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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 (29th April 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
Nick L says
Hi there, I’m a first-time applicant looking for some help with my personal statement. Just as a pretense my academic record is less than stellar so I definitely believe it is important for me to address it appropriately. Excited to hear any feedback I can get!
“Safe!” Typically, an exclamation that brings relief to a baserunner whose lead off the bag had just been tested by the pitcher. But as the dirt cleared up away from my eyes I found myself frozen to the ground in immense discomfort and pain, and as I stood up it became obvious to the nearby crowd that my shoulder was no longer resting comfortably in its socket. As those around me began to panic and look away in disgust, I couldn’t help but recognize my own relative composure. I was no stranger to dislocating my shoulder; this would be number eight as a matter of fact. I knew that I was a short ride away from the hospital and a few hours away from resetting the joint with the process I typically underwent in the emergency room. But I also knew that this would put me in the office of my orthopedic within a few days, and that was truly the essence of my composure.
Over the years of sustaining multiple shoulder injuries in both baseball and hockey, I was able to develop a strong relationship with an orthopedic and his young physician assistant, Justin. I genuinely looked forward to my visits to their office as I was always eager to speak with Justin. He is what I imagine epitomizes the PA profession. Justin always took the time to educate me and my parents on the status of my injury, making sure we had a full understanding of the state of my shoulder and why repeat injuries were occurring. He always spent time listening to my concerns and was sure to relay all options for my progression, especially emphasizing that surgery was the absolute last resort, which assured me that he truly cared about my health as a patient. He not only made me feel comfortable, but my parents also. It is not easy constantly getting injured, and I could see the pain in my parents’ eyes as we waited each time in the ER or the orthopedic office. This made me recognize even more so the power Justin had as my PA to make everyone feel at ease with the situation. There wasn’t a single visit that we left feeling pessimistic about my health after seeing Justin.
In the years following, I had been fortunate enough to shadow Justin and some of his MD colleagues both in the operating room and in office patient visits. Though most of my time shadowing has been spent following surgeons, my admiration for the PA profession only grew during my time shadowing. I was impressed by their knowledge, autonomy, devotion, and willingness to help all the while working in cooperation with their fellow team members. During my time shadowing I gained insight into the PA/MD relationship and how important it was not only for the success of the team and their treatment, but also for the satisfaction of the patient. Delivering excellent healthcare to patients demands a significant amount of trust and teamwork between all members of the team, and shadowing has truly opened my eyes to the importance of the physician assistant for such delivery/a practice and its patients. This has further cemented my belief that I have found my true calling of service.
Contrary to my current maturity, my behaviors as I began my undergraduate career were admittedly a display of indifference and irresponsibility with regards to my academics. The attitude I had for my early time spent at Boston University showed a lack of focus and a disregard for the opportunities I had been granted. I used uncertainty and tragedy as excuses rather than taking ownership of my life. However, I have learned over the years that the difficulties we face in our lives shape our personalities and make us grow. I would not be the person I am today if it weren’t for every aspect of the path I have taken and the obstacles I have overcome. I hope that Admissions will see past my less than exemplary GPA and afford me the chance I know I deserve. I have proven my capability and my motivation when I have refocused my goals, not just in becoming a PA, but in becoming the best version of myself. I’ve learned many invaluable lessons in my journey to proving to myself that I can be who I want to be, but perhaps none have been more integral to my motivation and drive than the words from Jocko Willink in that, “discipline equals freedom.” This has made me motivated to take ownership of my life, my actions, and my studies so that I may one day provide the highest quality of care of which I am capable.
I know that becoming a PA is a challenging and demanding road, but I do believe that I possess the qualities to be a diligent and successful student. I am more determined and focused than I’ve ever been to keep me set on my goals. I want to be a PA that encourages and inspires others like Justin did for me. I want to deliver the best care that I possibly can so that my patients don’t have to constantly worry about their conditions or injuries. I am confident that my devotion, compassion, hunger for knowledge, and most importantly my care for others will make me an extraordinary physician assistant.
Andrea says
“Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre…” as I whispered the first words of the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish, I witnessed the look on Frida’s face transform from one of fear and pain to one surprise and comfort; the crows’ feet by her eyes relaxed, and her mouth closed to mumble along in prayer. The nurse continued to insert the straight catheter, and I continued on, whispering the words of solace, holding her hands and observing her face for her usual look of torment, but noting with a sense of purpose and relief that it was absent.
I was ecstatic to learn that I could use my studies of Spanish to relate to a patient, and it was the initiative taken to learn the Lord’s Prayer in Frida’s native language which truly helped me to improve her life and give her relief. It was that small-bodied Mexican resident who taught me how small acts of compassion in the healthcare field can result in the most rewarding feelings and memories.
I have now spent 2 years doing CNA work since my first summer with Frida, and it has continued to be the residents and patients that inspire me to pursue a career as a physician assistant – possibly more than any other factor. I have a genuine desire to help my residents, but I do not feel it is always fulfilled, due to the limitations I have; I can drain a catheter foley, but I cannot complete the procedure for a suprapubic catheter, I can suspect uremic frost on a patient and find in their charts that they do, indeed, have chronic kidney disease, but I cannot diagnose it, and I can tell a patient that she uses her levator-ani muscles during bowel movements, but it oversteps my boundaries to assure her that her pain during them is related to her hip surgery.
The role of a PA, however, will allow me to utilize my skills and really fulfill these desires to improve the health of others. I did consider going the medical school route to achieve this goal, but I found that PAs have many benefits that an MD or DO does not necessarily have, like the ability to change specialties. Switching my main CNA experience from memory care to rehabilitation has taught me that I enjoy new challenges, and the initiative and analytical skills I employ have allowed me to learn new information quickly and adapt. Hence, I would love to try a couple different specialties for the opportunity to learn and broaden my experiences as a PA, rather than remain stagnant.
Additionally, I am very drawn to the team environment that physicians, physician assistants and nurses often create, as I witnessed while shadowing Carrie White, PA-C. I was enticed by the ability of White to consult her overseeing physician for a second opinion on an x-ray, and by her inclusion in the discussions of his patients, both in order to learn and to seek her opinion as well. Like the neurologist and MD I have also shadowed, I saw that White has the ability to autonomously diagnose and attend to patients. She also seemed to have more time as a PA to effectively listen to a patient’s background and communicate her opinions and plans, which I think is vastly important in ensuring the patient’s comprehension of diagnoses, treatment and future prevention.
I have always had a compassion for helping others, and the initiative to ensure that I would end up on the path to a career in the healthcare field. Even so, I never fully apprehended how excited I would feel to view x-rays, and make connections between symptoms reported by residents and the pathophysiology of the disorders causing them. My first summer as a CNA, I realized that this compassion, initiative, and using analytical skill to infer a patient’s background and read their body language helped me to provide a resident with truly personalized care. Now I recognize that these are abilities I will implement for the rest of my life, and, moreover, they are qualities I encompass that will help me to save just as many lives as a physician assistant as ordering the correct tests and prescribing the correct medications.
Emily says
Hi. I am a first time applicant and very nervous as many are. I want to make sure I am on the right track. I am aware it is too long and need to condense it to 5000 characters or less, which i will do. I would love some general feed back as to make sure i am at least on the right path, or should i scrap and re-write the entire statement?
This is it… the moment that could change the course of my life forever. Everything I have been working so hard to obtain since my young adult years, now comes to this very moment. My future rests on everything I was taught not to do; judge a book by it’s cover. My goal is to express in great detail the sincerity in which I hold within the walls of my chest cavity and the ever growing enthusiasm that i have within my mind for learning and growing as a patient care provider.
As I sit here and think to myself, how does one achieve this in less than 5000 characters? I may know for certain what sets me apart from all the other candidates, but my hopes are that you will find me deserving of a place within your institution as a future PA after reading my plea.
There isn’t only one explanation as to why i want to become a PA. I had many unfortunate experiences growing up that has led me to where I am as an adult, but I have been able to view these experiences as gifts and I have grown to appreciate life in ways that if i had not experienced these, I wouldn’t be who i am today and left without the appreciation for life that i value so deeply. So I will tell you a story of a particular instance that stands out in my mind as to why I feel like i am capable of a higher level of patient care and a position as a PA student.
Throughout my years as a paramedic, I have had the pleasure of sharing some of the most exciting moments with patients as well as some of the worst that I would not wish on anyone to ever have to face. I learned quickly that as a medical provider it is important to treat the entire patient, and more times than none, that meant extending my patient care to the families involved as well and following my “gut” and being confident of my medical knowledge and the ability to treat patients accordingly.
