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Single Edit One-on-one Service Supplemental Essays
Your success is our passion. (See just some of our 100's of testimonials and comments below). We are ready to help. Our current PA school essay editing service status (5th May 2024): Accepting New Submissions
(Photo: Me circa 1987, just thinking about my future PA School Essay)
- Are you struggling to write your physician assistant personal statement?
- Are you out of ideas, or just need a second opinion?
- Do you want an essay that expresses who you truly are and grabs the reader's attention in the required 5,000-character limit?
We are here to help perfect your PA school essay
I have written countless times on this blog about the importance of your personal statement in the PA school application process. Beyond the well-established metrics (GPA, HCE/PCE hours, requisite coursework, etc.), the personal statement is the most crucial aspect of your application.
This is your time to express yourself, show your creativity, skills, and background, and make a memorable impression in seconds. This will be your only chance, so you must get it right the first time.
For some time, I had been dreaming about starting a physician assistant personal statement collaborative.
A place where PA school applicants like yourself can post their PA school essays and receive honest, constructive feedback followed by an acceptance letter to the PA school of your choice!
I have been reviewing a ton of essays recently, so many in fact that I can no longer do this on my own.
To solve this problem, I have assembled a team of professional writers, editors, and PA school admissions specialists who worked to revise and perfect my PA school application essay.
Beth Eakman has taught college writing and worked as a professional writer and editor since the late 1990s. Her projects have involved a wide range of disciplines and media, from editing technical reports to scriptwriting for the PBS Kids show Super Why! Her writing has appeared in publications including Brain, Child Magazine, New York Family Magazine, and Austin Family Magazine. Beth lives with her family just outside Austin, Texas. She is driven to help each client tell the best version of their story and achieve their dream of becoming a physician assistant.
Deanna Matzen is an author with articles featured in Earth Letter, Health Beats, Northwest Science & Technology, and the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. With an early career in environmental science, she developed a solid foundation in technical writing. Her communication skills were further honed by producing and editing content for a non-profit website, blog, and quarterly journal. Inspired to extend her craft, she obtained a certificate in literary fiction, which she draws on to build vibrant scenes that bring stories to life. Deanna loves working with pre-PAs who are on the cusp of new beginnings to find their unique story and tell it confidently.
Carly Hallman is a professional writer and editor with a B.A. in English Writing and Rhetoric (summa cum laude) from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. She has worked as a curriculum developer, English teacher, and study abroad coordinator in Beijing, China, where she moved in 2011. In college, she was a Gilman Scholar and worked as a staff editor for her university's academic journal. Her first novel, Year of the Goose, was published in 2015, and her first memoir is forthcoming from Little A Books. Her essays and creative writing have appeared in The L.A. Review of Books, The Guardian, LitHub, and Identity Theory, among other publications.
Read more client testimonials or purchase a revision
We Work as a Team
Our team of professional editors is wonderful at cutting out the "fluff" that makes an essay lose focus and sets people over the 5,000-character limit. Their advice is always spot-on.
Sue, Sarah, and Carly are amazingly creative writers who will take your "ordinary" and turn it into entirely extraordinary.
I mean it when I say this service is one-of-a-kind! We have spent countless hours interviewing PA School admissions directors and faculty from across the country to find out exactly what it is they are looking for in your personal statement.
We even wrote a book about it.
To collaborate, we use Google Drive. Google Drive is free, has an intuitive interface with integrated live comments in the sidebar, the ability to have a real-time chat, to collaborate effortlessly, and to compare, revise, or restore revisions on the fly. Google Drive also has an excellent mobile app that will allow you to make edits on the go!
Our team has worked with hundreds of PA school applicants within the Google Drive environment, and we have had enormous success.
The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative
I have set up two options that I hope will offer everyone a chance to participate:
- One-of-a-kind, confidential, paid personal statement review service
- A collaborative, free one (in the comments section)
Private, One-On-One Personal Statement Review Service
If you are interested in the paid service, you may choose your plan below.
The Personal Statement Review Service is:
- Behind closed doors within a private, secure network using Google Drive.
- It is completely interactive, meaning we will be able to provide real-time comments and corrections using the Google Drive interface.
- Telephone consultations are included with all edits above the single edit level. It’s often hard to communicate exactly what you want hundreds of miles away; for this reason, we offer the option to edit right along with us over the telephone while sharing in real-time over Google Drive. This is an option available to all our paid clients who purchase above the single edit level.
- We provide both revision and editing of all essays. What’s the difference? See below
- We will provide feedback, advice, and help with brainstorming and topic creation if you would like.
- We will help with a “final touch-up” before the big day, just in case your essay needs a few minor changes.
Why Choose Our Service?
- It’s not our opinion that matters. We have gone the extra step and personally interviewed PA school administrators from across the US to find out exactly what they think makes a personal statement exceptional.
- We are a team of PAs and professional writers, having worked over ten years with PA school applicants like yourself, providing countless hours of one-on-one editing and revision.
- Our clients receive interviews, and many go on to receive acceptance into their PA School of choice.
Because we always give 100%, we will open the essay collaborative for a limited number of applicants each month and then close this depending on the amount of editing that needs to be done and the time that is available.
Our goal is not quantity but quality. We want only serious applicants who are serious about getting into PA school.
Writing is not a tool like a piece of software but more like how a photograph can capture your mood. It’s more like art. The process of developing a unique, memorable personal statement is time-intensive, and it takes hours to compose, edit, finalize, and personalize an essay.
As Antoinette Bosco once said:
And this is why I am charging for this service. We love helping people find stories that define their lives, and we love helping individuals who have the passion to achieve their dreams. It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when an applicant writes back to tell me they were accepted into PA school.
There is no price tag I can place on this; it’s the feeling we get when we help another human being. It’s just like providing health care. But this takes time.
Interested? Choose your plan below.
Read more client testimonials.
Free Personal Statement Review
Post your essay in the comments section for a free critique
We want to make this opportunity available to everyone who would like help with their essay, and that is why we are offering free, limited feedback on the blog.
You post your essay in the comments section, and you will get our critique. It is that easy. We will try to give feedback to every single person who posts their COMPLETE essay here on this blog post in the comments section.
Also, by posting your comment, we reserve the right to use your essay.
We will provide feedback on essays that are complete and fit the CASPA requirements (View CASPA requirements here). We will not provide feedback on partial essays or review opening or closing statements. Your essay will be on a public platform, which has both its benefits and some obvious drawbacks. The feedback is limited, but we will try to help in any way we can.
Note: Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, I will delete your stuff. Otherwise, have fun, and thanks for adding to the conversation! And this should go without saying: if you feel the need to plagiarize someone else’s content, you do not deserve to go to PA school.
* Also, depending on the time of year, it may take me several weeks to reply!
We love working with PA school applicants, but don't just take our word for it!
How to submit your essay for the paid service
If you are serious and would like to have real, focused, and personalized help writing your personal statement, please choose your level of service and submit your payment below.
After you have submitted your payment, you will be redirected to the submissions page, where you can send us your essay as well as any special instructions. We will contact you immediately upon receipt of your payment and essay so we may begin work right away.
Pricing is as follows:
Choose your plan, then click "Buy Now" to submit your essay, and we will get started right away!
Every purchase includes a FREE digital copy of our new 100-page eBook, How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement, Our 101 PA School Admission Essays e-book, the expert panel audiobook, and companion workbook. This is a $65 value included for free with your purchase.
All credit card payments are processed via PayPal over a secure HTTPS server. Once your payment is processed, you will be immediately redirected back to the essay submission page. There, you will submit your essay along with some biographical info and all suggestions or comments you choose to provide. You will receive immediate confirmation that your essay has been securely transmitted as well as your personal copy of "How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement." Contact [email protected] if you have any questions, comments, or problems - I am available 24/7.
The hourly service includes your original edit and one-on-one time over Google Drive. It is simple to add more time if necessary, but you may be surprised at what a difference just a single edit can make. We find our four-hour service to be the most effective in terms of time for follow-up and full collaboration. We are open to reduced-rate add-ons to suit your individual needs.
Writing and Revision
All writing benefits from rewriting when done well.
When you are in the process of writing a draft of an essay, you should be thinking first about revision, not editing.
What’s the difference?
Revision refers to the substantial changing of text. For example, it may include re-organizing ideas and paragraphs, providing additional examples or information, and rewriting a conclusion for clarity.
Editing, on the other hand, refers to correcting mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
On all submissions, we perform both revision and editing.
How to submit your PA school essay for the FREE editing service
Follow the rules above and get to work below in the comments section. I look forward to reading all your essay submissions.
- Stephen Pasquini PA-C
View all posts in this series
- How to Write the Perfect Physician Assistant School Application Essay
- The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative
- Do You Recognize These 7 Common Mistakes in Your Personal Statement?
- 7 Essays in 7 Days: PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 1, “A PA Changed My Life”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 2, “I Want to Move Towards the Forefront of Patient Care”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 3, “She Smiled, Said “Gracias!” and Gave me a Big Hug”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 4, “I Have Gained so Much Experience by Working With Patients”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 5, “Then Reach, my Son, and Lift Your People up With You”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 6, “That First Day in Surgery was the First Day of the Rest of my Life”
- PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 7, “I Want to Take People From Dying to Living, I Want to Get Them Down From the Cliff.”
- Physician Assistant Personal Statement Workshop: “To say I was an accident-prone child is an understatement”
- 9 Simple Steps to Avoid Silly Spelling and Grammar Goofs in Your PA School Personel Statement
- 5 Tips to Get you Started on Your Personal Essay (and why you should do it now)
- How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement The Book!
- How to Write “Physician Assistant” The Definitive PA Grammar Guide
- 101 PA School Admissions Essays: The Book!
- 5 Things I’ve Learned Going Into My Fourth Physician Assistant Application Cycle
- 7 Tips for Addressing Shortcomings in Your PA School Personal Statement
- The #1 Mistake PRE-PAs Make on Their Personal Statement
- The Ultimate PA School Personal Statement Starter Kit
- The Ultimate Guide to CASPA Character and Space Limits
- 10 Questions Every PA School Personal Statement Must Answer
- 5 PA School Essays That Got These Pre-PAs Accepted Into PA School
- 7 Questions to Ask Yourself While Writing Your PA School Personal Statement
- 101 PA School Applicants Answer: What’s Your Greatest Strength?
