Good morning everyone! I am posting my statement of purpose essay for review and would welcome your feedback. This SOP needs to be between 250-500 words in length and discuss my academic objectives, career goals, relevant collegiate, professional and community activities, and reasons for pursing the advanced degree through this particular university. Thank you for your help!
My goal is to be a provider of holistic, comprehensive and compassionate primary care to the underserved in California's Central Valley, one of the most impoverished regions in America. My roots in the Central Valley run deep. Having grown up in a loving family that struggled with poverty, I obtained my BSN Summa Cum Laude from Cal State University Fresno, subsequently practicing nursing in my community. These personal, academic and professional experiences have given me first hand knowledge of the impact limited resources have upon health care - specifically upon access to quality, comprehensive care as well as continuity of that care.
As Home Health Liaison for our regional children's hospital, I coordinated care for patients transitioning home with complex infusion therapies. Throughout the process of creating, implementing and coordinating these customized teaching plans, often requiring weeks of preparation, I began identifying the building blocks of continuity of care: excellent assessment, suburb communication both with patients and families as well as between practitioners, comprehensive implementation of interventions and patient education, and formalizing pathways for patient care followup and reassessment. This process was professionally and personally very rewarding. However, it was plagued with cultural, financial, language and educational barriers that made for communication glitches and interrupted continuity of care for my patients. I began visualizing ways to advocate for my patients and improve care continuity, realizing that to effect change most positively I needed to advance my education and professional position.
Pursing a Masters in Nursing/Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN/FNP) degree with national certification will equip me with the education, professional licensure and leadership position from which to best advocate for and improve continuity of care for those least able to advocate for themselves. Specifically, advancing my education at XXX University online family nurse practitioner program will provide the global perspective, rigorous didactic learning environment as well as exposure to fresh approaches to health care delivery from which I can draw upon as I impact patient care in the Central Valley of California. From my perspective, it is imperative for me to obtain my advanced degree outside my current community in order to bring new eyes to old problems our Valley continues to face. I would be honored to partner with George Washington University in the educational 'give and take' implicit within the online, cohort format, offering my experiences as a source of insight and, perhaps, inspiration to my fellow students.
Two recent experiences continue to shape to my goal of being a primary care access point as well as an advocate of improved continuity of care. A trip to remote Kenya in June 2011, opened my eyes to the joys of offering health care to those in developing countries. And my current experiences as a volunteer nurse at Holy Cross Clinic, a homeless shelter-based primary care clinic, highlight the deep need for holistic health care advocacy for the most disenfranchised in my community. The entirety of my personal, academic, professional and clinical experiences compels me to pursue an advanced practice degree so that I will be equipped with the degree, licensure, and educational platform from which to advocate for and serve my community.
Thank you for your consideration.