My partner and I had received the call of a “40-something” year-old male that had chest pain for several days. Upon our arrival, we could see the fear in his wife’s eyes as she was frantically guiding him towards the unit before we could even stop. He was pale, cool to the touch and extremely diaphoretic. His complaint was that he had felt “sick” for days with a fever and severe nausea and vomiting, but his chest pain was becoming unbearable. My mind immediately races through the possibilities of what could be causing his symptoms as in; myocardial infarction, a virus or a hidden infection, to name a few. As my partner and I worked together to obtain his medical history, perform an initial physical assessment, get vital signs, a blood glucose level and an EKG, we were surprised to find that everything was “within normal limits”, even his EKG. Shocked as we were, we called the receiving hospital immediately to inform them we were electronically sending the EKG and to advise if they see anything that maybe our eyes were not trained to see, and at the same time, obtaining a new EGK to compare with the first. They were identical, but something just did not seem right. My “gut” was telling me there was something we just could not see with the equipment we had on hand. As a first responder, we were taught to treat the patient, not the machine. With that being said, we started him on an IV drip of Normal Saline with a dose of Zofran via IV, hoping to combat any loss of fluids and to combat an additional nausea or vomiting. We chose not to administer any pain medication as we were unsure of the underlying cause of this man’s pain. In the moment his vital signs were holding steady and by the time we arrived at the medical facility, he mentioned he was feeling slightly better. And while it was somewhat comforting that we could provide him some measure of relief, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was amiss. As we made our way into the hospital, with him still on a stretcher, the triage nurse told us to leave him in the lobby. I couldn’t believe my ears! Was she looking at the same patient? Had she confused our unit with another incoming? I ran through his symptoms and the treatment he had received from my partner and I to her again, in hopes that would jog her memory and she would place him in an available room for immediate treatment and further work-up. She insisted she was only following Physicians’ orders to place him in the lobby for triage as his EKG looked ‘fine’. But as adamant as she was to place him in the lobby, I remained by the patients side, watching his wife hold him tightly, refusing to leave him in the lobby. Learning that my “gut” feeling isn’t something everyone can see, I decided to speak to a physician personally. Once i explained the patients symptoms to the physician, i quickly learned that my “gut” feeling, wasn’t just that, as the attending physician quickly placed him into a room for immediate care. As my partner and I returned to our base, we had received a call from our supervisor at the time; the patient’s wife had called to proclaim what an “angel” i had been to her and her husband, as only moments after leaving the hospital, her husband of almost 25 years went into cardiac arrest and had it not been for my insistence and persistence, her husband may not have received the immediate care he needed to save his life. It was in that moment my dream of becoming a PA was validated and I no longer questioned my ability to practice a broader scope of medicine. My paramedic education and experience along with my desire to learn has given placed me here in this moment. The fire within me to become a practicing PA is burning more fiercely than ever. And while this is only one instance of my level of not only ‘patient’ care but my care for the patient, i have many years of experiences and learning that has led me to know without a shadow of a doubt, that i am and will continue to offer patient care, but as a Physicians Assistant. There is no reason for me to believe that i belong in any other field of medicine, as I feel being a PA is where i can contribute most effectively to the medical field.
Sandra says
Personal statement prompt: Why are you interested in being a PA?
On average, a person will spend approximately one third of their life devoted to their career. It is crucial to use that time doing something that is completely fulfilling and important. Something that produces happiness, pride, frustration, all in a day’s work. It can go without saying, that all careers in healthcare are driven by some degree of passion for patient care and a desire to help people. Doctors, nurses, technologists and technicians all feel this during their daily grind. Don’t get me wrong, dedication to patient care is absolutely the most principal factor in pursuing any career in healthcare. However, this does not sufficiently differentiate the drive to become a Physician’s Assistant above anything else.
What excites me about medicine is the ability and potential of the body. The mind and body collaborate to create and manipulate a reality that is entirely unique to each person. It is both extremely precise yet has an incredible degree of plasticity. We have grown to master the mimicry of nature through research and treatment design, and we are continuing to grow and improve every day. I want to be a catalyst in those improvements. My energy is derived from the people around me, the fast-paced chaos, and the pressure to flawlessly perform. I want to seek out problems and disparities, and in the pursuit of knowledge discover their solutions. It is necessary to be part of an environment that challenges me and requires intellectual and personal growth to survive. I want to work with a team and be a leader in detective like investigations of diagnostics and development of treatment plans. I value the flexibility to enrich myself in several specialties as a physician assistant. In addition, I value the ability to practice within the medical model while also spending plenty of time with patients and families. Creating connections and treating people, like people.
Looking at my transcript, I feel that my thirst for knowledge is not reflected. I have had to battle many issues in my personal life that had an impact on my academic performance. Before being able to attend a university, I was required to pay for my schooling by myself, and my mom warned me that if I took out student loans I would be completely cut off. After receiving my acceptance letters in October, I joined additional extra-curriculars, took AP courses, and I applied for every scholarship that I met the qualifications. I sacrificed every minute of my time researching, filling out paper work, and writing essays. By May of my senior year I had been awarded nearly $18,000 in educational funding. In college, I worked two jobs on top of my academics and involvements to keep myself there. I was faced with several health issues that influenced my academic performance as well. In the second semester of my second year I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, which influenced my ability to focus and recall information. After being on and off medications for a few years and consulting with several professionals, I was advised to undergo testing for seizures. One of the EEG tests I had done ended abruptly with an electrode burning a small hole in my scalp. Within weeks of that test I was then diagnosed with a kidney infection and mono. These health issues caused me to fail a strength training course, and further damaged my academic performance in other classes. Having faced a substantial amount of challenges in college that influence my academic performance, I learned how I cope with certain stressors while getting an education.
I understand that I will need to work harder than most to be at the same level of my peers academically, and I am preparing myself now to overcome, to reach, and to exceed the academic expectations of the medical community. I have identified what I struggled with, why I could not overcome certain issues, reached out to sharpen my skills, and changed my behavior to promote success in those situations. I sought out a diverse spectrum of resources and rewired my studying habits to fit my learning style. I have been put through situations that would have prompted others to give up. But my passion for people and healthcare keep me confident that this is where I am meant to be.
Naomi says
Hi! I just graduated undergrad in May and am currently applying to PA programs. I have about 650 characters left for wiggle room in my statement and am looking for feedback. Thank you!
“Life is too short to be anything but happy,” Ruth, a resident of mine, told me this one night after a long shift when a coworker didn’t show up. I was tired and must have looked the part. She pulled me aside as I was making my rounds, took my hand, and told me to just take a deep breath. I try to remember her kindness anytime I feel frustrated or upset. As an adolescent and young adult, I’ve struggled with my mental health and self-esteem, and it’s not something I like to admit. It wasn’t until I started working in a nursing home that I finally felt like I was doing something valuable. Working in memory care is no easy feat, and it most definitely hasn’t gotten any easier over the past four years, but moments like the one with Ruth remind me that what I’m doing is worth more than the tough times.
But it’s still hard. In college I struggled with finding a balance between class, work study, and extracurriculars, as many of my peers did. Everyone seemed to be on the same journey of “finding themselves,” but I felt as if I was moving backwards. It didn’t help that my freshman year started with the premature and unexpected death of my aunt, followed by the realization I had bitten off more than I could chew class-wise. I naively believed that my second semester would be better, but only a month into classes and I received a call that Grandma Fimon had passed away. I had always heard deaths come in three’s, but I didn’t believe it until I received the call that Grandma Keehn was number three in our morbid trifecta.
I blamed these events for my poor GPA and lack of motivation; I vowed to work harder than I ever had before. And I did; that fall semester I earned a 3.9 GPA. I had never been so proud of myself… or exhausted. During the break following my tiresome and triumphant semester, I had the opportunity to shadow Annie Barlow, a certified PA in hematology, oncology, and transplantation at the University of Minnesota Fairview hospital. On the first day I shadowed her, a new patient with leukemia came in from Ethiopia who didn’t speak a lick of English. The language barrier was challenging to break, one sentence could take up to ten minutes to translate, but Annie never showed her frustration. She expressed endless compassion and even learned a few common phrases in his native tongue. Various members of his family would come and go and with each new face Annie had to explain and re-explain his diagnosis and prognosis in simplistic terms. It was frustrating trying to reason with his family, but she continued to answer streams of questions sincerely and patiently. I watched in awe as she performed a seemingly effortless blood aspiration while simultaneously soothing him through his pain. I continued to shadow Annie for the next four days, but that first day with our first patient was all it took. The way Annie treated her patients, nurses, and coworkers was the only push I needed to realize she was exactly who I wanted to be in five years.