- 12 Secrets to Writing an Irresistible PA School Personal Statement
- 7 Rules You Must Follow While Writing Your PA School Essay
- You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely
- What’s Your #1 Personal Statement Struggle?
- 31 (NEW) CASPA PA School Personal Statement Examples
- How to Prepare for Your PA School Interview Day Essay
- Should You Write Physician Associate or Physician Assistant on Your PA School Essay?
- Meet the World’s Sexiest PA School Applicants
- PA School Reapplicants: How to Rewrite Your PA School Essay for Guaranteed Success
- How to Write a Personal Statement Intro that Readers Want to Read
- PA School Reapplicant Personal Statement Checklist
- How to Deal with Bad News in Your Personal Statement
- Inside Out: How to use Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling to Improve your PA Personal Statement
- Ratatouille: A Pixar Recipe for PA School Personal Statement Success
- Personal Statement Panel Review (Replay)
- Mind Mapping: A Tool for Personal Statements, Supplemental Essays, and Interviews
- Start at the End: Advice for your PA School Personal Statement
Claire P says
Hi! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. This is the first draft of my personal statement, and I would like to know if content and grammar wise I am heading in the right direction. I look forward to some suggestions! Thanks so much!
“I will never work in the medical field!” After seemingly countless career fairs and many family members pursuing medical degrees, my 15 year-old self decided that medicine was too academically, chronologically, and emotionally demanding. As an eager to please high school student that had previously coasted through academics, I obediently abided when my teachers urged me to challenge myself with more science classes. Gradually, my interest in biology and chemistry intensified. It is no coincidence that while I was taking a senior college-level biology course in high school my random syncopal episodes began. The first time I fainted while working a Thanksgiving canned food drive – the ground rose up to meet me and my forehead scraped the cold cement. My primary care physician recommended appointments with both a neurologist and a cardiologist. I would need an EKG and a Stress Echo(cardiogram?). The physician assistant could sense my tension as she secured the electrodes to my skin. As she offered a reassuring smile and a thorough explanation of the procedure, my anxiety was assuaged. Numerous appointments and tests later, it was concluded that my remarkably low blood pressure triggered the syncope, and it would continue at random intervals.
Not to be deterred, I embarked on a pre-medical curriculum as a biology major. Every week I looked forward to volunteering in the emergency room of a local hospital, even when the driving time nearly matched the volunteering time as I dutifully commuted over winter break. To further immerse myself in the medical field I began observing both physicians and physician assistants. My interest in pursuing a medical career was solidified as I noted the compassionate bedside manners of the clinicians, a combination of medical expertise and genuine altruism that could restore a sense of hope in vulnerable patients, as it had in me a couple of years prior. I admired the empathetic approach displayed by an emergency room physician assistant as she explained to two daughters that had returned home for Christmas that their mother had suffered a psychotic break. “We’ll get him better,” a physician assistant confidently assured the five worried family members huddled around their patriarch, who had experienced a series of strokes. The expression of sheer relief on the face of the young mother as the pediatric physician assistant explained that the rash on her infant was a common viral infection that would resolve itself was a testament of the weight of this occupation.
There is an almost tangible ability to connect with people on a human level while treating their illness or that of their loved one. The gravity of this responsibility was even more apparent when I witnessed a physician assistant communicate with a patient who had contracted pneumonia secondarily with their terminal leukemia. If actively curing a disease was no longer a viable option, connecting with the patient still was. As I helped Lucille through her bedtime routine, a dementia patient I became acquainted with as I acquired clinical hours for my CNA certification, I experienced this connection firsthand. Though she could no longer dress herself, Lucille thanked me repeatedly for my help, recognizing it as an act of compassion. The smile that illuminated her face when a Johnny Cash song came on during her afternoon recliner-and-records session was evidence that though Lucille’s dementia would continue to progress, she was capable of undiluted joy. That joy was infectious and inspiring. A sense of underlying joy in helping others would propel me through the everyday routine of my career.
The academic rigor of my degree has adequately prepared me for the intensity of a graduate level program, while my interaction with patients has instilled in me a profound desire to improve the quality of life of others. The inherent need to help people that has always defined me can become kinetic through the unique role of a physician assistant. My energy can be converted into action, and my passion into dedicated quality care. In the pursuit of my undergraduate degree, my classes have not merely been part of a checklist, but rather a vehicle to a fulfilling career. Likewise, the prospect of entering a graduate program energizes me. With steadfast preparation and a persistent enthusiasm for serving others, it will soon be my turn to reassure worried patients searching for answers. Their answer will come in the form of a diagnosis and a gentle smile.
Ellen says
This is my final draft and I’d love some feedback! Thank you!
I walked into the room to greet my patient and introduce myself. The first thing to hit me was the smell; a deeply pungent odor that seemed to stick in my nose long after I left. I noticed immediately how disheveled she was. Her skin was pale and blotchy, her nails were overgrown, and her hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in ages. She warmly looked up at me, and her kind smile and bright personality did not match her physical appearance. I knew something was not right. I asked if she’d like a bath and for me to wash her hair. She excitedly agreed. After bathing her I started working on her hair. I quickly realized my attempts at detangling the massive knots were futile. I left the room with tears in my eyes in search of my nurse and managers. I explained the situation; how badly her skin smelled of urine, her bed sores, and her matted hair. I told them that I thought she was being severely neglected.
We ended up having to cut the knots out of her hair, but she was thrilled to be rid of the painful mats and the awful smell. I knew how much better she must have felt. This was one of the first patients I had that made me understand how much I could affect my patient’s lives. She had been passed from nurse to nurse for days without anyone acknowledging or mentioning her dismal state. I know that she was meant to be my patient, and I was meant to be her voice. That day I learned that even though I was “just an aide” I could still bring change, compassion, and love to my patients. It had nothing to do with my job title and everything to do with me and how I chose to act.
When I became a CNA, it was not what I first wanted to do. I had already finished my bachelor’s degree and became a licensed EMT. I had hoped to work in an emergency room or on an ambulance, but life had other plans for me. I found myself reluctantly working on a telemetry unit as an aide. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything important or exciting. I felt as if all of my knowledge and skills were being wasted. But I quickly discovered that countless patients, as well as my coworkers, all had important lessons to teach me. I realized there was a lot I didn’t know. I recognized that I had completely missed the point of the lesson my job was teaching me. Working as an aide humbled me, and I realized I had been given an opportunity to connect with patients in a special and intimate way. I was their advocate; their eyes when they couldn’t see, their ears when they couldn’t hear, their voice when they couldn’t speak. I learned that what was truly important to me was helping others in any way I could.
When I think back on how much I have learned from working as an aide, I realize the most important skill that I sharpened was my love for, and ability to, connect with others in a meaningful way. That special bond that I am entrusted with is what I look forward to most in my job. It lets me know that those I care for trust me, and that I am making a meaningful difference, no matter how small.
When I was in college I had already determined that I wanted to be a physician assistant. It seemed the best fit for me, a profession somewhere between a doctor and a nurse, someone able to spend an adequate amount of time with patients while also possessing the ability to make major health care decisions. My motivator was a strong inclination for education and science and a lifetime of being raised in a medical family. I grew up seeing how my family member’s jobs rewarded not just them, but the individuals they helped and took care of. I’ve listened to countless stories of how my parents had used their medical knowledge to make someone else’s life better and how they had offered support and compassion to their patients. I knew from a young age that I was meant to work in healthcare. I wanted to offer people what my parents offered their patients. But it wasn’t until I worked as a nursing assistant that I identified the true meaning of being a healthcare provider. I finally understood my true and authentic intention. I understood the feeling of caring for someone who trusts you to help them. I understood compassion and empathy for my patients on a first hand basis. And no matter how hard my job got, that feeling my patients gave me kept me coming back for more. But to me, it was never enough, I always left with a feeling of wanting to do more for my patients. I know I have so much to offer others and by becoming a physician assistant I know I can impact my patient’s lives for the better.
Dayra says
Any feedback greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance. Here is my essay:
I am leaning on the back wall of the examining room. In front of me, with their backs to me, sit my parents. Their silence makes the room feel claustrophobic. Finally, Dr. McNamara walks in, followed by a young woman wearing a bright pink scrub top under her pristine white lab coat. The doctor introduces the young woman as PA Smith. The doctor and the PA stand before my parents, with a solemn but kind expression on their faces. My mother has been diagnosed with metastatic invasive ductal carcinoma, which has spread to her axillary lymph nodes, liver, lungs, and two vertebrae. Dr. McNamara draws out the treatment plan on a whiteboard, filling it with drug names that my parents can’t pronounce, and expected side effects that make my mother cringe. The doctor leaves, and PA Smith sits in front of my parents.
“I know you are scared,” PA Smith says, meeting each of our teary gazes. “I won’t waste your time with false hopes, and I won’t lie to you and tell you that it’s all going to be okay. It’s a tough fight, but we will fight alongside you, and I promise you that our team will take care of you as best as they possibly can.”
The candor and compassion in PA Smith’s eyes make the small room feel like a comforting place. I flash back to the day that still makes my heart race with anxiety; the day I told my parents I wanted to become a PA. A determined thought now pushes through the wall of fear and worry in my mind: I made the right choice.
The PA profession, or the knowledge of what a PA is, does not exist in the tiny, rural corner of Ecuador I grew up in. Because of that, it took me a long time to realize that becoming a PA is in fact one of my biggest dreams. I was twelve years old when I moved to the United States, and I didn’t any English, which made middle school extremely difficult for me. However, I persevered, and before I knew it, I was a student at New York University, studying the pre-health curriculum and learning about the human mind and behavior through a psychology major.
When I got to college, my ego took a hard hit. While I had thrived in high school, in college I was just an average student struggling to keep up, but too afraid to ask for help. I lost my focus and my grades suffered. Time and experience have given me the confidence and the maturity I need to succeed now, and I know I can only go up from here because I will continue to work hard.
Though I was unfocused at the time, I did know I wanted a profession that would allow me to help people directly. I started volunteering at Beth Israel Medical Center, and it was there that I finally met a PA for the first time, Courtney. Having never heard the term “physician assistant,” I spent countless hours searching the web for information. The more I read the more I wanted to learn about the profession. Dr. Bernik, the physician I volunteered for, invited me to shadow him and Courtney, both in the office and in the operating room. I admired the unique bond between PA and physician; while Courtney seemed confident in her expertise to care for her patients, Dr. Bernik made it clear that Courtney could count on him for support and advice. I knew then that I wanted to be part of this branch of medicine which encouraged constructive professional relationships, where physician and PA acknowledged they were each other’s right hand.
