Answer

Application Essay

Preparation for Matriculation into the Physician Assistant Program

Learning in a familiar environment is one of the factors that foster apposite concentration. From June 2017 to June 2018 before joining college, I plan to familiarize myself with the programs and policies of both the school and the program. Policies and programs of the school are on the website. Therefore, I plan to get an opportunity to get hold, read, and understand them. Having known that there an is orientation which shall enable students to be well conversant with individual policies and programs, they cannot be covered adequately; a fact that requires me to get more familiarized with such rules. Another issue which is important to me is the school regulations, which if not followed can lead to suspension or expulsion. During this period, I want to acquaint myself with such rules to avoid violating them when I start my program. Lastly, one year is a long time, as such I plan to work in one of the hospitals on the course to have more knowledge about the subject. I have already applied for volunteer work and an internship program to acquire more information and understand relevant and important issues in this particular program for easier progress during the course.

The Rewarding Aspect of my Community Service

Having gained substantive experience from several organizations such as British Red Cross, Birmingham, Bank Meli Clinic, and Birmingham City Hospital, Birmingham Casa, the knowledge I gained from Del Los Nino, Tucson is still outstanding. In this facility, I got extensive experience in foster family management and assessment. Particularly, I had a duty to assist adoptive parents to comply with regulations and perform periodic self-inspections of their homes.  Working as a supervisor, I was able to manage social work services such as offering food to the helpless children through the food management strategies of the company. Other than duties that were bestowed on me, I was also able to learn from my seniors who were delivering relevant information to the families such as family management. I worked as an educator, organizer, facilitator, and manager.  Having successfully performed, I realized that I am a person who can deliver successful task, and this can be very productive when I get more knowledge on the subject during my time in this course. Lastly, I also gained expertise in early and adolescent child development and protection, where I had an opportunity to understand what teenagers are undergoing, especially those who are less privileged in the society.

Medical Mission Work

 I have had several medical mission activities. However, the most important one is shadowing at Bank Meli Clinic where I worked as a shadow nurse. Despite the strict supervision, I managed to complete and was recommended to perform certain medical work by my supervisor, Dr. Sepideh Joulaei.  I did several activities at this facility, both light ones, and ones who demand time and attention. Mainly, I collected and entered patient demographic, personal and financial Information. Entered physician orders for prescribed tests, supplies and procedures. I also observed patients, made rounds and spent many hours doing everything the Physician did. In the end, I gained substantial knowledge and insight about the life of a physician and worked in a clinic. During this time, I got an opportunity to engage with several patients who had different types of medical conditions.

My Experiences with Special Needs Populations

When working with British Red Cross in Birmingham, I was given the duty to look after disabled children, visually impaired ones. The hope of most parents is that their child will be healthy and happy and continue to grow and thrive, learning the skills that will prepare him or her for an independent life as an adult. This was the dream that I was to achieve in this task. From the moment I was given the duty, I began observing the behavior of those children from as young as four years old. To complete the task, I had to read about child development and how to support a visually impaired child’s learning. From the duty, I gained extensive experience on how to deal with less privileged people within the community.

Academic Achievement, Life Experience, and Personal Strengths

It is important to note that unlike business courses, nursing and medical options are subjects that require good foundation academically.  My academic journey is strong indicators that my graduation will be successful as a physician assistant. I completed a course in Foundation in Life Science and Biomedical Sciences at Coventry University and graduated with an associate of science. After that, I continued with Bachelor of Science, Biomedical Science (Major), Biochemistry (Minor) in the same university. During these periods, I have attained several honors in medical microbiology, Humana genetics and society, and human biology in health and diseases. These awards are the perfect example of an individual who is determined to succeed despite challenges that may occur in the process. Other than that my life experience, dedication to assisting the community are among the driving factors that will compel me to graduate with recommendable grades to solve the problems of human diseases that I have longed for since I was a child.

How I Will Advance the Mission of Mercy College Physician Assistant Program

The Mercy College Physician Assistant Graduate Program is a full-time program aimed to prepare individuals for a rewarding, growing, and exciting career. After graduation, an individual will be able to possess an eclectic span of knowledge in several areas of medicine. The mission of the Mercy College Physician Assistant Graduate Program is to educate physician assistants to provide cost effective, quality, and accessible health care exclusively to the underserved patients in Hudson Valley and New York City. Mercy College has got a significant commitment to providing an opportunity to transform students’ lives through the proper education. It also offers professional programs and liberal arts in high quality and personalized learning environment, thereby preparing the learners to go aboard on rewarding careers and carry on with learning throughout their lives as well as act responsibly and ethically in this changing world. The Mercy College allows its students to concentrate on providing better and quality services to the local population in Hudson Valley and New York City as well as other parts of the world. It also trains the students to focus on making sure that the common citizens feel valued in regards to Medicare.