It was during my time here when Annie taught me one of the most important lessons of life: you can’t pour from an empty cup. Self-care is just as important as the care you give to others; and that included the attention I gave to professors and classmates. The semester following this realization, I tried to find my balance between self-care and my academic responsibility. I was burnt out, and everything seemed impossible, but when I when I felt like giving up, I thought of Ruth. “Life is too short to be anything but happy,” thinking about one day being in Annie’s position makes me more happy and excited than I have ever felt about anything, including my college graduation and the 3.9 I earned my final semester of undergrad.
It took me three years, a college education, and endless amount of wisdom from professors, peers, and PAs to find my path and the drive to succeed. I love what I do, and I am good at it, but I feel stagnant. Being a CNA has helped guide me to my life’s purpose, but it is only a stop, not my destination. Through Annie and a few other PAs I’ve had the opportunity to shadow, I have seen what my future can be. The endless hours of studying, stressing, and self-doubt all seem worth it when I think to what it’s leading me to. In all of my life, I have never felt so sure or confident in anything than I do about my future as a PA.
Emma says
My earliest memories have taken places in hospitals. My mom was a RN for a group of Surgeons and many times, she would bring me to work with her. She would sit me down at her desk at the nurses station and tell me “sit still and behave or no chicken nuggets for lunch!” While she was gone, I wandered around her nurses station. All of a sudden my favorite surgeon, Dr. Sharna would waltz in all excited to start eh morning. He would show me X-rays of patients broken bones and ask me to point out the breaks. Being 4 years old, I would just giggle and say “I don’t know, you’re the doctor!” Then he would show me where they were and explain what he had to do to fix them. He always told me that one day, I would be a surgeon just like him and from that point on, that was the plan.
I pushed myself to excel in school since I knew you had to be smart to be a doctor. Up until I was a sophomore in college, this was the plan. One day I shadowed an anesthesiologist by the name of Dr. Dave Mei. Shadowing him around the hospital is still one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. Both of us are huge chemistry nerds so getting to see how he calculates the dosage of drugs to give patients before surgery was intriguing. He showed me how to bag a patient before surgery, how he monitors the patient’s status, and how we go about waking the patient up afterward. At the end of our day together, we sat at the Surgeon’s lounge discussing school and I said I was thinking about medical school. This is when he changed my life and my plan. He said “what about PA school?”
After this chat, I went home and did all the research I could about physician assistants. Little did I know my plan would be changing again as I got married a few months later to a US Air Force airman. This change took my life across seas to the UK as I finished up my schooling online. Our base was so small and ran by military, the clinic on base wouldn’t allow civilians to work or volunteer there. Since I wasn’t able to help out in the medical setting I was looking for, I branched out and volunteered with my husbands squadron as a Key Spouse. I was a point of contact for family members whose spouses were deployed. I was able to help those whose voices weren’t heard by the higher up, similarly to how PAs interact with patients. Being able to hear their complaints and everything in their lives that was going wrong, I wanted to be able to help in anyway I could by talking with the commander get them the help they needed. Even though I haven’t had much experience in a medical setting, I know how crucial it is to have open lines of communication and to be able to discuss with others how to fix a problem, which is much of what PAs do.
My plan for life has changed many times over the 23 years of my life but the one thing has remained is my drive to be in the medical field, now more specifically as a PA. It has been my one true rock through life and now I am finally able to pursue my dream. I want to be able to help those who need help and to work with some of the greatest minds this country has to offer. I want to be a physician assistant and not only save lives but to also make those around me just a little bit happier and a little bit better.
Victoria Segura says
A 19-year-old patient comes into get her blood drawn, biting her lip, folding her arms across herself in comfort, and eyes that expressed worry. It was palpable that she was nervous about getting her blood drawn. Smiling, I went into my spiel of telling her to place her things on the table and sit in the chair, verified her name and date of birth, and asked if she has any complications getting her blood drawn. Timidly she responded “I’ve never had it done before.” Not uncommon for college students. Assuring her in the same calming and knowledgeable tone I use with the 8 year olds I coach, that everything would be fine, and explained every step of the process as I did it: tying the tourniquet, finding the springy blue vein, cleaning it off, showing her the six tubes and explaining that even though it looked like it would be taken a large amount of blood the volume would not even fill a urine cup a third of the way. Counting one, two, three I commenced with the draw, and could see her relax a bit after the needle went in and we small talked about the weather and her classes. But then, as I was finishing the draw, her speech declined and I looked up to find her sheet white, I immediately I put the chair back. She came to within a few seconds, but scared and confused. Keeping calm, I informed her that she had passed out, and that’s ok, it happens, and is just a normal reaction for some people. She started crying and did not understand why she needed all these tests done in the first place. I offered her juice and crackers and placed a cool towel on her forehead. I showed her what test each tube was for and what was entailed in the panels, but I could really tell that she really just wanted to know what was wrong with her. The best I could answer was “I can’t answer all your questions, it’s something you will have to discuss with your clinician.”
Being a phlebotomist at UC Santa Cruz’s Student Health Center, I have learned a lot about patient care and the systems/processes involved in the lab portion of treating patients. I have gained hands-on experience dealing with patients with different backgrounds racially, ethnically, and culturally, sexualities, gender preferences, socio-economic status, and mental health. I am grateful for my own background as a middle-class Latina, who worked through college as a dental assistant, server, and theater usher. My minority ethnicity makes me empathetic in relating to patients’ diversity. My jobs helped me acquire people and multi-tasking skills that prepared me for a career in health-care.
I enhanced my desire to become a PA and gained an understanding of the duties, responsibilities, and role as a healthcare provider through shadowing two different physicians assistants. One is a family practice and gynecology specialist at a Dignity Clinic. Her ease of communication and addressing of patients concerns inspired me, bringing in her own relative personal experience to ameliorate patients. Her knowledge of the appropriate specialists within network for referrals demonstrated the importance of networking with colleagues. I also shadowed an ER PA on a night shift. It was thrilling to see how her and the other PAs, MDs, RNs, MAs, and scribes multi-tasked and coalesced on a variety of different patients with varying complaints from blood in the urine to lacerations to fractured ankles from roller blading falls to mothers worried about their babies’ breathing. From triage to lab and image reviews, to treatment, the PA gave each patient adequate care and asked for advice when necessary in the fast-paced environment.
Overall, the ability to diagnose and treat patients, work as a team, and have knowledge of different specialties appeals to me. My mediocre GPA from college does not represent me as a student. I worked three part time jobs, played on a coed softball team, and coached youth softball, all while taking 15-20 units. It was and is important to me to have a sense of community, so I really value and enjoy my commitment to playing and coaching softball, and cleaning up beaches. Experiences enhanced the leadership, diversity, and teamwork skills that I have gained through playing sports my whole life and from the leadership program I participated in a volunteer at. These are skills that will benefit me as a physicians assistant.
After years of career path contemplating, I have found a future profession that is relevant to me. Becoming a PA will allow me to fulfill my goal of traveling to places where healthcare is needed and really make a difference. Being an avid traveler, it is heartbreaking to see such broken health care systems, especially since I benefit and work in one that most take for granted. As a PA I can benefit my local and global society in a positive and fulfilling way.
My patient who fainted after having her blood drawn was very appreciative of the care she received. I have drawn her blood quite a few times since, and now knowing she has a reaction, we are prepared with the chair back and juice and snacks ready. She actually gets excited that I am the phlebotomist taking care of her and keeps me updated on her studies. I hope that one day I can be able to comfort and answer patient’s questions fully and explicably and be the clinician they deserve, so that more people can be well-educated health consumers.
Michael says
I’m not completely done, just want to know if I’m on the right path!
“Is it possible that music isn’t the path that I should take in life?” I thought to myself, staring out into the Pacific Ocean. “If this is something that I have always loved, why aren’t I happy?” Growing up, I constantly had the idea that pursuing a career in music was, without a doubt, the only option for me. After partaking in a mission trip to Jamaica my junior year of high school, I knew that making a difference in the lives of others was extremely important to me and I began to believe that music was the outlet that I could use to achieve this. With my guitar in hand, I moved across the country to Los Angeles in order to try and make this dream a reality.
Wide-eyed and dauntless, I felt like everything was falling into place as I began to explore this new city with hopes of making a name for myself. However, as time went on, I started to lose the desire that pushed me to move in the first place. The infatuation that I had with pursuing a career in the music industry had vanished and it seemed that I needed a new path to follow. Discouraged, I moved back to Michigan to figure out the next step of my life and began working at Legacy Assisted Living. At this time, I had no idea that beginning my employment at this assisted living facility would ultimately spark the desire of pursuing a career as a physician assistant.