Every experience listed on my resume was an opportunity that provided me with great tools that are essential in the health care environment, and that will help me on my journey to becoming a PA. Even the experiences that don’t pertain to any health-related field, such as my job at my family’s bar business, are helping me prepare to one day be an outstanding PA; for instance, my interpersonal skills have become much stronger thanks to my job at my family’s bar, where it is essential that I know how to communicate effectively with my costumers and my staff.
I am aware that there is vast room for learning and self-improvement, and that I’ve yet to acquire countless skills that will enable me to help patients, and I dream of doing so by means of a PA education. I used to think that what attracted me most about the PA profession was the flexibility it provides, both in terms of a balance between career and personal life, and in terms of being able to explore various specialties. However, standing in that examining room while PA Smith comforted my parents, I realized that what I admire most about the PA profession is how it serves as a bridge between medical technicalities, which can seem so intimidating to patients, and the distinction that patients are fellow humans in physical and emotional pain, and not just a list of symptoms in a chart.
I am not shy to admit when I lack knowledge in something, and I am no longer afraid to ask for help. My quest to become a PA is the right choice for me, because I want to be that bridge that brings compassion and wisdom together to provide the best possible care to patients.
Dayra says
I made a few changes!! please I need help!
I am leaning against the back wall of the examining room. My parents sit in front of me in a silence so profound that the room feels claustrophobic. Finally, Dr. McNamara walks in, followed by a woman who introduces herself as PA Rozema. The doctor and the PA stand before my parents, with a solemn but kind expression on their faces. My mom has been diagnosed with metastatic invasive ductal carcinoma. Dr. McNamara draws out the treatment plan on a whiteboard, filling it with drug names that my parents can’t even pronounce, and expected side effects that make my mother cringe. The doctor leaves, and PA Rozema sits in front of my parents.
“I know you are scared,” PA Rozema says, meeting each of our teary gazes. “I won’t lie to you and tell you that it’s all going to be okay. It’s a tough fight, but we will fight alongside you, and I promise you that our team will give the very best in them to help you be a survivor.”
The candor and compassion in PA Rozema’s eyes make the small room feel like a comforting place. I flash back to the day that still makes my heart race with anxiety; the day I told my parents I wanted to become a physician assistant. A determined thought now pushes through the wall of fear and worry in my mind: I made the right choice.
The PA profession, or the knowledge of what a PA is, does not exist in the tiny, rural corner of Ecuador I grew up in. Because of that, it took me a long time to realize that becoming a PA is one of my biggest dreams. I was 12 years old when I moved to the United States, and I didn’t speak any English, which made school extremely difficult for me. However, I persevered, and before I knew it, I was a student at New York University, studying the pre-health curriculum and learning about the human mind and behavior through a psychology major.
When I got to college, my ego took a hard hit. While I had thrived in high school, in college I was an average student struggling to keep up, but too afraid to ask for help. I lost my focus and my grades suffered. Time and experience have given me the confidence and the maturity I need to succeed now, and I know I can only go up from here because I will continue to work hard to surpass my own expectations.
Though I was unfocused at the time, I knew I wanted a profession that would allow me to help heal people. After falling in love with my anatomy class at NYU, I knew a healthcare profession would be challenging but rewarding. I decided to investigate this interest further by volunteering at Beth Israel Medical Center, and it was there that I finally met a PA for the first time, Courtney. Having never heard the term “physician assistant,” I spent long hours searching the web for information. Reading about the PA profession wasn’t enough, so when Dr. Bernik, the physician I volunteered for, invited me to shadow him and PA Courtney, both in the office and in the operating room, I was excited to witness a PA in action. I admired the bond between PA and physician; while PA Courtney was confident in her expertise to care for her patients, it was evident that she could count on Dr. Bernik for support and advice. I knew then that I wanted to be a PA, and be part of this branch of medicine which encouraged constructive professional relationships, where physician and PA acknowledged they were each other’s right hand.
Every experience listed on my resume has provided me with tools that are essential in the health care environment, and that will help me on my journey to becoming a PA. Even the experiences that don’t pertain to a health-related field, such as my job at Oasis Bar, are helping me prepare to one day be an outstanding PA. For instance, my interpersonal skills have become much stronger since I started working at Oasis Bar, where it is essential that I know how to communicate effectively with the costumers and the staff.
I am aware that there is vast room for learning and self-improvement, and that I have yet to acquire a myriad of skills that will allow me to help patients heal, and I dream of doing so by means of a PA education. I used to think that what attracted me most about the PA profession was the flexibility it provides, both in terms of a balance between career and personal life, and in terms of being free to explore various specialties. However, standing in that examining room while PA Rozema comforted my parents, I realized that what I admire most about the PA profession is how it serves as a bridge between medical technicalities, which can seem so intimidating to patients, and the humane aspect of medicine, which reminds us that patients are fellow humans in physical and emotional pain, and not just a list of symptoms in a chart.
I am no longer shy to admit when I lack knowledge in anything, and I am no longer afraid to ask for help. My quest to become a PA is the right choice for me, because I want to be that bridge that brings compassion and wisdom together to provide the best possible care to patients.
Caitlin Canote says
I’m about 500 characters over the limit, but this is my first rough draft. Thank you for the opportunity for feedback!
There was 1 minute left in the second quarter as I caught the ball in-bounds. I checked the score board: 20-24 in the other team’s favor. I heard the shouts from my coach on the side line telling us what play to run. As I began down the court, I planted and did a spin move to avoid a defender. I felt a sudden pop and extreme pain in my right knee. I fell to the floor and grabbed my knee, crying out. My coach carried me off the court and called an athletic trainer he knew. I went to a school that housed 140 high school students, so we didn’t have an athletic trainer. I lay on a table in the hallway, beginning to feel relief from the pain. I started to worry. What did I do?
After an MRI confirmed my diagnosis, I was told I completely ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament. I was taken into ACL reconstruction surgery a few weeks later. What was to come was worse than what I experienced before. I had always hoped to play softball in college, but that dream seemed impossible now. I began experiencing feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. I felt like I would never get better and nobody around me cared. After finally returning to about 85% of my ability, I was back to playing summer basketball tournaments. In one of our scrimmages, I drove through the lane and felt a twist in my right knee again. There was pain, but nowhere near what I experienced before. I tried to get up, but couldn’t bear weight secondary to pain. Once again, we called the athletic trainer who recommended we report to the clinic at which she worked. Since we were in a rural area, we had to drive one and a half hours to the clinic where I was told I dislocated my fibular head, preventing any flexion of my knee. I waited on a physician to manipulate it back into place. As I waited, the athletic trainer talked to me about my past injuries. For once, I felt like I was actually being listened to and cared about. My physician was amazing from my first surgery, but he was so busy I felt like I shouldn’t bother him with my feelings. It was so refreshing to feel like someone cared. From that moment forward I wanted to pursue athletic training and possibly physical therapy, to evaluate and rehab injuries, especially a rural area such as the one I grew up in. Having to drive an hour to be evaluated for 5 minutes was not what I wanted future athletes to experience.
After high school, I continued my education at Missouri State, majoring in athletic training. Throughout this program, I had amazing patient contact experience. I acted as a health care provider almost independently. I diagnosed many injuries, referred athletes to providers, developed rehabilitation plans, and assisted in emergency care. I juggled going to clinical 20 hours, working 18 hours, and studying. On top of those stressors, I lost my best friend, my grandpa, to bile duct cancer my freshman year, which reminded me of why I decided to join the health care field: to care and cure.
During my 4 years at Missouri State, I realized that rehabilitation did not spark my interest like I thought it would. I was worried about what I was going to do with my life. After a few mid-college crises…I still had absolutely no idea.
In the program, we were required to complete 15 hours of interprofessional education that was in the form of observation. My sophomore year, I observed an orthopedic physician assistant. I saw a range of patients and injuries. I realized physician assistants were involved in my favorite part of the health care process: evaluation. The physician extender I was observing was with the patient as long as necessary to educate the patient and make him/her feel confident in their care and plan. I compared this to my personal experiences with my ACL injury. The physicians would come in the room, test range of motion, do a Lachman’s, and leave. There wasn’t much time for small talk.
My senior year, I got a job in the emergency department as a scribe. As a scribe, I work alongside physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to aid in documentation. I have gotten to see all in action and compare and contrast each practitioners’ style. My favorite that I have seen is how the physician assistants work. It seems to be a pattern that physician assistants spend more time with the patients than do the physicians. I have seen how it affects the patients when the practitioner takes the time to sit and listen to them. Sometimes, all someone needs is to be listened to.
Deciding I wanted to become a physician assistant has been less of a choice, but more of an experience. I have considered multiple different health care professions, but never felt confident until I began working with and observing PAs. I have practiced as an athletic trainer, but decided I wanted to be more involved in evaluation, and possibly surgery. As a physician assistant, my goal would be to be the practitioner who gives the patient hope he/she will get better. Regardless of what specialty I choose, I want to be the one who gives them confidence in their care and outcomes. I want to make the patient feel like they matter and that my primary purpose is to figure out what is wrong with them and fix it. I want to provide convenient, relatively low-cost care to those who need it, whether it be a 15-year-old girl who has an ACL tear or an 80-year-old man who needs a cardiac work-up. I want to be a physician assistant who can effectively evaluate and treat medical concerns while making patients feel they are genuinely cared for.
Allison says
I have spent the last 5 years involving myself in any type of volunteering, shadowing, and work to surround myself with medicine. Shadowing a veterinarian and physical therapist showed me that I have some interest in everything, but I did not have a passion for them all. What started as a general interest in healthcare out of high school has developed into a passion and a goal of becoming a physician assistant (PA). Starting out in college I was balancing school, varsity, soccer, and work. Too young and immature, I attempted to manage all of these things, not realizing where I needed to cut back. Amidst my sophomore year, I narrowed my interest to a career as a PA and realized that in order to succeed I would have to retire from competitive sports and put academics at the very top of my priority list to avoid any distractions.
