the preventative health aspect is, I continue to lack skill and knowledge to cure.
I recognize my yearning for knowledge every time I work in the regional hospital's pediatric orthopedic and malnourished wards. Each week I witness situations and hear stories that could tug at anyone's emotions. However, the most I can do right now is continue teaching preventative health and giving emotional support to these children and their families. When I hold a three year old child whose bones I can feel through his gurney and who has not learned to walk yet, the only thing I can offer is strong words of encouragement. The inability to provide more care has created a burgeoning pain in my heart that has augmented my zeal to become a PA. I hope that as a PA I will be able to provide the complete basic care to such families including both the preventative and curative forms. Each patient, family member, and visit to the villages continues to kindle the fire that has continuously been growing in my heart to make my dream of becoming a PA a reality.
Often times I feel as though I have gained more from this Peace Corps experience than I have given. The situations in which my neighbors and friends undergo daily as part of their ordinary lives constantly give me the motivation to address the medically underserved population and the care they deserve. After all, the physician assistant occupation was founded on this principal: to serve the medically underserved. The experiences I have accrued throughout college and during my Peace Corps service have been not only motivators to enter the PA profession but have also contributed to the attributes I believe will one day allow me to become an extraordinary PA.
Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance!!
When I was eight years old sitting in Boston Children's Hospital, I said to my mother, "Mom, I want to work in the medical field because I know how it feels to be sick and want to feel better." This mindset has always stayed with me. After researching different positions in the medical field growing up, I finally decided in college that being a physician assistant (PA) would be the perfect fit for me. My demanding schedule throughout college, service as a Peace Corps volunteer, and firsthand experience of the health care field in a third world country, have all served as motivators to enter the PA profession. These steps cultivated the path I needed to endeavor in order to become a successful physician assistant one day.
During college, my time was occupied with cross country practices twice a day, traveling to competitions on the weekends, working up to three jobs at a time, shadowing an orthopedic PA, and maintaining a 3.96 GPA all while graduating a semester early. I possessed the skills I thought I needed to become a PA - excelling in academics, the drive to work long hours, and having the sedulity towards achieving my goals. I was encased in a bubble of solely academics, my running career, and work. However, a key component I was missing - real life experiences - was found in Guatemala.
Four months after graduating college, I boarded the plane, ready to begin my two year service in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer. My initial partisanship of being a PA rather than any other medical profession was espoused with the idea of mobility of specialties, serving as a key contributor to the overall productivity of the clinic, and freeing the physician to attend to more complex cases. However, during my Peace Corps service I have realized being a PA is so much more than these rudimentary descriptions. When passion is rooted from experience the PA can serve as a liaison between the underserved populations and the medical attention they deserve.
The past year I have been working in rural villages in the Western Highlands of Guatemala as a preventative health technician. Every morning I begin my day in the health center and later go out to the villages to teach preventative health through the use of Health Promoter groups, HIV workshops, and home visits. I am in constant interaction with medically underserved families, teaching them as much as I possibly can so that they can improve their lifestyles. However, as important as the preventative health aspect is, I continue to lack skill and knowledge to cure.
I recognize my yearning for knowledge every time I work in the regional hospital's pediatric orthopedic and malnourished wards. Each week I witness situations and hear stories that could tug at anyone's emotions. However, the most I can do right now is continue teaching preventative health and giving emotional support to these children and their families. When I hold a three year old child whose bones I can feel through his gurney and who has not learned to walk yet, the only thing I can offer is strong words of encouragement. The inability to provide more care has created a burgeoning pain in my heart that has augmented my zeal to become a PA. I hope that as a PA I will be able to provide the complete basic care to such families including both the preventative and curative forms. Each patient, family member, and visit to the villages continues to kindle the fire that has continuously been growing in my heart to make my dream of becoming a PA a reality.
Often times I feel as though I have gained more from this Peace Corps experience than I have given. The situations in which my neighbors and friends undergo daily as part of their ordinary lives constantly give me the motivation to address the medically underserved population and the care they deserve. After all, the physician assistant occupation was founded on this principal: to serve the medically underserved. The experiences I have accrued throughout college and during my Peace Corps service have been not only motivators to enter the PA profession but have also contributed to the attributes I believe will one day allow me to become an extraordinary PA.