Within weeks of starting at this facility, it became very clear to me how vital my position as a resident aide was to the health and well-being of the residents that resided there. Apart from assisting with personal care, I found that the most important role I took on was to communicate to the nurses any changes I noticed with the residents; physically and emotionally. When it comes to those in the latter stages of life, in particular those with severe cases of Alzheimer’s, even the slightest changes of the body or personality can be the result of something that requires immediate medical intervention. Over the course of my employment, I dedicated my time to building relationships with the residents in order to solidify their trust in me not only as a caregiver, but also as an advocate. By forming these relationships, it became much easier to pick up on these minor, yet important changes among the residents and gave me the opportunity to improve my proficiency in medicine by suggesting treatments that may be beneficial. Working with the residents on a daily basis and recognizing how essential my responsibilities and actions were helped me realize that the medical field was where I needed to be. As a provider, I will strive to build trust among patients in order to ensure that the most efficient and effective treatment is delivered.
One of the reasons that a career as a physician assistant stands out to me is because of the ability to change specialties. With such a broad range of opportunities in the field of medicine, it is difficult to say that I would be completely content with limiting my practice to one specialty. This became very evident to me when I began my employment at the Center for Disability Services. As a direct support professional, this job allows me to work with adults with mild to severe physical and developmental disabilities. From passing medications to integrating the clients into the community, I am constantly offered opportunities regarding patient care that I have never received before. However, just as with the assisted living facility, I place extreme focus on building relationships with the clients and monitoring them on a day to day basis. Many of the clients live in community homes and any changes, such as a bruise, could indicate unfit living conditions or possible abuse. I take extreme pride in my ability to work with various populations and being employed at the Center for Disability Services has prepared me for providing medical treatment to diverse walks of life.
Brigitte Mania says
Simply put, there are two paths that an individual can take when presented with a setback while pursuing their goals; one path is challenging while the other is less so. In making decisions to choose the more challenging paths, I have discovered more of who I am as a person and would go back through every bump in my life if I could. Breaking down a challenging path into solvable parts has always fascinated me and brought me more satisfaction than taking an easy route. The medical field specifically studies one of the most challenging, complex features of life – the human body. The amount of factors that play into the complex organ system requires both intelligence and the willingness to take on a challenge; however, the compassion and enthusiasm necessary to work with a variety of patients is just as important. The challenges I have faced in my academics and athletics, combined with my passion for helping others through my patient experience, have led me to pursue a graduate medical degree as a physician’s assistant.
The passion I have to pursue a degree in the medical field began as a passion for forensics and anatomy in high school and college. My first setback occurred during my freshman year at the University of Connecticut as a pre-medicine student and a Division I athlete. I filled my schedule with heavy science and math classes with no general electives. My course work piled up quickly while my grades did not keep up. After my first semester, I realized that I needed to either work harder to succeed academically or lighten my course load juggling my responsibilities as a Division I athlete. I chose the more challenging path as I continued to pursue both of my passions. Over the next semesters, I found myself studying on the weekends and during meets in order to keep up with my classes. This setback taught me how to study early, allowing me to tailor my study methods to successfully comprehend terms and concepts. After a few semesters, I saw my hard work pay off by achieving the dean’s list and being honored as an Academic All-American.
While I saw my academic career blossoming, I applied my hard working demeanor to my running career and saw success with both of my passions. By the time I was finished with my track and field career at the University of Connecticut, I was a 4-time All-American and had qualified for two USA track and field national meets. Following graduation, I had the opportunity to pursue a professional track career with the Atlanta Track Club. However, these successes did not come without setbacks. I have experienced many injuries throughout the past few years of training. Before these setbacks, I sought to pursue a career as a physical therapist. Each setback brought frustration to my passion for running and in turn, affected my interests in physical therapy due to the similarities of work. Combining that frustration with the many hours I have spent on my running mechanics, I began to see the lack of challenges and diverse work a career as a physical therapist. Researching a physician’s assistant, I realized that I could work in many different fields – each with their own unique challenges – while continuing to enjoy my passion for running, injured or healthy.
Learning about a physician’s assistant led me to seek experience first as a part-time personal care assistant and then a full-time medical scribe while I continued running professionally. My caregiving experience involved assisting disabled and older individuals with daily routines and medicine intake. Each day, I left the job feeling successful. Helping a diverse group of patients in need brought challenges and fulfillment to my job. This position allowed me to be immersed in patient care; however, I was not surrounded by medicine and the complex challenges of diagnosing patients. Following that experience, I pursued a job as a medical scribe in the emergency room at Northside hospital in Atlanta. This position allowed me to work alongside doctors and physician’s assistants with exposure to medicine. The opportunity to observe procedures such as suture repairs or joint reductions as well as discussing diagnoses with the medical providers in an educational way provided me with a vast understanding of general medicine. To compliment those experiences, I began work as a medical assistant in a specialized skin cancer clinic. This opportunity has immersed me in a specialized medical field alongside a doctor, while also working closely with patients.
I believe that I would flourish as a PA thanks to my passion for medicine, taking on challenges, and nurturing others. My experiences as an athlete and student have taught me how to work hard, balance my passions, and look at challenge as a learning opportunity. Based on those experiences as well as my patient care and medical scribe experiences, I am confident that I possess the qualities and passion required for a Physician’s Assistant to find success in the medical field.
Mandy Burns says
I want to be a PA because I want more. I have cared for the residents of Gadsden County, Florida while working in EMS, as an EMT and then a paramedic, for the past 13 years. I want to do more. I have contributed to their overall health. I have more to give. I have had many wonderful experiences working alongside physician assistants in a small free-standing emergency room. I no longer want to just work with them; I want to be one.
This is a poverty stricken community with few primary care options. The 2013 Gadsden County Community Health Improvement Plan reports that the state of Florida has 335.7 primary care providers per 100,000 residents. Gadsden County has only 57.7 per 100,000. The emergency room is filled with people whose complaints range from rashes and fever to heart attacks and strokes. I have asked many of those with the less urgent complaints why they chose to come to an emergency department rather than see their primary care physician. More often than not, the answer is that the doctor is too busy and had no available appointments for weeks. When I become a licensed physician assistant, Gadsden County will have one more provider from which to choose.
I want healthier lives for the residents of Gadsden County. Chronic disease is responsible for the majority of deaths in the county, more than seventy percent of the adult population is overweight or obese, and diabetes is more prevalent than in the rest of the state according to the aforementioned report. There is a need for education regarding disease processes, lifestyle choices and treatment options. The chronic conditions that contribute to decreased quality of life, increased medical costs and death require vigilant monitoring. As a PA, I will monitor and treat the existing conditions and provide the necessary education to help prevent disease and injury and thus make Gadsden County a healthier place.
The scope of practice for paramedics working on an ambulance and in emergency rooms includes care for traumatic and medical events. This is important and rewarding work. I, however, want to do more. I remember a young Hispanic girl with Down Syndrome that cut her foot on a piece of glass. I applied direct pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, cleaned the laceration with normal saline and hydrogen peroxide, bandaged the wound, and transported the patient and her anxious mother to the emergency room for further treatment. The terrified girl was somewhat calmed, the mother was grateful, and I was happy to have helped. I want to be able to do more. I want to suture the laceration, prescribe antibiotics to prevent infection, provide education to the patient and family to encourage compliance with the treatment plan and prevent future occurrences, and follow up with the patient to assess healing.
My years of experience with EMS has taught me how to lead a team. I do it well. I have learned to be very thorough, whether obtaining a medical history or completing an assessment on an unconscious patient. I completed athletic training internships while working on a Master’s of Sport Science in Sports Medicine in multiple sports at various levels of competition. These experiences were valuable because I was involved in prevention, detection, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries. I worked as a physical therapy aide at a rehabilitation hospital. Under the direction of physical therapists, I helped people recover from life-altering conditions such as orthopedic surgeries, strokes, cardiopulmonary events, traumatic brain injuries, and amputations. It was here that I learned to see the patient as a whole, not just an injury. These experiences have given me a solid background of which I am proud. I, of course, want more.
Aidan Burton says
Standing in line at the Natural History Museum as a child, I squeezed my mother’s hand with excitement. I was finally going to see the new dinosaur exhibit. We entered the building, immediately rushing to the display. I smiled with enthusiasm as a sea of sand lay before me. One filled with fossilized treasures. After unveiling the bones, I examined all the hills and valleys, trying to understand each part of the reptile’s structure. Little did I know that this would be the start of an unending inquisitiveness for biological structures.