It was not until my final semester in college that I found a PA who was able to have a student shadow them. This one interaction spring boarded the next 2 and a half years of my life. This PA worked in the emergency department (ED). After my first day I knew I had found what I wanted to do. This job combined practicing medicine, with mobility across medical specialties, and the ability to spend more time with patients than the doctors were able to. This particular ED used scribes and a few months later I was working for that same scribing company in another local ED thanks to the PA who recommended it.
Working as a scribe provided me with an unimaginable amount of education and direct interaction with doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. I learned about initial assessments, medications, medical decision making, and how the different parts of the hospital staff interacted.
It soon became clear that working on the sidelines could only take me so far in my pursuit of this career. I had never interacted with a patient, let alone touched one. My next step became clear to me. I wanted experience not just watching, but engaging interaction with patients. That is what lead me to become an EMT. While taking my course, I took a job as a patient care representative at a local private practice for chronic pain management. This introduced me to a remarkably different environment. I was doing clerical work, but I got to interact with every patient that walked in the door. I socialized with those who wanted and helped resolve conflicts for others. I was on a first name basis with many as well. Although I was unable to be actively involved in the medicine, I learned a lot about communicating with people, especially those upset and in pain. I also saw how providers interacted with their patients. I loved seeing patients on a continual basis and maintaining relationships with them instead of wondering what happened to them after a single encounter in the ED.
After completing my EMT course I went to work full time as an EMT which is what I currently do. I love what I do. It combines all of the different aspects I enjoyed from my other jobs. I am working in the medical field and also interacting with the patients. I am challenged daily and can always walk away having learned something new. Having direct contact with people has made such a difference. I am becoming confident in my own skills and am creating a basis for what I hope to work off of and add to in PA school. The only piece missing is the follow through. While there are some patients I see again, most of the time once I transfer care to the ED staff, I do not know what happens. I want to be on the other side of the doors, whether that be in the ED, inpatient areas, or in a private practice. It is important to me to know and to be a part of the outcome of my patients. Creating real relationships with them is what I believe is a key part of practicing medicine. No matter how much I learn, if I do not earn my patient’s trust and communicate effectively, the patient will not receive the best care.
While at the time each job felt like there was something missing, together they have provided me a pathway to developing into a healthcare provider. Each job, shadowing experience, and call has taught me something and prepared me for PA school. I look forward to continuing on and taking my next step towards a career as a PA.
Ilana Muller says
I walked into North Florida Rehabilitation and Specialty Care at 2:45 pm just like I would any other day of work. However, this day was different. My nurse supervisor asked me if I would like to do a one-on-one today with a new patient instead of having my normal 8-12 residents. I quickly answered yes because I figured I was up for a new challenge and how difficult could it be with only one resident? Little did I know, I was in for a quite a surprise. I met Rosemary, a cute elderly woman dressed in bright pink sweat pants, who had a grandmotherly sense to her. My supervisor explained to me she had advanced dementia and that it was my job to follow her around to ensure her safety, as our facility wasn’t really equipped for patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
For the next eight hours, I listened to Rosemary talk about her fifteen ill babies whom she needed to take care of, and I gently coaxed her out of other unwelcoming patients’ rooms. The only thing I could do was to immerse myself into Rosemary’s fictional life. We fed her stuffed animals together and I responded when she called me Hannah, because to Rosemary, I was her own granddaughter. By the end of the shift, I was exhausted, but exhilarated, filled with deep compassion for someone who could have been my beloved grandmother.
In the past year, I have learned more from my hands on experience as a Certified Nursing Assistant than I ever have from reading myriads of textbooks. During CNA training you are taught the standardized ways to deal with patients, however, while working in a long term care facility I have realized that the key to being a great caretaker is being able to adapt to new and sometimes unexpected situations, often short of supplies or short of staff. And all the while, summoning up my full measure of empathy for people I have just met.
During my freshman year of college, towards the end of spring break I developed a fever and severe headaches. I went to my family’s doctor in Naples and I saw my most trusted PA. She intuitively diagnosed me with mononucleosis, even though the laboratory results were negative. During that first week, I had a terrifying trip to the emergency room, when my arms and legs were tingling and completely numb. I tried to go back to school a few weeks later, but was admitted to the hospital in Gainesville one day later as my symptoms continued to worsen. Again the mono test was negative so they performed various other tests including a CT Scan and I began to worry that perhaps this was something more severe than mono. The doctors at the hospital were in and out of my room in five minutes because they had more acute patients to deal with. I was sent me home with little comfort. I was so sick at this point that I laid in a hotel room with my mom, unable to even make the four-hour car ride back to our home. When I finally got back to Naples and again went to my PA, she spent a long time listening to my symptoms, asking in detail about the course of the illness over the past month. She reassured me that she still believed it was Mono, albeit the worst case she had ever come across, and decided to do an EBV antibody test instead of the usual Monospot test. The results came back positive and I was so relieved that it was nothing more serious, although my symptoms continued for the next three months, and I sadly had to withdraw from the semester.
After almost four months of rest, I made a full recovery. Even though I missed an entire semester, I was determined to keep up with my fellow classmates. I not only made up my classes going straight through the next two summers, I am now ahead of most of my classmates as I have maintained an excellent GPA, all while working part time to obtain patient care hours.
Having experienced a debilitating illness, myself and seeing the PA-patient interaction from a patient’s perspective has made me realize the breadth of a PA’s contribution including their intelligence and compassion. PAs have the opportunity to spend more quality time with their patients and must sometimes make important decisions on the spot.
Zach H says
I know that this essay is lacking a solid opening statement, but I’m struggling to come up with something appropriate. To begin with a dramatic story feels cliche and I also don’t think I’d have enough characters left to tie it in nicely. Looking forward to your critique!
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At the halfway point of my junior year in college, I realized that chemistry courses were soaking up so many hours of study that it was hampering me in my other courses. Even so, I still underperformed in chemistry. I chose to stop pursuing a minor in chemistry and instead opted to add a major in psychology to go along with my biology major. In order to accomplish this without going to school for an extra semester, I was forced to take 18 and 20 hours in my final two semesters, respectively. Despite the heavy load, I earned a 3.5 GPA my senior year. This newfound work ethic has stuck with me through my EMT class as I was often looked to for guidance by my classmates, as well as in my job as a patient care technician in the ED where I am known as reliable, efficient, and quick to lend a hand.
Directly after graduating from college, I worked as a care giver at a retirement home. I discovered that despite the less-than-glorious tasks I often did, I found such fulfillment from my job. Indeed, helping the helpless is satisfying, but for me it was more than that. Whether through a warm smile or just taking a couple minutes to listen, I was able to spread joy and provide comfort in a place that is lacking in both. After I earned my EMT certification and began working in the emergency department, I found this new environment teeming with people in need of compassion and encouragement (in addition to perhaps a breathing treatment or sutures).
Through my job in the ED, I have enjoyed the opportunity to be involved in such a variety of medical problems, especially working in a Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 1 Stroke Center. I have observed our PA’s aptly handle patients of every acuity level which has reinforced my desire to work in emergency medicine as a physician assistant. However, orthopedics and surgery also appeal to me (I jump at the chance to lend a hand with splinting or suturing), so the ability of a PA to step into a new field with relative ease is extremely attractive to me.
I have been afforded several opportunities to travel to other parts of the world through volunteering, vacation, and studying abroad. I relish the chance to learn about other cultures. During my four weeks in a clinic in Honduras I was humbled by the attitude of those receiving care. The need was so great and the resources meager, yet their extraordinary gratitude left me introspective. My time was mostly spent triaging patients through broken Spanish—which was amazing—though I hope to expand my medical knowledge to take a larger role in serving communities in underserved areas. To be an ambassador for physician assistants internationally is one of my aspirations.
One of my passions is rock climbing. At face value this seems irrelevant, yet there are characteristics of a rock climbing enthusiast that translate well to the diagnostic portion of healthcare. While I would certainly enjoy the sport purely for the rush, the challenge, and the camaraderie, what really draws me is the problem-solving aspect. The process of tackling a difficult route with my friends as we study the rock face is thrilling. Many routes are highly technical and cannot be conquered by strength alone; you have to know just how to distribute your body weight to exploit a tiny hold that an untrained onlooker might balk at. Rock climbing at a high level utilizes incredible analysis skills, and it is incredibly more successful and enjoyable when done with a team. Similarly, to excel as a physician assistant one must analyze critically and appreciate their role within a healthcare team. I believe I would thrive in the role of a physician assistant; I love that PA’s have a great deal of responsibility and autonomy while retaining the support of a physician-led team.
Emily Raley says
I had some difficulty expressing everything I wanted to say within 5000 characters. This is a very rough first draft; I am not sure I am even on the right track. Any helpful insight would be very much appreciated. I thank you in advance!
““Animals in the order Cetacea have these characteristics in common…” I faintly hear from the lecturer through the fog of my mind during my 1-week Working with Marine Mammals summer course. I was elated to finally be taking this course during my junior year of college, thinking it would help me confirm my desire to go into marine mammal veterinary medicine. However, in just the first couple of days I still craved that feeling of belonging I did not get sitting amongst future marine biology researchers and animal trainers.
Coincidentally, during this 1-week course, I was also starting my first days solo working as a scribe in the emergency department (ED) at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. A classmate had related to me about the scribe position she held at the local ED, and it seemed like such an interesting and unique opportunity to get healthcare experience, something I felt could benefit me with my interest in veterinary medicine.
I quickly gained a deep love for the fast-paced environment that is the ED, and medicine in general. When I was interviewed, I was told the position would confirm an either undiscovered love or hatred for the medical field; landing this position completely transformed my interest from veterinary medicine to treating other people instead.
Although I solely worked under MDs in the ED, I also had the pleasure of observing the work of the PAs as well. Observing them work within a broad scope of practice quickly captured my interest. To be able to see patients independently while also having the flexibility of consulting a MD-level provider for difficult cases fascinated me. What finally affirmed my decision to pursue the PA profession was seeing that by spending more time focusing on the patient as a whole, rather than the complexity of several interwoven complaints and medical issues, I would be able to treat the patient as a whole person, not just a “chief complaint.”
