Application Essay

Answer

Application Essay

My application to the USC Primary Care PA Program is driven by intense personal desire to advance my education in physician assistant. Moreover, the program is highly appealing to me due to my dedicated interest in the service of the medically underserved, or rather the disadvantaged members of the society. Essentially, the program’s emphasis on the concept of diversity is what appeals to me most of all. I share a similar appreciation for diversity in a globalized world and, therefore, strongly desire to learn from an institution that places great emphasis on the same. My application essay covers five major areas: my patient-care experience; my priorities in life; my intended contributions to the university and community; my alternate interest; and my understanding of integrative medicine.

Patient Care Experience

In the past and over the course of my education, I have had considerable experience in patient care. My first experience was as a health care support worker with Black Country NHS Foundation Trust. I had a chance to offer my services to vulnerable adults who suffered from dementia among other mental illnesses. My experience in working with mentally ill patients manifested my capacity and desire to support members of community who were deemed to be disadvantaged and less fortunate. Despite the fact that my services as a volunteer support worker were limited to my specialty, I was able to appreciate my contribution to the community ultimately.

My most significant patient-care experience was acquired while working at Birmingham City Hospital as a ward service officer. Through this experience, I was able to acknowledge the essence of building trust and confidence between a health care provider and a patient. At the hospital, I mainly served the role of assisting patients, staff and nurses along with maintenance of orderliness and cleanliness. This gave me an opportune chance to witness how all these people interacted with patients and to learn from my own encounters with the same in my role as their assistant.

My experience gave me profound understanding of patient-care. I gained substantial insight from perceiving patients’ conditions through conversing with them, addressing their apprehensions and concerns, and working closely with the nurses whose primary job was to care for these patients.

Additionally, working at the Birmingham City Hospital also provided me with an opportunity to observe the interaction between doctors and their patients. Essentially, the doctors at the hospital were eager to create mutual confidence and trust with their patients. They also served patients selflessly and were keen to incorporate patients’ interests and preferences in their own treatment plans whenever possible. I perceived the act of selflessness to be the noblest quality in doctors. Notably also, I witnessed precisely how patient-directed care functions. The health care providers at the hospital were eager to receive suggestions of patients with regards to their own care. Initially, I had presumed that health care providers would be reluctant to receive directions from patients concerning how they should treat them. I had never understood how such a system as patient-directed care could function effectively until I witnessed firsthand the negotiations that transpired between patients and physicians. My experience in helping the physicians by gaining patients’ trusts and reassuring them on the doctors’ behalf was delightful.

Priorities in Life

As an individual, I have three primary priorities in life, which I believe are strongly aligned with my desire to partake in the USC Primary Care PA Program. The first priority is to make an impact that matters in this world. I believe that each individual has a role to play in the world and that it is our human duty to contribute something during our stay in this place. As a person, I believe that I am responsible for leaving the world better than I found it. In serving this purpose in my life, I prioritize my role as an avid researcher in the field of health care. I intend to create a healthier world for everyone. Essentially, through my research work I constantly seek information on treatments for various diseases and someday, I hope to come up with a treatment for any certain ailment. Your PA program will give me ample opportunities to fulfill this personal endeavor.

People in general also constitute one of my priorities in life. I believe that human life matters tremendously and should, therefore, be preserved. More importantly, I believe that human life matters equally. There are people in society who are marginalized for various reasons, but mainly due to diversity. Your PA program places great emphasis on the importance and appreciation of diversity. Therefore, it strongly aligns with my interest in helping the marginalized or disadvantaged members of our society. I intend to help these people in whatever capacity as a health care provider. It is common knowledge that one of the major challenges faced by marginalized members of the community is access to suitable health care. I intend to fill this role in future.

All my priorities in life are correlated. Therefore, my third priority in life at the moment is to become a physician. In order to fulfill the roles and priorities that I have provided above, I believe that I must become a physician. Being a physician will allow me to create a healthier world. Partaking in the USC Primary Care PA Program will give me a chance to learn and gain new insights towards achieving this ultimate purpose. Additionally, by being a physician I will also have the opportunity to fulfill the health care needs of the marginalize individuals in the community. The USC Primary Care PA Program can strongly propel me towards achieving this goal.

Contributions to the University and Community

As a member of the USC Primary Care PA Program, I expect to make certain contributions both to the community and the university. Firstly, my intended contribution to the university will be my ground-breaking research success. I have a few ideas for potential ground-breaking medical research that when successful, will undoubtedly enhance the public image of the university as well as publicize it in general. I believe that such publicity would be beneficial to the university in terms of reigning in more supporters and interested students. Notably, I have an intrinsic skill for research work that makes me a more suitable physician assistant.

Additionally, it is evident that the USC Primary Care PA Program is highly appreciative of diversity in community. I share a natural appreciation for the same and could be useful to the university in this capacity. For instance, I could participate in a program that enlightens the rest of the university community on the importance of diversity and the need to treat each individual equally and fairly, despite their differences in terms of culture, age, sex, sexual orientation and race among others. Surprisingly, while these appear to be common elements of life, there are numerous individuals who still need the insight on diversity and how to handle themselves in situations that present challenges of diversity.