As I became older, my interests became clearer. Diving deeper into biological sciences, I discovered a new love for the field of medicine. I acted upon my passion and enrolled in pre-collegiate science courses that focused mainly on biomechanical and anatomical studies. Later on, I would be given the opportunity to further my education in college.
Although university life was rigorous in balancing academic success with athletic achievement, I still had a great passion for healthcare. Originally, I had planned on becoming a physician. However, when I learned of the physician’s assistant position, it was the perfect fit for me! This resonated even more so when I shadowed my good friend Anthony Petruzzi, a Physician’s Assistant at Metro-Health.
Being able to see what Mr. Petruzzi’s job entailed was both fascinating and eye-opening. Even though I was just a fly on a wall, I was able to see the full experience first-hand. After my time with Mr. Petruzzi, everything seemed to make sense. I understood more about what the career demanded and its inner workings. This was my epiphany. I loved it.. Every aspect of this field appealed to me. My desire to become a Physician’s Assistant was magnified. At that moment, I became determined to make this my future.
After graduating college, I needed to gain hands-on healthcare experience. I applied as a patient care nursing assistant at the Cleveland Clinic. My journey began on a colorectal floor. The job was tedious and demanding but I gained a greater perspective of the healthcare system. Every work day I interacted with at least 8 patients, although there is one that still remains in my mind.
I had just finished the six-week orientation process on my nursing unit and was working alone for the first time. It was a night shift and around 2 o’clock in the morning. A nurse approached me and said that one of the patients was incontinent and needed to be cleaned. I approached room 35 where the patient was crying. She was a sweet 85-year-old grandmother diagnosed with dementia. Smiling and always in a good mood I was surprised to see her in such a state. I gently escorted her to a bedside commode and briefly turned around to put on gloves. I suddenly heard the splash of fluid hitting the floor. The woman was seizing on the bedside toilet. I immediately called out for help and hit the emergency button. A wave of nurses rushed in to assist me while I held her head in my hands, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. My desire to care for this woman in any way I could solidified my decision to pursue becoming a physician’s assistant.
For all of my life I have been enamored by the concepts of anatomy and general health. The always evolving quest to discover something new inspires me to fulfill my dream of becoming a Physician’s Assistant. Helping others is a gift that has granted me much peace throughout my life. Who knew that a young boy’s love for dinosaurs would open a whole new world. One filled with vast knowledge and a sense of gratitude that motivates me to wake up every morning. That little boy would be so proud.
Gabrielle Barron says
About 4 months ago, I was talking with my friend Jake about a possible career path change. He provided some insight by launching into a story of a night out with his friends. He discussed one of his friends working as a dancer at the club. Eventually, Jake got to his point: “Some jobs aren’t as they seem, and people will probably have their own opinion about your job, but at the end of the day as long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.” I remember him telling me, “Point is Gabby—you will do well in anything.”
Two days later after having that conversation with my friend, he died from leukemia. Jake’s death greatly impacted my outlook on life, which in turn allowed me to look at possible careers differently. After he died, I began to realize the obstacles I wanted to overcome in my life. At that time, I really wasn’t putting much meaning to his words, but now that I look back I realize their true intent. I realized that I didn’t want to do just one “thing” in my life; I wanted to do a lot of things. I knew that I have a long “to do” list that I want to get accomplish in my life and the sole way to complete those items was to pursue being a physician assistant.
Many experiences have led me to choosing my decision to become a PA. Beginning with my shadowing at the Developmental Assessment Clinic at Sparrow Hospital, I was able to observe various health professionals in the treatment of children with delayed-development issues. The collaboration from the physical, psychological, and emotional perspectives of various health disciplines assisted in creating a holistic diagnosis for the patient. I was also able to use my previous knowledge from my psychology and human development courses to understand the child’s developmental stages and milestones that they were achieving in their course of treatment. From observing this clinic, I began to see the significance of the different approaches to medicine and how, as a PA, I would be able to facilitate that in my everyday practice.
I have also had many interactions with health care from working at North Ottawa Family Medicine. During my experience as a Patient Registration Clerk, I assisted patients in relaying medical information to and from providers in our office. I also had the privilege to shadow Theresa Pebbles, PA-C, who is an extraordinary medical professional and extremely personable with her patients. She is very thorough in her approach to medicine. She incorporates the many different aspects of healthcare and patient care, balancing the internal anatomy, physiology, and psychology of the human body with the external environment, nutrition, and personal lifestyle concerns. From working with Theresa, I was able to see how she works as a team with everyone in the office. The teamwork between the physicians, medical assistants, managers, and front staff helped the office treat patients thoroughly and efficiently. My experience with various roles in the office, as a shadow and a clerk, will help me in becoming a more understanding and collaborative provider in the future. The experiences through these positions are also why being a PA is my ideal career.
One of the most meaningful organizations that I had the opportunity to become involved with is Ele’s Place. This group is a grieving center for children and adults suffering from the loss of a loved one. I was able to work with the Pre-K group as a Support Group Facilitator, assisting children in mourning the death of their parents or grandparents. In my experience with these parents and children, the relationship between mental health and grieving is even more apparent. This organization helped me relate to others and improve my empathetic listening skills, so in the future I will be able to connect more personally with patients.
PAs are an integral part of our growing American healthcare system. The demand for mid-level providers has been increasing and will continue to do so in the coming years. Not only is the profession quickly developing, but PAs also have the ultimate flexibility needed for the lifestyle that I want to attain. Becoming a PA will allow me to focus my career on a wide diversity of issues and interests, which is a goal that I have always considered essential in my future success. As a future PA, I hope to work with patients that have experienced grief, as well patients from many different backgrounds. I also hope to utilize my psychology background as I train and learn to work with these patients. These experiences shape both the PA that I want to become and how I hope to grow in the future.
Joshua Ginsberg says
The nurse entered the crowded room and over the muffled chatter called my name, “Joshua Ginsberg?” I looked up, she smiled in the warm way medical professionals do. As we entered the next room, the first thing that struck me was the level of care and compassion the medical staff demonstrated. Although assisting numerous patients, each with their own unique diagnoses, I always felt that my comfort was a top priority. The compassion and kindness these physicians and their assistants displayed will forever be ingrained in my mind because it was during this time I realized that I too wanted to work in medicine and not only have an impact in others’ lives, but also make a difference in my community. Everyone talks about change for the better, but many people rarely define how this can be achieved. The reason I want to practice medicine is to help others who need it most. By becoming a physician assistant I will have the opportunity to promote health and wellness on a personal level. The reassurance of my providers during this difficult time not only eased my anxiety, but their concern for my wellbeing and the other patients made me realize that medicine was much more than just a job to them. To me, medicine is much more than a job, but a calling. The ethos of medicine has always appealed to me and because helping others takes passion and commitment and I believe that every medical professional should go beyond the call of duty.
Growing up has not been easy. In a busy household with three additional siblings, one of which is my twin brother, education wasn’t heavily emphasized. In fact, I was the only one of my siblings to graduate high school and the first member of my family to graduate college. Because I didn’t have much support, I learned how to be independent from an early age, which I believe is an important aspect in a physician assistant’s line of work. Although interdependent practitioners, physician assistants should have a sense of independence while, at the same time, have the ability to work with physicians to solve problems and care for patients.
I have always had an ambition to continue learning. One of the most appealing aspects of becoming a physician assistant is the fact that I can switch specialties and further my education at any point in my career. When first entering college, I had to make significant adjustments to my lifestyle–everything from study habits to mode of transportation changed dramatically. I would be lying if I denied feeling overwhelmed during my first semester of college, but by pushing my boundaries, I forced myself to adapt and learn to thrive under pressure. I was then able to transfer these skills whiles working with patients. In retrospect, I wish I would have devoted more time to gaining more patient care experience during college, but with rent and bills piling up, it was challenging to find time to accumulate more volunteering hours. Although it was not easy, working during undergrad taught me many life lessons, the most important ones being time management and diligence.
Since graduation, I have been actively seeking more opportunities for health care experience. Shadowing has proven to be invaluable in educating me about the various roles throughout medicine. Additionally, working in pulmonology over the past year has allowed me to engage more with patients. Early on I learned that one of my favorite aspects about medicine is patient interaction because I enjoy educating patients about their health. For most of my life, I took every breath for granted but after seeing how these patients struggled, my perspective changed and my desire to help climbed. Imagine you are trying to breathe, but with every shallow breath your airway becomes obstructed, until you can no longer inhale, or to be constantly fatigued because your body is not getting sufficient oxygen. That is everyday life for most of the patients I worked with.