In the ED, it is very common to catch patients in the worst moments of their lives. However, in my three years in my position as a scribe, I began to see a more noticeable pattern with many individuals belonging to the underserved community that is the majority of Salinas, CA; a large majority do not have adequate access to basic primary care. Oftentimes these individuals come in for management of their chronic medical conditions or simple and uncomplicated illnesses, because they either do not have a primary care provider (PCP), or they would not be available to see one for several weeks. These individuals frequently require acute intervention for issues that could have otherwise been prevented. As a scribe, I had only been able to see one of the many sides of medicine and the patient-healthcare relationship. I still longed for a closer patient connection, one my scribe position did not offer me.
My medical knowledge I had attained as an ED scribe allowed me to gain employment as a medical assistant working at Prima Heart Medical Group in Monterey, CA. Since I began working at both positions concurrently, my medical knowledge and experience in healthcare have increased exponentially. I have gained invaluable, first-hand experience in this position that I feel I would not have attained elsewhere. Working on a small staff of about six employees, each of us have a considerable amount of responsibility overseeing the hundreds of patients that come through the practice each week. Through this practice, I have also been able to gain experience working in both preventive cardiology, as well as primary care. Seeing the differences between acute/emergency and preventive care has been eye-opening. This position allowed me to establish relationships with patients, something I was unable to do as a scribe. Although my personal viewpoint on healthcare is admittedly quite limited in the grand scheme of it, I also immediately noticed that patients seemed to have easier and more timely access to their physicians in the more wealthy Monterey region versus its impoverished counterpart only 20 miles away in Salinas. Because these patients have easier access to their PCPs, they do not have as much difficulty maintaining their health, and I have noticed they seem to not need to go to their nearest ED for simple issues that can be resolved through the office.
The problem of accessibility to basic healthcare is not limited to residents of Salinas. As a physician assistant, my primary goal would be to provide the best access to healthcare through my practice, no matter the socioeconomic status of the patient. Although my current financial situation requires me to spend my entire time working and not volunteering, I believe my experience from various roles in healthcare, as well as my driven attitude sharpened by the skills I have attained by being Chief Scribe of the ED, will serve me well on my journey to becoming a PA, and more importantly an accessible and competent provider for anyone and everyone in need.”
Emma says
Thank you for the feedback!
I had the opportunity to hold a human brain in my hands when I was 17. This experience sparked a curiosity for medicine and health, and propelled me to actively pursued experiences and education focused on preparing for a career in healthcare. Along the way, I confirmed my passion for serving individuals and vulnerable populations. Pursuing a career as a physician assistant won’t be easy, especially in today’s healthcare environment, but I did not choose this path by accident.
Early on I didn’t know what kind of job would be the best fit for me; becoming a certified nursing assistant helped me to identify my strengths and understand how I could use them to best serve others. As a CNA I had opportunities to work in the Alzheimer’s unit of an assisted living facility, a non-profit organization for developmentally disabled individuals, and in the neurology unit of an urban hospital. These experiences heightened my enthusiasm for entering the health field, and also revealed the hard work it would take to get there. Working directly with patients has helped me realize that diligent compassion, developing personal connections, and facilitating individuals’ enjoyment of life is a personal passion and fundamental part of my character. I am committed to carrying those values forward into a professional career.
After narrowing my focus to direct patient care positions, I shadowed numerous physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practioners. For me, the contrast between these positions was most sharply seen in the hospital Emergency Department. While shadowing an ED physician and while I found the diagnostics, treatment, and overall problem solving very interesting, but he didn’t interact with patients beyond an initial exam. I remember looking through a glass-doored trauma room and watching the physician assistant stitch a patient’s arm wound – and I knew that’s where I wanted to be. Later the PA agreed to let me follow him the remainder of the day. As opposed to the morning, I was engaged in observing the PA taking medication histories, educating patients, closing more wounds, and casting breaks. In the clinical setting, the PA spent time learning about the patient’s history before entering the exam room, took extra time to ensure the patient understood the diagnosis and treatment, and provided education for prevention activities. These experiences solidified that I want to be in the thick of it: diagnosing and treating patients as well as providing education and focusing on prevention of disease and injury.
Additionally, the PA profession offers advantages that the physician and nurse practitioner professions do not. Notably, PA’s have the flexibility to smoothly transition between sub-specialties whereas a physician would have to complete another residency. For me, this is an important distinction because I have multiple interests within medicine: primary care, emergency medicine, and neurology. The opportunity to be a lifelong learner and build a diverse skill set that presents an ongoing challenge that I am eager to explore.
As a physician assistant, my professional aspirations as well as my personal ambition to impact whole communities can be fulfilled. The skills and experiences I gained had as a health education student have motivated me to continue to serve vulnerable populations and positively effect my community. As an undergraduate I expanded my skill set as an active member of Eta Sigma Gamma, the national health science honorary organization. My chapter is nationally recognized for excellence and is highly involved with research, service, and education projects at the local, state and national level. Through my work with the local community and organizations, I have planned and implemented health education lessons for a wide range of under-served groups ranging from at-risk children and adolescents, to adults and the elderly. Through these experiences I gained valuable interpersonal, teamwork, and communication skills, plus exposure to research practices and the use of evidence-based methods and programs; all elements I can use to advocate for health in the wider community.
The opportunity to move forward in my education gives me the same feeling of exhilaration as the moment when holding a brain in my hands sparked a passionate commitment to establishing a career in healthcare. I’m proud of my efforts and accomplishments so far and I’m ready and motivated to pursue a career as a physician assistant. In this role, I can combine my excitement for medicine and patient care, with my commitment to serving the community and desire to help people lead healthier, more enjoyable and fulfilled lives.
Sandra Artieda says
Hi! This is the first draft of my personal statement, I am already over the 5000 character limit- 5793, but I feel like its not quite there yet and am having trouble with the conclusion. Any tips would be appreaciated! thank you.
As a dancer I learned the importance of discipline at a young age, whether I was trying to master new technique or perfecting a routine, there was always an element of trial and error. I was a natural performer, I could smile and work the crowd as easily as I could walk, but when it came to learning new technique I had to work hard. I slipped, fell, and attempted “a la seconde turns” more times than I can count before I finally mastered it. It was my love for dance that pushed me to a new level of discipline, if I wanted something bad enough and worked hard I could achieve it. Today, I share an equal love for medicine.
My interest in medicine surfaced during the numerous times I visited my grandfather, a clinical pathologist, in the laboratory as a child. I observed how he analyzed blood and other bodily fluids, and diagnosed patients. Although he had limited patient contact, he taught me that the role of the doctor should not only be to heal bodies and restore functions, but should be to help people by treating them as a whole; physically, psychologically, and emotionally. But it was not until I took my first anatomy and physiology course in high school that I decided I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. I remember holding the scalpel in one hand as I dissected the muscles on the cat’s forearm, fantasizing about the operating room or performing sutures on a patient. From that moment I was hooked, and decided to major in biology.
My journey as a biology major had some bumps and a lot of trial and error. I had an emotionally unstable relationship with a boyfriend recovering from a drug abuse problem. As a biology student, my classes demanded long hours of dedication, and because of my devotion to my boyfriend I let my grades slip. After I hit rock bottom academically and was placed on academic probation I knew I had to make some life changing decisions if I wanted to achieve my dream of becoming a medical practitioner.
Like my boyfriend, I was on the road to recovery. After we broke up I dedicated more time to my classes and was removed from academic probation. I learned to deal with stress rather than let it consume me and used the challenges I faced to motivate me to be stronger, more dedicated, and hungry for success. As a dancer I always strived to be the best, always perfecting technique and looking for different styles of dance to learn and master. As a biology major, there were endless subjects to learn from, and in medicine there are numerous fields to explore. It was in the Methodist Dallas emergency room where I worked as ER scribe that I had a front row seat to the physician assistant’s performance.
Although I worked primarily alongside the ER physicians, I had the opportunity to work closely with many physician assistants. Unlike physicians, who must choose a specialty, PA’s have the freedom to move from specialty to another; resulting in endless learning opportunities. I learned that the emergency room also required the PA’s to know a little bit about every specialty. I watched the physician assistants handle various cases, from abdominal complaints, to kidney issues, to women’s health, pediatric cases, and even assisted the ER physician while they examined trauma patients. They were as knowledgeable as the physicians and adapted quickly to each case. As a dancer, I learned that a great dancer must be able to adapt to any style of music and transfer their skills to various genres of dance. Similarly, I learned that a physician assistant must be as versatile as a dancer and be able to transfer their knowledge and skills across all the different specialties. The ability to morph and adapt to various specialties intrigued me to pursue a career as a physician assistant.
One of the physician assistant’s I had the opportunity to work with was Susan, who had done an orthopedic fellowship prior to working in the emergency room. I was amazed at how knowledgeable she was and so were the physicians, who consulted with her on various orthopedic cases in the ER. I will never forget one particular procedure I witnessed in the emergency room. A woman sustained a fall and had an open distal tibia fracture and dislocation, requiring an open reduction in the ER prior to admission for surgery. Susan was asked to assist in the procedure. As I watched Susan and the ER physician tug and pull at the ankle, I was mesmerized, just as I was while watching professional dancers bring The Nutcracker to live on stage.
One particular physician assistant I worked with in the ER was Ashley. I admired her bedside manner and how she used a holistic approach, something I learned from my grandfather. One of her patient’s, Andrea, was a recurrent dialysis patient. Ashley personally brought this woman a warm blanket and spend extra time conversing with the patient, something that was often rare among the physicians I worked with. As I transitioned to internal medicine, I applied what I learned from Ashley to the patients I saw in the clinic. As a scribe I took the vitals and performed EKG’s on preoperative patients, and helped ease their anxiousness about their upcoming surgery by making them feel more comfortable. As I learned from working with Ashley and Susan in the fast-paced and often chaotic environment of the ER, when providing care to a patient one must stay calm and collected, as the patients who come in are often scared and anxious.
My experience as a medical scribe in the ER has equipped me to deal with a fast-paced demanding environment while being able to multitask and pay attention to detail, qualities that exemplify every physician assistant. Similar to PA’s, a dancer must be extraordinary and stand out when performing a solo, but when dancing with a team she must be aware of the other dancers.
Brooke Homan says
An elderly man sits in the wheelchair beside me, smiling. “Can you play America the beautiful?” he asks me. Of course I could. I flip through the book and reposition myself on the bench. As my fingers dance across the piano’s keys I hear the man begin to sing the words of the song in a raspy whisper. The single whisper turns into a small chorus and as I finish playing I hear the clapping of several hands. I turn around to see four warm faces beaming back at me. I know that the veterans on the fourth floor of the VA medical center don’t often get visitors, but when they do they are so grateful. The joy I saw in the eyes of those four elderly veterans at the VA medical center that day, sparked in me the need to make quality of life better for people.