Furthermore, from the perspective of community, I intend to do as much volunteer work as possible. I have a rich history in volunteer work and therefore contributing to the community in this capacity will be no problem for a person with my experience. For instance, in the past I have worked as a volunteer at the Envision Community Member in researching various aspects of our society. During my time in the USC Primary Care PA Program, I intend to spare sufficient time to offer my health care services to the community in accordance with the acceptable standards of the university.

My ultimate contribution in the long run, to both the university and the community is to create a healthier world. I have a profound interest in coming up with better ways to treat diseases and improve the health care system in general. I believe that my particular talent in research work combined with the knowledge and insight that I intend to garner during my time at USC Primary Care PA Program will allow me to make a solid contribution to the health care system and thereby, create a healthier world for everyone.

My Alternate Interest

Outside of medicine, I spend a significant amount of time surfing the internet. While this may appear to be a pointless interest or hobby I, however, perceive it from a highly positive light. True, while surfing the internet I constantly come across information that is wholly unproductive but extremely entertaining. However, while my interest may be unrelated to medicine in general, it was born from my desire to learn new things and always remain updated with what is going on in the world around me. I have had an avid interest in surfing the internet for as long as I can remember. It is simply one of those things that I can do even subconsciously.

My desire in surfing the internet is mainly to learn of all kinds of news updates both locally and internationally. There is not much that is not contained on the internet and, therefore, I am able to learn of different kinds of information, both useful and needless, whenever I find myself surfing the internet. Mainly, I look for documentaries ranging from the absolutely nonsensical to the highly informative ones. Through this, I now know so many things about variable aspects of the world we live in that most of my peers are not even aware of. I find this knowledge to be empowering since then I am able to formulate and contribute my opinions on different things, regardless of the social context that I find myself in. Most of the time, I always have an inkling of what is being discussed as I have come across it on the internet at a certain point.

The thing that I find most productive about my interest in surfing the internet is that it has expanded my research skills tremendously. Currently, I find that there is literally nothing that I cannot locate on the internet; if it is there I will find it. I have developed a skill for locating information available on the internet. It is through this that I developed an interest in research work. Over the years in my career, I have constantly applied my research skills to further my knowledge and skills in my roles. I intend to use the same talent during my time at USC Primary Care PA Program to excel as well. Surfing the internet is one of my most preferable recreational activities. Aside from my interest in medicine, I mainly surf the internet for leisure purposes.

Integrative Medicine

The area of integrative medicine reasserts the essence of the connection between a patient and a health care provider. Its main focus is on the entire individual. Integrative medicine is strictly informed by evidence and utilizes all suitable therapeutic approaches available. The ultimate purpose of integrative medicine is to help health care profession and professionals to accomplish the most optimal health and healing.

Over the years, integrative health has become a progressively renowned model of whole-individual health care. It attempts to use evidence-based practice in the provision of care to patients as well. Many scientific organizations have attempted to comprehend integrative medicine by studying its cost-effectiveness, safety, and efficacy. These institutions include university-based medical centers. Through an observation of actual implementations of integrative medicine in real-life institutions, it is possible to acquire insight on such things as: the types of patients who are suitable candidates for integrative medical treatment; and the generalizability of the outcomes of integrative medical treatment.

The emergence and popularity of integrative medicine is driven by the progressive realization that while high technology medicine is extremely successful in many regions, it is incapable of fully handling the increasing pandemics of chronic illnesses that have taken such a major toll on individuals and several worldwide economies. As a result, integrative medicine was established for the purpose of furthering the prevention of diseases and promotion of health in creating a healthier world. Notably, several nations spend a lot of money trying to treat diseases such as chronic illnesses whereas only a small fraction of the national budget is dedicated towards prevention of these diseases and general promotion of health. There is overwhelming evidence that indicates that preventing diseases significantly reduces the burden of chronic diseases. For instance, when adults suffering from diabetes walked for a minimum of two hours every week, their mortality was reduced by 39 percent (Pan  & Zhou, 2014).

Altogether, the conception of integrative medicine is driven by the need to acknowledge and comprehend the wholeness of a person. Essentially, one who practices integrative medicine must learn to perceive an individual from a spiritual, social, psychological and biological standpoint collectively. Additionally, integrative medicine emphasizes on healing as well s the centrality of the relationship between the physician and the patient. It stresses on the least costly, least toxic and least invasive methods to aid in facilitating health by integrating complementary and allopathic therapies.

Conclusively, I believe that the USC Primary Care PA Program is the most suitable path for me on my journey towards becoming the physician that I want to be in future. I can learn a wealth of information and insight from partaking in this program. I only hope for a chance to continue my journey at your university and make my contributions to the world through health care.