I was thrilled to see that every physician assistant I worked with took the time to individually educate their patients. Having the opportunity to shadow these individuals helped open my eyes into the roles I would have in medicine. Allowing me to realize the opportunities one can have as a physician assistant and, ultimately, why pursuing a career as a PA was right for me. Although handling a majority of the patient load alone, each PA took the time to ensure the patient understood exactly what was being done, even if that meant staying an extra hour or two past closing. It is clear to me that the connections physician assistants have with their patients are deep and personal. Working with healthcare professionals has helped me build relationships based on trust, understanding, and respect. These interactions act as daily inspiration to follow my dream of becoming a physician assistant to accomplish progress with my patients and provide the uppermost care, just as those dedicated providers that helped me all those years ago.
Shannon Bauer says
A nine-year-old girl has weight loss and frequent urination that has lead her mother and her to the pediatric emergency room. Her mother is worried because she has no idea what is going on and how their lives are about to change. The little girl looks up at her mother in confusion because she does not know why her mother is crying and why they are at the hospital. The nurses bring them back to an examination room and begin to explain what is about to happen and that their lives are about to change. The endocrinologist comes in with crazy shoes with dogs on them and begins to calm the mother and daughter down and explain what Type 1 Diabetes is.
I was the sick nine-year-old child in that story. That is one of my most profound memories, as a day that changed my life forever in more than just one way. My endocrinologist, Dr. Robin Nemry, has been such a positive influence in my life, not just in the medical care she provided me, but in the humanity, she has shown me by dealing with me as a whole person and not just a disease. She understood how to treat me as a young child, a rebellious teenager and a college bound student. She showed me first hand that empathy is a trait that medical caregivers should have to be successful. As a nine-year old, I wanted to be like her because she had dogs pictured on her shoes and got to work with children, but my intentions changed as I grew up. I could see how much she genuinely cared for her patients as a whole human being with compassion.
While I have not allowed diabetes to define me as an individual, as a young woman I have come to realize that diabetes has challenged me both physically and emotionally it has undeniably shaped who I am. I have learned that we are all given challenges, some more difficult than others, but in the end it is not the challenges that define us but rather how we deal with them. Because of diabetes and my interactions with my endocrinologist, I found my passion in life to pursue a career in medicine.
I have had the opportunity to care for patients as a Patient Care Technician (PCT) on a Medical Surgical Unit at Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel. Early on I came to the realization that as a PCT it was not only my responsibly to care for the patients’ basic care needs such as, personal hygiene and toileting but to care for them on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. I have cared for patients wishing I could do more for them and their care. I have celebrated with patients who found out that after being in the hospital for a week they are finally being discharged, supported them when their surgery was postponed yet another day, and consoled them when they only came in for abdominal pain but found out they have colon cancer. In those moments with patients it was not about me taking their vital signs or helping them to the restroom, it was about being there for them as a person. I want to be that physician assistant who can make patients physically better but also emotionally and spiritually better.
I can still remember the first time a patient hugged me as I was discharging her from the hospital. This particular woman came into the hospital for a shoulder surgery expecting to leave that same day but finally left seven days later. I had the pleasure of caring for her four of those seven days while she was on my floor. She was most grateful when I helped her shower and wash her hair because she said, “It helped her feel like a new person”. That simple act of washing her hair for her made such an impact on her. To me I was just caring for her as a whole person who has many needs and not just a shoulder surgery, which is how I care for each patient.
While I am naturally a caregiver, I want to be a Physician Assistant so I can have a more influential role in patient care and treat patients as a whole person not just a diagnosis or symptom. Many have tried to persuade me into medical school instead, but PAs have more advantages than doctors. As a PA, I will have the ability to be a lifelong learner and the flexibility to change specialties throughout my career. Right now I wish to be an endocrinologist specialist to treat those who have similar illnesses as myself, but later on in my career I would switch to geriatrics to help better treat and serve the aging United States population.
PAs also have the ability to spend more time with each patient. As a PA I want to show my patients empathy just as my doctor did when I was nine years old because that meant the world to me. Patients are humans who deserve to be treated like people and sincerely attended to. I believe that to best treat a patient you should treat them with empathy and not sympathy because it shows you understand what they are feeling. As a PA I want to be that person that not only treats the patient’s medical needs but also provides empathy and love when caring for them.
Katie Lockie says
“Is that your baby?” I smile shamefully, not knowing what to say as yet another mall employee looks down on me with distaste as she stares at my 5-month old baby brother in his stroller. I was twelve years old at the time, and my brother and I would stroll around the mall while my mom worked her third part-time job at the drop-in daycare center. At just 12 years old, I had become accustomed to handling the complete care of an infant. I knew exactly how warm his formula should be, I knew just the right way to hold him when he was tired, and I knew exactly what to do when he wouldn’t calm down: walk him in the stroller. By the time he was two, I had spent all of my time outside of school watching him, and he and I had developed a very special relationship, which we still have today. My childhood was very different from anyone else that I knew, but in many ways it made me the person that I am today. I developed a close connection to my family, and realized that family will always come first in my life. I developed a strong passion for working with kids. I learned the importance of obtaining a financially stable job before having children. I realized that I never wanted to stop experiencing the rewarding feeling of making a sad, sick, or unhappy child feel better.
Just five years ago, I watched cancer win its toughest battle as it took my grandfather’s life. Growing up, I never understood why the doctors who could perform so many miracles could not put a stop to the most horrific disease in our society. Science, medicine, and the human body have always intrigued me. The topics that would leave my friends drowning in boredom seemed to fascinate me, and I always strived to learn more. I found myself searching the Internet to discover how the antibiotic I was given for strep throat would battle bacteria in my body. I spent countless hours researching how the cancer invading my Grandfather’s colon had made him so sick, or why Multiple Sclerosis was making my Grandmother lose the function of her legs. I continue to be interested and excited about all of the complicated and precise medicines that extraordinary doctors have discovered that are helping so many people. My ultimate career goal is to put my knowledge to the ultimate test: saving lives. I plan to become the compassionate and selfless figure that was alongside my family through our difficult time during my grandfather’s illness.
After I started college, I was eager to gain some patient care experience. I took a CNA course, and began working for a home healthcare company. My first pediatric patient was an 11 year-old girl suffering from dystonia, so fragile that she required two people to move her. Seeing her look up and smile at me was the most rewarding feeling in the world. After graduating college, I knew that I wanted to expand my patient care experience in pediatrics. I found the perfect job in the pediatric clinic at National Jewish Health, where I had the opportunity to work with children and babies who were suffering from allergies, asthma, and atopic dermatitis. I loved interacting and caring for my patients, and I knew that pediatrics was my calling. However, I knew that I needed to expand my clinical skills, and I was not able to do so in my role at NJH. I took a position in the research clinic at UC Health, where I have had the opportunity to learn phlebotomy, IV placement, clinical skills, and contribute to cutting edge clinical research. I also get to shadow and observe many experienced PA’s while they are interacting with our patients.
One of my biggest goals in life is to start my own family. Medical school has been intimidating for me because I do not want to have to put my life on hold for internships, residency, and the extreme time commitment of becoming an MD. I was first introduced to the PA profession in high school, when I found out that our family pediatrician, whom I had looked up to for many years, was a PA. This is when I began to think about going to PA school. I do want to have children in my near future, and family life is more of a possibility for PA’s. Aside from this, the need for mid-level providers like PA’s has been steadily increasing, and their role will continue to be a vital part of the medical field. Becoming a PA is also appealing because of the lateral mobility of the profession. Choosing one specialty and sticking to it for the rest my career is not necessarily a requirement. PA’s get to practice medicine essentially the same way that an MD would, and the flexibility of the profession is a big deciding factor for me.
All of my life experiences contributed to my decision to pursue a career in medicine. I have huge interests in human health and the treatment of human disease, and I have a special heart for working with people, especially children. I am in search of a career that will be satisfying both personally and professionally, and I believe that I have found that in becoming a physician assistant.
Ashley Booe says
As a child, I could never find my way because my head was always in a book. My favorites were adventure novels and I would sit for hours reading about journeys to outlandish civilizations or flights in extrasolar galaxies. Racing through the story, I would become a bystander to the action, peering in as betrayal or romance unfolded before my eyes. However, while the voyages were breathtaking, the people encountered were most intriguing and I wanted so badly to meet and talk with every one of the characters.