At a young age, I was exposed to how beneficial it is when healthcare professionals increase their patients’ quality of life. In 2002, my grandfather was diagnosed with ALS. Since he could no longer work, I spent most of my childhood with him and we became very close. I noticed that one of the biggest influences on his life after his diagnosis was a home nurse named Kathy. Kathy often came to his house to keep him company, play card games with us, and clean up the house while my grandmother was at work. Her personable character and effective care kept my grandmother well-balanced and my grandfather pleasantly occupied. When I volunteered at the VA I saw the same shine of excitement in the veterans’ eyes as I saw in my grandfather when he had visitors like myself or Kathy. The happiness I gave them was so rewarding that I wanted to see it again and again.
Although I knew I belonged in healthcare, I was not certain of which career path to take. So, I began researching and shadowing several positions. A year ago, I had the extraordinary opportunity to shadow an orthopedic surgeon and his physician assistant in a clinical setting and in the operating room. When shadowing the PA, I relished in the ability to have more time with each patient. If there was a surgery, the PA was often there to assist and after the surgery we would see the patient again in a post-op clinical appointment. Although shadowing the orthopedic surgeon was just as instructive, we didn’t spend as much time with the patient. What drew me into pursuing the physician assistant career was the ability to get to know each distinct patient for a longer period of time and the ability of the physician assistant to work individually and as a team with the physician. Watching both work in the OR together intrigued my interest in the physician assistant career because I noticed how much of a responsibility the PA still had in the patient’s full recovery. When I researched the career more I was excited to find out that a PA can work in several specialties. I have such a vast interest in the medical field and it motivates me knowing that I can change specialties and assist a greater variety of patients.
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” This quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson epitomizes the reason I want to be a PA. Through being a physician assistant I aspire to touch as many lives as I can. I want to have the ability to continue to give care and watch their progress far after a medical procedure and see their quality of life improve due to my commitment and dedication.
Claudia Bastidas says
The path towards applying to physician assistant (PA) school has not been an easy task, I have been dedicated and working hard in order to achieve my dream. The first health care experience I had was in high school, during my senior year I decided to enroll in a dual enrollment course for a certified nursing assistant (CNA). My experiences in this course made me realize I wanted to pursue a career in health care, I wanted to be part of a team who medically improves a person’s health.
After graduating high school and finishing the dual enrollment course, I did research on different health care professions. That’s when my interest for becoming a PA sparked. Attending Adventist University of health sciences (ADU) was important to me, I chose this school for many reasons but the most important to me was that they only focuses on health care/ science degrees. I wanted to have a university were I was expose to different careers in health care, with this firsthand experience there is no doubt that becoming a PA is for me.
I chose to pursue the PA profession for many reasons, I am a compassionate person and I have a strong desire to help people. Becoming a PA student is both challenging and demanding, I believe I will be successful throughout the program while managing the complex course work and medical training as I did during my undergraduate degree. Organizing my time between class schedules, volunteering, shadowing, and part time job I believe I have the skills and dedication to thrive under pressure. One of the biggest reasons I love the PA profession and why I chose it was the flexibility to move into different specialties. I have many interests and I love the idea of being able to have the opportunity to learn about more than one specialty. The nursing career has this advantage as well but I chose PA because I have always had passion for the diagnostics and analytic side of medicine.
During my time shadowing, volunteering and working as a CNA, I have found that important aspects to be a PA is to listen critically, analyze information and form conclusions that support your findings. These experiences have furthermore expose me to medicine; it has provided me to connect emotionally and empathically towards my patients. My role and duties towards my patients are limited but I still have become someone that helps them emotionally and physically while they are in the hospital. Many patients I have dealt with enjoy having me take care of them because I take the time out to actually connect with them and build a relationship. This is the most rewarding part of health care to me and why I love the PA profession. Unlike MD and DO; PAs have the ability to spend more time with the patient and can build a stronger relationship with them. I also love the team work aspect of the PA profession, and being able to consult the doctor as needed.
My passion towards healthcare has just begun, being part of the PA profession is my biggest desire. I understand the harsh reality of health care, depending on a person’s condition or illness there’s only so much a provider can do. But I am also very optimistic and even if I cannot cure the person’s illness; I can have a positive impact in their lives by demonstrating compassion and empathy, I hope to make their journey as loving and peaceful as possible. As a PA I will have the ability to ensure and improve a patient’s wellbeing on a comprehensive level. Through collaborate team work, I will have the opportunity to diagnose, interpret results and provide patients with treatments. It will be a true honor to be able to make such a huge difference in the lives of my future patients.
Megan says
“Ya me voy a dormir.” Matilde repeated the phrase, relentlessly asking to go to sleep. I tried to distract her with her coloring page, my attempt to stimulate her 94 year-old brain. She scribbled a bit of outside the lines, but every five minutes she again begged to be taken to her bed, her amnesia taking over. The nurses told her to wait to eat her supper, her body frail with lack of nutrients, but she simply said she was not hungry. After she asked me for about the fifth time, I stopped coloring, looked Matilde in the eye, smiled, and told her in Spanish, “I know you want to go to sleep, but you need to eat first. It is very important for your health.” Finally, she came to reality for just a moment, she felt heard, and she agreed.
I met Matilde while volunteering at a nursing home in Costa Rica. There, I spent a week assisting nurses, shadowing the doctor, and becoming familiar with the field of geriatrics. Many patients like Matilde were not mentally available or simply wanted to sleep. We cared for these patients daily with assessment and endless medications, but it often seemed that our being there to care and to listen was what helped them most. In moments like these, I continue to find inspiration toward helping others with a career in healthcare as a physician assistant (PA).
For the past two years, I have been working as a back office medical assistant (MA) in fields including pediatrics, orthopedics, and urgent care. Each day, meaningful patient interactions like those I experienced in Costa Rica reassure me of my path in medicine. I currently work at a pediatric practice where I take vitals and interview patients in topics including diet, medication, symptoms, development, health concerns, and even home life. With each detail, I better understand my patients’ concerns and find joy in being able to assist and advise them with specific health concerns, especially in times of need. Ultimately, however, with my limited scope of practice, I am unable to achieve all that I wish for my patients in my position as a MA. I aspire to work beyond my current limitations by diagnosing, prescribing, and immersing myself further in the implementation of my patient’s treatment, a goal that I can fulfill with the education provided by PA school.
In addition to the opportunity to provide patients with more fulfilling treatment, I am drawn toward the PA profession by my admiration of science. Six years ago, I entered college with an interest in biochemistry. A few years later, after anatomy and physiology courses as well as an internship at my university’s medical center, I fell in love with human biology and the study medicine. Holding each organ of the various cadaver prosections in anatomy lab with my gloved hands and memorizing the various connections of blood vessels, nerves and bones intrigued me to no end, and I then knew what I wanted to study for the rest of my life. During my consequent internship at the emergency department, I was drawn to not only the relationships between the providers and their patients, but the relationships between the doctors and the PAs as well. The teamwork that I witnessed in these partnerships as well as the PAs’ ability to rely on the input of a constant partner inspired me to pursue a career in their role.
With my passion for the medical sciences comes my passion for teaching its concepts to others. I have long had a knack for teaching and have spent several hours tutoring various students in math and science in my spare time. Consequently, my current position as a MA has led me to carry this enthusiasm for teaching into my career in medicine. One of my favorite aspects of my job is advising patients and helping them to better understand their bodies and their health. As a PA, I would be able to continue this teaching with greater knowledge and authority. While working at an orthopedic practice, I was able to witness this first hand while assisting a PA with various procedures in the exam room. I admired that he went beyond just treating his patients and took the time to explain their diagnoses by pointing to their X-Rays and personally demonstrating various movements. These extra efforts left his patients feeling reassured, and I learned that I hope to someday teach my patients as he does.
Ultimately, my journey toward becoming a physician assistant is driven by the career’s intersection of assisting those in need, studying the human body, and enriching the lives of others through teaching. A career as a PA would fulfill these priorities that I have set for my future and allow me to explore the field of healthcare with a versatility between fields, which I admire in my ambition to always be learning. Though I enjoy my position as a medical assistant, I am ready to do more for my patients, while still providing the personal care and attention that all deserve. In following these goals, I can find not better path for myself than that of a PA.
Daniela says
Most people, say high school is the best four years of your life, it’s where you get to begin to realize who you are and what you aspire to be in life. For me two out of those three statements are true. I remember my mom coming home with blood shot eyes, a handful of napkins in her hand and she looked like turned 10 years older in a matter of hours, from the last time that I saw her. I knew my grandfather wasn’t feeling well lately, but I was never expecting to hear what the doctor told them. When we were able to finally calm her down, she was able to mutter the phrase “its stage 3 Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.” That second my world came crashing down. Until that time I never believed that anyone I knew would ever get cancer. I remember going with him to his chemo sessions. How much it would drain the life out of him. Fall of my senior year he was in remission. I thought everything would be okay. Until a few months later while getting his regular PET scan, he was diagnosed yet again with the same cancer. It spread quickly and was a vicious cancer. I pleaded and begged him to go through chemo again. I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He went through with it again and this time after he was done he was going to go through a bone marrow transplant. I stayed with him for about three weeks in the hospital. Coming after work and then leaving with my uncle later at night. The nurses would come in and out poking and prodding, but who really stood out to me was the PA. The way she entered and presented her self, her tone and the way she tried to connect and help us understand day by day the process was when I realized exactly what position in medicine I wanted to be a part of.
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to go into medicine. Getting accepted to St. John’s University was always a dream of mine and getting the acceptance letter on that cold December day was one of the happiest days of my life. I knew that it was one step closer to me fulfilling my dream. The first semester however was tough, getting all 90’s and 100’s in high school was a breeze compared to what college turned out to be. Barley making a 3.0 GPA at the end of my first semester, with knowing that I might lose my scholarship I knew that I had to pick up my game. Semester after semester while working three sometimes four days a week, on top of volunteering and tutoring, I picked up my GPA, and five semesters later I picked it up to what it is today. Though not exactly what I want it to be, it is still a big accomplishment for me to pick up my GPA that much while doing all of my work outside of school.