When I began working on the acute and brain injury units at Community Rehabilitation Hospital as a patient care technician, I finally received the opportunity to converse with people reminiscent of the characters in my novels. Every day spent at the hospital was another page in the adventure novel, another group of characters to meet, and another opportunity to become even a small part in the story of my patient’s lives.
One story was about Jon, a quadriplegic with a rare demyelinating disorder—Guillain-Barré Syndrome—with whom I spent countless hours discussing our mutual love for superheroes. Jon loved racing down the hallways in his motorized wheelchair as he got more mobility in his hands to use the joystick and we discussed the possibility of designing a wheelchair that could transform into a robotic super-suit. His superhero archetype was personified by the care Jon showed for his children. As a divorced father of two children, he often lamented how he would have to find different ways to be a great father for them while living in a wheelchair. When the nursing staff saw the kids visit though, we had no doubt Jon would be a great hero for them to look up to.
Another story featured Jane, a sweet 99-year old lady, who amazed me with her book documenting everything she had done in just her 99th year including jet skiing, hiking in the Grand Canyon, and snorkeling amongst bright fish. She had intraocular melanoma, among other diagnoses, and often did pirate impersonations as she said it made her feel less insecure about her eye patch she used to cover the socket where her eye once was. Jane would make jokes about how felt her next escapade should be boarding a sailboat on the Caribbean where she’d be the oldest pirate of the seas. I never found out whether she had accomplished the venture as we never heard from her again.
Working in the hospital firmly rooted a passion to make a positive impact in people’s lives by helping them continue their storyline with maximized ability. Shadowing in healthcare settings elucidated how to become such a protagonist. This is where I met the Jon Watson of a patient’s medical team: the physician assistant. At the Johnson Memorial Hospital internal medicine clinic, I witnessed the amount of time that the PA was able to dedicate to creating a whole-view of the patient’s health needs in conjunction with their lifestyle. She developed a treatment plan with care and specificity while working alongside the physician and nurse to ensure each patient’s complex physiology was managed carefully. In another shadowing experience, I was able to observe the magnificence of a real-life wizard of Oz, seemingly giving improved hearts, brains, and, in this case, a spinal column, through the operation room at the Indiana Spine Hospital. Calmly, the physician assistant clamped open the field for a lumbar fusion while assisting navigation for the correct vertebrae. I couldn’t believe that her life was dedicated to peering into that incredible view and making improvements on its nearly perfect design. One patient remarked in clinic 3 months’ post-surgery how life-changing her operation had been so far and how she was planning hikes that she’d had to stop when the pain became too much in her legs. The PA-physician team enhances the quality of life for their patients by providing a level of care that is necessary for such an immense feat.
Being a physician assistant is similar to being the navigator of a great quest novel, encountering along the way people of all shapes and forms that need assistance and eventually are brought to the forefront of the plot as well. The views of the human body they appreciate every day and the characters they are able to impact creates an incarnation of the novels I grew up on. The healthcare field that seems so magical to me is a world I want to be so desperately a part of. Every patient who has told me their story and let me be a part of theirs allowed me to regain my childhood by surrounding myself with diverse characters from a variety of backgrounds. For the past two years, I have been involved in healthcare and I am no longer a bystander reading the action. Moreover, I want to be a turning point in someone’s story as a physician assistant. Because, for me, the ability to heal others and allow them to continue their journey is the greatest adventure novel of all.
Ashlyn Ebel says
I do not remember the exact day, month, or even year that I decided I wanted to become a physician assistant (PA), but I was sure from a young age that I wanted a career in the medical field. On a sunny, warm, and cloudless day in late July, I was playing in my final championship tournament as a travel softball player. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. The team had gone out to lunch and we were relaxing before out next game, when out of nowhere I began to feel this paralyzing pain. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced radiating across my right side and into my back. No one had an explanation and before I knew it I was on my way to the emergency room. On the way there, the pain began to slowly disappear and by the time we arrived was gone. Later that night the pain returned and we were off to the emergency room again, this time the pain persisted and the doctor ordered a CT scan. The scan showed there were multiple kidney stones in both kidneys, but they were small and with the help of pain medication I could control the pain until the stone passed. In the meantime, I was referred to a urologist for an additional follow-up. When we made the appointment, they asked if we would like to be seen by the PA. This was not the first time that I had been seen by a PA, but Autumn left an impression on me. I was nervous and a little anxious about what having kidney stones meant, she immediately put me at ease. Even though I was only 17 years old, she was patient, explaining everything in a way that I could understand, taking away some of the fear and anxiety. At college, 400 miles from home, I dealt with kidney stones several times, sending me to the emergency room, but Autumn was always a phone call away and able to help me navigate through these visits and unfamiliar doctors.
As an undergraduate athletic trainer (AT) at a Division I school, I had the opportunity to work with women’s volleyball, women’s soccer, football, and in a physical therapy clinic. The athletic training field is devoted to creating a healing environment where every athlete has a team of ATs and physicians working together to prevent, diagnose, and treat injuries. I have found tremendous joy and success through connecting with the athletes, therapists, and physicians. As an AT, my top priority is to make sure my athletes safety is put above all else. The pressure to get an athlete back as soon as possible to help the team is high, but we must ensure that the athletes-physical, emotional, and mental health is our highest priority in decision making. As rewarding as these interactions have been, I feel that it is time to further my education so that I can provide a more comprehensive and complete healthcare experience for my patients. This desire to provide the best holistic care has me wanting to experience other medical fields, something I would be able to do as a physician assistant.
Each semester the AT program required us to shadow and observe 5 different medical professionals in disciplines outside of orthopedics. Some of the specialists we had an opportunity to shadow included disciplines like: neurology, family practice, nutrition, psychology, emergency medicine, general surgery, radiology, and pediatrics. One of my first observations was in pediatrics was with a physician assistant. She embodied the qualities I want to model: compassion, empathy, humor, and responsiveness to the patients’ needs and concerns along with the concerns of their parents. Her career path also began as an AT. Athletic trainers share many of the same qualities that PAs have-good communication skills, the ability to work as a member of a team, and compassion and empathy for their patients. A Physician Assistant not only practices clinical medicine, but can instill outward changes in their patients through patient-centric care. It is a field where you confront a patient’s everyday health behaviors and work with them to maintain and improve their health as a vital member of their healthcare team.
My journey towards PA school has been one of twists and turns, each leading me down this pathway. Growing up, sports consumed my identity, I found pride through the mental discipline, physical challenge, and team work of sports. When I began my undergraduate degree, I knew it was time to re-create myself once again, this time, as an athletic trainer. The skills and knowledge that I have already acquired-team work, good communication skills, and injury prevention, diagnosis and treatment will serve me well as I transition to becoming a PA. In athletic training, I have always wanted to do more. Though I understand my scope of practice and have gained a great deal of knowledge by helping my athletes navigate doctors’ visits, rehab protocol and mental struggles, this has sparked my passion to continue learning and taking on more responsibility for my patient’s care by becoming a physician assistant.
Brittany Leigh Barbarisi says
The blazing spotlights wither my carefully coiffed locks. Heart racing, nerves jumping, adrenaline coursing through my veins–I saunter to the dance floor. My partner, randomly selected by the judges, joins me before the huge contingent of West Coast Swing fans and competitors. We’ve never met before, so my partner and I bow to one another, then go in for the embrace to feel the connection. The next 90 seconds will determine whether my two years of rigorous dance training will pay off. The music starts and my partner barely suppresses his glee–they’re playing one of his favorites! It’s a tune I’ve never heard, but we flow into a series of moves that make it look like we’ve been dancing together our entire lives. The song ends and the crowd erupts. It’s clear who the winners will be…
The surgical lights bake me through my scrubs and the screeching rescue radio pierces my eardrums. Heart racing, nerves jumping, adrenaline coursing through my veins–I leap to meet the EMTs wheeling in a critical patient. The next 90 seconds will determine whether or not my years of medical training will pay off. I’ve never worked with this ED team before, so I stand ready to assist where needed. Blood is spurting, mucus flying, I’m poised to jump in to assist. Code blue! The doctor orders me to start compressions and I spring to work. It’s like dancing swing. I’m counting, sweating, triceps burning when a fresh doctor takes over for me. The patient will live. It’s clear that my hard work paid off…
My two passions: dance and healthcare. So different, yet so alike. Both allowing me to expand my mind, challenge myself, and work with others.
Evolution of dance and healthcare is constant. In dance the music is always changing and new dance styles are incorporated. In healthcare there is always research being conducted: new diagnostic testing found, diseases discovered, and variations in treatment. Since they are ever-changing fields I will have the opportunity to be a life-long learner and continually challenge myself. The challenge lies in the fact that I will always need to stay up to date on the changes in each field in order to be competitive against my peers and remain knowledgeable to best serve my students and patients. Speaking of students and patients, I enjoy working with people and work to serve those less fortunate. I currently teach dance to adolescents with disadvantaged backgrounds. Whether they come from families with low income or drug abuse, or they themselves have a mental disability, I strive to help them and gladly do it free of charge. In relation to medicine/healthcare, I currently volunteer as a crisis text counselor because I believe mental health is important and affects a majority of the population. I also currently work in cardiovascular, which is mostly geriatric patients, who struggle the most with chronic illness, financial disadvantage, and decline in their mental faculties. My desire to make dance and healthcare permanent in my life increases on a daily basis, the more I learn and the more experience I get. In fact, pursuing higher education for my career in healthcare is my main focus right now.
I have worked in healthcare for a while now. I’ve worked as a pharmacy technician, scribe, medical assistant, and even obtained my certification as an EMT. I’ve worked in emergency, obstetrics/gynecology, neurosurgery, and cardiology. I’ve found that I favor hands on work with patients. Working as a medical assistant I’ve been able to cultivate relationships with my patients. Although I may love my work I find myself limited by my scope of practice. After working directly with physician assistants in the various specialties I’ve found that their level of autonomy and ability to diagnose and treat patient fits with what I’m looking for in a career. I will be able to challenge myself, be a lifelong learner, and work more closely with people. I also believe that I have the necessary skills to be successful in the field. With my unique experiences in dance and work I have learned adaptability, the language and application of empathy, innovative and analytical perspectives, resilience, integrity, and interpersonal communication skills. It’s with these qualities and my motivation that I will become a physician assistant. All I need now is to attend an accredited physician assistant program that encompasses those aforementioned qualities and teaches altruism, community (in and out of the classroom), ethics, professionalism, inter-professional education, leadership, and prepares students for success on the PANCE and in clinical settings.
Megan Avery says
The sound of the whistle and feeling of scoring the game-winning goal have continually filled my soul since five years old. Year after year, days consisting of practices, traveling, and games turned into a lifestyle; pursing excellence on and off the field. Every football game, school dance or birthday party I missed with traveling or extra practice had paid off. The opportunity to compete at a high level challenged me. My passion and dedication to excellence lead me to my college soccer career.
Half way into my freshman year of college, I experienced my first injury that drove me to the sidelines. During my recovery, my primary focus involved returning to the field stronger. I was motivated and inspired by the medical professionals who provided a high standard of care. I enjoyed the problem solving aspect of being a student athlete and my injury added another element. Scientifically solving a medicinal problem as a team translated directly to my soccer career. I found an outlet for my passion of excellence as my soccer career was coming to a close.
My interaction with medical professionals coupled with my academic studies piqued my interest in medicine. In my final semesters of college, I was introduced to the physician assistant career at an emergency department in Colorado Springs. The high energy and faced paced environment left me in awe and the smooth movement of medical professionals working together felt exhilarating. I was most impressed with the PA’s role to diagnose and provide treatment while affording more time with the patients. Patients were discharged and I often wondered about their follow up care and wanted a more direct role in the patient’s care. I then took a job at Western Wyoming Dermatology and Surgery as a medical assistant. At a smaller practice, I observed how the PAs built a rapport with patients and provided comprehensive care. Assisting in surgeries appealed to my interest of being an integral component of high quality care; yet being a medical assistant did not reward me with the same sense of accomplishment and prestige I strive for.
As an athlete, it is important to understand the body to achieve optimal performance. Years of training on the field and in the classroom taught me efficient ways to fuel, recover and strengthen my body. My soccer injury allows me to empathize with others, and share cautionary tales. As a PA, I would be able to apply my experiences as an athlete to help patients achieve quality health care like what I sought out during my injury. The ability to diagnose and treat medical conditions serves my admiration of science and provides me great satisfaction.
The thrill I would feel after scoring the game winning goal has translated to my enthusiasm and dedication to becoming an PA. I strive to be an essential member of the healthcare team and provide the highest quality care possible. My experience as a student athlete has prepared me for the rigorous PA program and I am eager to meet to challenge. I am excited to work independently and collaboratively in a challenging environment, working to improve the quality of life for individuals seeking help.
Mary says
“You are going to be a great teacher, just like your mom”, was a phrase littered my childhood. I grew up in a family full of educators. As a child, I never really felt like people gave me the option to choose what I wanted to become because education was the path I was expected to take. Due to this overwhelming pressure, I continuously pushed back as a teenager denying the fact that I would ever be an educator and pursuing opportunities that would put me outside of the education field.
About a year ago I began working as an EMT on nights and weekends while juggling college. I entered this job with the anticipation of berserk trauma calls, and gnarly stories to tell people when they ask about my job. Instead, what impacted me the most was unexpected. As I went on more calls, I realized how little people know about their own health. I also gained an enlightening perspective on how people live, and their perception of medical professionals. Most of the time when people call EMS they call because of medical problems that occur normally as side effects and symptoms to a disease that the patient had previously been diagnosed with. Seeing the number of people who lack the proper education and knowledge needed to handle their chronic disease made me realize how much education the public needs on their health and medical conditions.
One of my first calls where I really saw the impact of this lack of patient education was on a call to see Sarah. Sarah called EMS because of an escalated heart rate. When we arrived on scene we walked into her living room and found her on the couch with five pulse oximeters lined up beside her. The patient would test her heart rate in one oximeter and then move to the next one to determine if the reading was accurate. As it turned out, Sarah had been previously diagnosed with COPD and a variety of anxiety disorders. At her doctor’s appointment the week before, she asked at what heart rate she should be concerned about and her doctor told her anything above 100 beats per minute. Due to her anxiety and little understanding of on her health, Sarah wanted to go to the hospital because her heart rate was too high indicting a complication with her COPD. The only treatment we administered to Sarah included reassurance and the explanation that a heart rate of 107 made no difference to clinicians as a heart rate of 100. As we reassured her that her hear rate was normal, Sarah’s anxiety subsided, thus causing her heartrate to drop back to levels in which she found familiar.
The realization that the public needs to better understand common medical conditions really inspired me to continue pressuring my medical career. Patients need clinicians who are advocates for their wellbeing, take the time out to teach them about their conditions, and stick with them throughout their medical journey. As an EMT I always wonder if my patients get the help they need and deserve, and as a PA I will be able to accomplish this. I can work in settings where I can continue to care for the patient throughout their lives, educating them along the way due to changes in their life and in their health. One thing I would like to focus on as a PA is teaching my patient what signs and symptoms should prompt them to go to the hospital, and which circumstances are normal and do not require a trip to the doctor. This would not only help the patients but also will affect EMS, hospitals, and patient wait times.
I have seen this work through physician assistants in my life, encouraging me to continue to pursue this career path. Last summer by mother developed an abscess on the back of her leg. When it started to turn black she decided to go to urgent care. At urgent care the doctor lanced the abscess and sent it off for culturing. A few days later my mom received a phone call telling her that her abscess contained MRSA. They gave her paperwork from the CDC telling her to bathe in certain soaps and how to take care of her infection. My mom felt overwhelmed by all of the information and when she went back for a follow-up visit she decided to ask questions. At the follow-up visit a PA unpacked her wound instead of a doctor. My mom asked her questions about the CDC material, and the PA explained that they would only apply to her if she had a reoccurring infection. Both my mother and I appreciated that the PA took the time out to explain the next steps of treatment, as well as tell my mom what to look for just in case she had a second infection. It is important that patients get the pertinent information about their health, that they can not only understand, but carry out to ensure the most comprehensive treatment.
Many people who I have transported have a very negative connotation of nurses and physicians. Although I do not agree in these ideals, many patients think that nurses are not knowledgeable and often do not listen to their advice. They also think that physicians only care about making money and do not have the patient’s wellbeing in mind. These ideas helped lead me to the PA profession because it creates a niche where I can take the middle ground between a nurse and a doctor to have a positive interaction with my patients. This niche will allow me to educate my patients on how to take care of themselves, hopefully leading to better health for the patient, and less trips to the ER. With my job as an EMT I have enjoyed helping patients receive medical care and be there for them in their time in need. However, I want to take my knowledge and skill set further, and therefore give me more resources and techniques to help patients in a time a crisis, but also beyond. In the end, all of those people from my childhood were right, I am meant to be an educator, just in an unconventional way.