In order to pursue my career in medicine, I knew that I had to take the first step forward and try to find a job in some sort of medical field. Through a lucky connection I had, with absolutely no experience working in an office, I was offered a job working in a dental office, though not the field I was remotely interested I knew that in order to gain experience I would have to take it. Within a few weeks, I picked up majority of the new concepts and was quickly given a raise a few months later, because of how well I worked. Seeing how we were understaffed, I took the initiative and asked the assistant to train me how to assist the doctor, so I would know how to work both the front and the back of the office if worst came to worst. While working in the office it gave me an insight on how to correctly speak with patients, the right questions to ask and how to act professional. When having patient that would coming in with a root canal or implant case, I would explain to them the procedure and exactly what will happen and how long everything would take, while having previously researched the procedure so I wouldn’t make a mistake and falsely inform them.
While working in the dental office, I knew it was time I got exposure to the medical field, so I signed up to volunteer at New York Presbyterian of Queens in the Emergency Department. During my time there, I would come make sure all the beds were ready for patients arriving, run labs and then I would start making my rounds. I would go around to each patient offering them an extra blanket or pillow and newspaper, and offering their family members to complimentary drinks. My favorite patients are the ones that would lay there and tell you their entire life story, those patients being the elderly one who were all alone. I enjoyed taking my time with them because they had to much to share and seeing how they were alone, the thought of knowing that me even spending a few minutes with them and cheering them up would help their spirits through the day was all the reward I needed. Being a level one-trauma center, gave me the opportunity to see various emergencies. My first month there, while helping out the ED technician, there were two announcements for “ trauma alpha teams” to come to the Emergency room. In a matter of seconds the doors where the ambulances wheel the patients in looked like a scene from a movie. Doctor’s, nurses and PA’s all in scrubs, gloves ready for what was about to hit them. My heart started racing, I was eager yet curious to see what was happening and who was going to come through that door. They first wheeled in a guy with blood dripping down the ambulance stretcher and straight to the trauma room. What felt like a matter of seconds the doors opened again and there was an elderly lady on the other stretcher also wheeled into the trauma room. Peeping through the windows, my team of volunteers and I saw the trauma teams trying to stop the bleeding, the blood looked like it was coming from all over the place. Within the next few minutes, they were wheeling him out of the trauma room and straight to the OR. That rush and excitement I felt, I knew was what I wanted to feel everyday. The rush that when I go home I can tell someone, I helped save someone’s life today.
Volunteering has given me more experience working as a team. The people I meet at the hospital come from all over the world and they all have some influence in my life and help me grow in some way. Shadowing the PA, has given me an insight as to what my future can look like on a daily basis. I have learned while observing Robert, the PA, how to correctly talk to a patient who is in pain. The patients look at you with eyes of hope that you will help them realize why they are feeling like this and make them feel better. Carrying around a notebook with me so I can take notes while observing has lead me to look up a numerous amount of interesting cases I have seen walk through the door of the office where I shadow. From a common cold to a patient slipping and needing stitches, shadowing Robert has given me an enormous amount of knowledge as to what my future will look like.
Going through the recession, put my family and I through many hardships and with that I learned the true value of family, and how nothing comes easy in life. You have to put everything you have to accomplish your dream. A doctor once told me “There are no small things in life, especially when dealing with medicine.” This quote really struck home, because I realized how much this quote applies to my life. Everything I do helps me reach my goal one step further. That I should never take thing for granted and sum up all of my experiences and knowledge and let it take me to bigger and better things.
Cal says
My desire to become a physician assistant began about 9 years ago. I had been in construction for 10 years. I didn’t mind what I did, but I didn’t truly enjoy what I was doing. So I decided that I should find a career that I would enjoy doing. As a young child I spent a bit of time in the ED having legs and arms stitched up and put back into place, you know, signs of a kid being a kid! As I thought about what career path would lead me to a job I would enjoy I kept thinking about those experiences. About the skills that those that work in healthcare have, how amazing the human body is, and how satisfied the doctors and physician assistants seemed to be when they had finished their work. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a physician assistant.
About a year after returning to school I got a job working as a medical scribe for a group of ED physicians and physician assistants. My desire to be a physician assistant grew as I observed different procedures, saw the importance of team work, and helping a diverse group of individuals seeking medical assistance. One particular experience helped me the most. My wife had brought our daughter to the ED after she had fallen and cracked the back of her head open. As I was able to assist the physician assistant in closing the wound I got to feel a little piece of the enjoyment that I am hoping to get from my career as a physician assistant.
I am also drawn to become a physician assistant because I like the flexibility that you can have. I feel that I would be interested in family medicine, but would have the ability to try other areas of medicine as well giving me the opportunity to continue to learn and grow.
“The contest is a lion fight. So chin up, put your shoulders back, walk proud, strut a little. Don’t lick your wounds celebrate them. The scars you bear are the sign of a competitor. You’re in a lion’s fight. Just because you didn’t win, doesn’t mean you don’t know how to roar.” My path in getting to this point has taken me a little while. There have been some speed bumps and a detour or two, but I have found my way back. I am ready, prepared, and willing to do what it takes to reach my aspiration of providing high quality care of which I am capable of. I hope that admissions will see past my mediocre GPA and provide me the chance I know I deserve. I believe my experiences outweigh my GPA.
Madi says
Thanks so much for all your help and feedback!
“I have breast cancer,” my mom said. It’s amazing how a simple sentence changed the entire trajectory of my life. Though I did not comprehend all the manifestations of this disease, those words shook me to my core. Before I knew it, my mother had a mastectomy to eliminate the cancer in her right breast and an oophorectomy to prevent ovarian cancer. She then tested positive for the Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene (BRCA2). My mom brought me to her next doctor’s appointment to understand what testing positive for BRCA2 meant for me. I remember being nervous, unsure of what territory I was entering. I then encountered Amy – the physician assistant (PA) who sparked my interest in the profession. When she walked in, she warmly introduced herself and calmly explained the process of testing for BRCA2. She engendered both warmth and confidence, and I began to relax as I realized that everything would be all right. I asked the PA why she chose her profession, and she explained that PAs achieve a great balance between family and medicine. Through personal experience, I learned not to take family for granted; my father started his own business when I was fourteen and was frequently absent due to business trips to China. I realized that I did not want this for my future family. Conversely, PAs have the balance that I was looking for in a profession.
I had already been volunteering at the hospital, but my encounter with Amy motivated me to pick up extra shifts. Many hospital experiences have been significant, but one has especially stuck with me to this day. One evening, a young mother ran into the ER with a despondent baby in one arm and the hand of a toddler in the other. The mother yelled to me, “Please! He’s not breathing!” As I took the patient’s vital signs, I noticed the toddler had the characteristics of Down Syndrome. He suddenly broke away and ran down the hall. “Diego!” his mom called, and I could see she was unable to care both children at once. I quickly told her to stay, and I ran after Diego. The immense stress she was under was evident from the dark circles beneath her eyes; I felt the need to do anything to help her feel more at ease. After I retrieved Diego, I recorded the patient’s medical history and learned that he suffered from Leukemia. I presented the patient to the PA and watched as she diagnosed the patient. I could tell she genuinely cared about the patient’s well-being and spent her time educating the mom about the diagnosis and the best treatment plan. She invited any questions the mother had, and answered them in a way that was easy to understand. I could see that the mother had begun to feel the same reassurance that I had felt with Amy.
The PA ordered a breathing treatment and asked the mom if she could call someone to care for Diego. I could see her sullen expression dampen as she explained that she was a single mother. I volunteered to look after Diego so she could stay with her baby. I quickly learned how much Diego loved ripping paper into little shreds from the pure excitement that exuded from him. Four hours and many torn paper piles later, we learned that the baby needed to be transferred to another hospital. Though my shift had ended long before, I stayed with the family until the ambulance arrived. During the time we waited, she told me how stressed she was and how she felt that she was not doing enough for her children. As I listened and provided her reassurance, I could not even fathom the hardships she had to endure on her own with two children who had significant medical issues. The ambulance pulled up and tears welled in her eyes as she thanked me for staying and listening to her. From this experience and all my other patient experiences in underserved communities, I have learned to understand every patient has a different environmental and social situation. Every patient needs an individualized treatment plan depending on the patient’s situation. It is the provider’s responsibility to formulate the most feasible treatment plan, and I feel as if I already have a solid understanding of this concept.
My first-hand experience with Amy resonated with me as a defining moment of care in my own time of uncertainty and fear. It was the same uncertainty and fear Diego’s mom felt that was soothed by the PA’s education and reassurance. Not only did these experiences influence my decision to become a PA, but I also relish the flexibility of the career. I am most interested in primary health care because I can see a broad range of medical problems and develop provider-patient relationships with my patients. I want to work in underserved communities to be able to increase access to health care and provide patient education. However, I also have interests in Emergency Medicine and surgery. As a PA, I can explore these interests and apply the skills I learned from other fields to become an even more versatile PA. I am determined to pursue my dream and start my journey to becoming a PA.
Jacqueline says
It was 5:00 in the morning, the sun had yet to rise, and the wind was burning my face as I rode my bicycle to soccer practice. This numbing, daily routine is what helped pay for my bachelor’s degree. Prior to graduating from UCSB, my dream was to be a soccer player for the U.S. Women’s National Team; I lived and breathed soccer. After the fall quarter of my junior year, my coaches called me in to their office to tell me that my grades were failing. I had successfully neglected my education, came to the realization that I was not going to be a soccer star and I was unhappy. This crossroads was just the beginning of my journey towards my decision to become a physician assistant (PA). I made significant life changes by volunteering, focusing on my education, and working as an emergency medical technician (EMT). The toughest and best decision I ever made was to end my soccer career to pursue a career in medicine.
After graduation, I began volunteering at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. A couple months into this experience, a man in scrubs hurriedly approached me and said, “Hey, I see you in the ER all the time; want to see something different?” Without introduction, we immediately ran up the stairs to the neurology department where his patient, Rodrigo, was waiting. Since Rodrigo did not speak any English, this mystery man in scrubs had me translate, in Spanish, that I am a volunteer, asking for permission to observe his procedure. The patient consented and the mystery man proceeded to shave a small portion of Rodrigo’s head where there was a small bump. He then put on sterile gloves, sterilized and numbed the area where he would insert a large needle to secrete cerebral spinal fluid from a shunt, checking for the presence of blood. After the procedure was over, the mysterious man in scrubs finally introduced himself to me as Mark, a physician assistant who specialized in neurosurgery. I spent the next few hours following Mark around the hospital asking questions about his job and specific procedures while he checked on his other patients. That day, Mark inspired me to be a PA.
While volunteering and working as a soccer coach in the meantime, I began to take prerequisite courses for PA school applications. On the first day of my microbiology class, my professor said something during her introduction that motivated me to completely change the way I approach my education. She said, “For those of you choosing to pursue a career as a health professional, think about how cheating will affect your patient care. You will not only be failing yourself but you will be failing your future patients.” She made this class, and the rest of my classes, about more than just boosting my GPA. Beyond the classroom, I read up on different diseases and medical problems that I learned about while shadowing orthopedic and ER PAs at the hospital. I felt determined and did not accept anything less than a 4.0 GPA while retaking my prerequisite courses. I even received Dean’s Honors for my academic performance.
One experience that cemented my decision to be a PA occurred in the last 3 years that I have been working as an EMT. My partner and I arrived first on scene to a call at a Seafood restaurant for a 90-year old female, choking. I saw the patient, Janet, lying supine on the floor. Her lips were cyanotic. I checked for a carotid pulse; it was weak. I opened her mouth to see if I could visualize the blockage; I could hear faint breath sounds with stridor but no visual. I began to perform light chest compressions to try to force the blockage up her airway and told my partner to prepare the oxygen. The paramedics arrived and had me continue light compressions until they had their McGill forceps ready to remove the airway blockage. After a few seconds, the medic was able to visualize the blockage and removed a giant piece of lobster. We immediately loaded her into the ambulance and transported her to the ER. While en route to the ER, Janet began to gain back both her color and her consciousness. When I asked her if she could remember what happened, her response was, “No but do you know what happened to my Chanel jacket?” The medic and I looked at each other and smiled. Even though Janet did not realize what she had just been through, I was overwhelmed with joy, knowing that Janet would be able to put that Chanel jacket on herself, one more time.
It was 3:00 in the morning, the lights from the ambulance were flashing, and as tired as I was, I could not wait to see what the next call was going to be. I want to be a PA so that I can share my passion for helping others, like Janet. Being able to tell Janet’s family that she was going to be just fine was more rewarding than any trophy I had ever received while playing soccer. My newfound thirst for knowledge, my discipline and work ethic that I learned from my soccer experience are what drive me to, one day, be an inspiring PA like Mark on that day he approached me in the ER.
Sean D says
Draft 1
I walked out to the gravel parking lot under the blazing sun with a smiling six year old boy and his mother. As we neared their car, a pang of sadness came over me as I saw the reality of the situation. That worn sedan they were entering was not just their car; it was their home. Clothes, hangers, stained sheets, pillows and a small stuffed animal were strewn about the backseat of the car. An old, grease-stained fast food bag was crumpled between the dashboard and windshield. They smiled and waved goodbye, and I felt a smile spread across my face as my heart warmed up again.
I started volunteering at Mustard Seed School for homeless children while I was in high school and continue to do so. My passion for both helping people and learning about health and the human body drives me toward my goal of becoming a physician assistant. But it was not until becoming a scribe that I decided upon a career as a PA.
Working as a scribe in the ED has afforded me the opportunity to work with, observe, and pick the brains of doctors, PA’s, and nurses. I recall working on a relatively slow day with Andrea, a PA, when a middle-aged woman came in complaining of sudden onset of sharp, lower abdominal pain. As the woman left, Andrea quizzed me, “What orders should I put in?”
Without missing a beat, I replied, “It sounds like it could be a kidney stone. An ultrasound would help us see.” Andrea let me know that I was partially correct, and that an ultrasound would also help us rule out ovarian torsion. This interaction helped me realize that I want a profession in which I can diagnose and treat patients. My choices were doctor or PA.
Having worked with both doctors and PA’s, I noticed that PA’s are able to spend more time with each patient. I recall working with one of the PA’s, Cheyenne, when a 17 year old patient came in with his mother complaining of chest pain and confusion after smoking what the patient thought was marijuana.
Cheyenne checked the vitals, heard their story, and deemed the patient was safe to go home. The mother was not convinced and broke down crying, “I don’t want my son to die at home when we could have saved him!” Cheyenne was able to calm her down, saying they can sit in the waiting room while we wait for the blood and urine results to come in. Mom was calmed down but wanted to talk to Cheyenne further about possible causes, treatment plans, and other hypotheticals regarding her son’s health. Cheyenne patiently answered each concern for the next 40 minutes, knowing that it would help the mother feel better about the situation. The understanding and compassion that Cheyenne extended to the patient’s mother warmed my heart.
On a separate occasion, Cheyenne told me he was thinking about switching specialties from ED to ophthalmology because he enjoyed his clinical rotation in that field. The ability to change specialties with relative ease was an attractive quality of the PA profession.
On numerous occasions I have witnessed Cheyenne put on a clinic for fellow PA’s when they ask for help performing an ultrasound of the eye. The PA’s come together as a team to diagnose and treat patients, not only with other PA’s, but also with doctors and nurses. This kind of self-less teamwork resonates with me and reminds me of the teamwork and communication needed in the various activities I engaged in during college.
Throughout college, I explored a multitude of activities and experiences. I spread myself too thin among my leadership experiences, mentor roles, volunteer involvement, and outdoor activities with family and friends. As a result, my grades suffered. At the time, I was not mature enough to realize how important my grades are for my future. It took me a year, living on my own, away from family and friends, to gain the maturity and understanding I needed to take my future seriously.
A week after graduating from UC Davis, I moved for a lab assistant position at UCLA. Without friends and family nearby, and with co-workers who always seemed busy and overworked, I had a lot of time to myself to reflect upon my future and what I wanted out of life. I decided to move back home, take school seriously, and finish my prerequisite courses. I came back from L.A. a new man – a man with a mission. I secured a job that exposed me to health care, and my grades since have improved tremendously.
The decision to become a PA was not one decision, but rather an amalgamation of decisions and countless hours of self-reflection. If you were to ask me what I wanted to do with my life two years ago when I graduated, I would have given you a vague answer about something in the medical field. A lot has changed for me in the past two years, and I can now say with conviction that I am pursuing a career as a physician assistant. While a lot has changed in the past few years, some things have remained constant throughout my life. I genuinely care about making a positive impact on people, and I have a passion for health and wellness.
Brigette says
The formatting of my above essay did not copy properly, It actually is broken up into paragraphs.
Thanks.
Brigette says
“Mami! Mama me duele Mami!” I felt the shrieks of little Jose pierce my ears. Tears were pouring down his face as I watched Megan, PA-C, carefully inject Lidocaine into the gash on his forehead in preparation for the sutures. Megan asked if I could translate to the boy’s family that it would take a couple minutes for the numbing to kick in before she would start the suturing process. “No te preocupes” I said, “después de unos minuticos José no va sentir cuando le cosen.” His mother looked at me with tear filled eyes. Once she was able to fully understand the procedure her expression became slightly more at ease. Letting out a sigh of relief, she nodded and replied “Muchas gracias”. Megan motioned for me to comfort José. I sat next to him and sandwiched his tiny hand between mine. Megan began the first suture and instantly José’s screams began again. He squeezed my hand with all the strength he had left inside him. “Está bien papi, no sientes nada papi, ya no te duele…” his mom repeated over and over. As I stroked his hand, I closed my eyes… I remembered these screams.
During a seemingly normal shift while working as a CNA those same screams pierced my ears. “Please! Somebody Help me!” I knew something was terribly wrong, these weren’t screams normally heard at a rehabilitation hospital. Sprinting, the screams lead me to room 2214. I looked inside and there was Margaret, who went by ‘Margie’, sitting on the edge of her bed. A waterfall of deep red coagulated blood poured from her knee. Next to her was Becki, the RN, calling the Code blue overhead while Sara, the other CNA, laid Margie down to elevate her legs. I reacted so quickly it seemed my body was working in reverse, my muscles sending signals to my brain without thought. I grabbed my vitals equipment and hooked Margaret up to the pulse oximeter, took her temperature and began to pump up the BP cuff. I looked town at my trembling hands, and could faintly hear an echo of Margaret’s screams in the background of my pounding heartbeat. Yet has nervous as I was, deep down I felt a sense of calmness. I was right where I belonged; and realized health care was the profession for me.
“BP 148/86! Oxygen 93%! Heart rate 121 and increasing!” I called out to the recorder. I looked around in awe as I watched the entire code team work together to keep Margaret stable. The resident was assisting with an I.V of Morphine, while a nurse applied pressure to the wound with a pile of towels. Within seconds the towels were completely saturated with blood, and another CNA was right behind, handing her towels as needed. I looked down and saw the terror that filled Margie as she wailed in pain. I grabbed her hand and sandwiched it in between mine. She squeezed with all the strength she had left inside her. Her grip grew tighter and I felt, for a moment, a glimpse of her pain. I stroked her hand and said “It’s OK Margie, we’re here for you.” Moments later the paramedics arrived and I stepped back while they transferred her to the stretcher. When I let her hand go she opened her eyes and without any words, she thanked me. An overwhelming feeling came over my body. I realized how important every team player is no matter what their title, and sometimes the most important thing a person may need is a companion, a sense of touch and empathy.
While the paramedics pushed Margie’s stretcher down the hall I let out a deep breath and closed my eyes. Suddenly I heard “All done; great job sweetie!” Megan’s voice exclaimed. I opened my eyes and there I was; back in the ED holding little José’s hand. He wasn’t squeezing me anymore. We all stepped back and gazed at Megan’s exquisite work of art. When I let go of José’s hand he looked at me with the same face of gratitude that I received from Margie. That sense of thanks, for just being there to comfort him.
As I continue my journey to becoming a physician assistant I will always remember Margaret and how that day strengthened my passion for health care. She, as well as working in a rehab setting taught me that human touch and empathy can be just as important as treatment itself. My experiences as a CNA and shadowing Megan in the ED have solidified why I want to become a PA. While I enjoy my work as a nursing assistant, I want to provide a higher level of care. Given the opportunity, I will apply my knowledge, skills, and experiences to grow in my role as a health care team member: from Brigette Justice, BS CNA to PA-C.