The Mercy College exemplifies the principles of primary health care incorporating the model of bio psychosocial of medical education. The bio-psychosocial model allows the students to learn how to integrate knowledge and skills from the biologic science, whereas integrating social and psychological factors with community or population based medicine so as to provide inclusive primary health care. The Mercy College encourages the students to provide accessible and affordable healthcare to the people. It also helps the students to ensure quality in healthcare since healthcare quality is the degree that the health services for the populace increase the prospect of the desired health care outcomes. The college as well educates the students on the importance of quality care. It advocates that quality of healthcare plays a vital role in highlighting the iron triangle of Medicare. The iron triangle of Medicare delineates the convoluted relationships amid accessibility, cost as well as the quality of healthcare within the society. The Mercy College measure healthcare quality to ascertain menaces caused by misuse, underuse or overuse of the health resources. The institution has released six domains of measuring and describing health care quality. These domains include safety, for example, circumventing injuries to the patients from a care intended to help him. Secondly is effective healthcare, for instance, eluding misuse and overuse of drugs. Other domains include efficiency, equity, timeliness, and patient centered care.

With my personal life experiences, interests, talents, academic background and training, I would advance this mission through encouraging students to venture into medical courses. I would also associate establishing more health facilities to enable people to access healthcare efficiently and with convenience. I would correspondingly encourage teamwork and collaboration in healthcare as a measure of providing quality healthcare. My passion has been supporting individuals more fully outside a health facility environment, by seeing the caregivers more fully incorporated into the community. It is my pleasure to encourage social workers to help in offering health services to the vulnerable as well the discriminated in the society

Hands-On Direct Patient Care Experience

I have had a lot of direct experiences with the patients, for example, I have worked with the Black Country NHS Foundation Trust as a Health Care Support worker, dealing directly with vulnerable adults who have dementia and other mental health problems. I had an experience of demonstrating techniques of communicating with persons with dementia. I also had an opportunity of showing responsibility in the provision of individual-centered care to shun discrimination and stereotyping. Similarly, I had an experience of demonstrating the effect the dementia symptoms have on patients’ abilities via a simulation of sensitivity and empathy. Through a direct contact with the individuals suffering from dementia, I have been able to know the common symptoms of dementia including changes in memory, concentration, and executive functioning. Other symptoms include difficulty with language as well as ability to communicate, difficulty with visual-spatial relations and difficulty with abstract thinking as well as reasoning. Some of the physical challenges related to dementia include diminished coordination, visual perceptions problems, and apraxia. On the other hand, communication problems related to dementia include word finding difficulties, word repetition, aphasia, and amnesia. I have laboratory experiences, for example, I have done a laboratory investigation in the impact of smoking on cholesterol level as well as sub cloning of the CIH-1 fungal gene. I also did a laboratory experiment in titration to determine the unknown concentration of a solution as well as analysis of DNA associated with gene cloning, for example, extraction of plasmid DNA.

Through the dementia experience, I learned that the disease is related to common emotions including loneliness, anxiety, sadness, anger, frustration, paranoia, and confusion. Some of the methods which can be used to cure dementia include pictorial memory aids and validation therapy. The pictorial memory aids encompass pictures which are accompanied by short sentences or phrases. This approach can be used to relay factual information and aids in compensating episodic memory loss. Equally, the pictorials can be utilized as general conversation starters, content descriptions as well as room identifiers. Validation therapy focuses on stepping into the veracity of the person with disability. The caregivers corroborate the persons with disability’s feelings and redirect the conversation or behavior instead of correcting the PWD instantly. I learned that some of the disorders which cause dementia might run in families. Additionally, through the direct experience, I learned that the physician assistant work needs someone who is very dedicated, responsible, sincere, and honest. All these traits help the physician assistant to handle his or her work with a lot of dignity, taking into account human worthiness and integrity.

Anyone working as a physician assistant has to be prepared to face the job challenges in critical and severe situations as well as unexpected circumstances. For example, during my working at the Birmingham City Hospital, I greatly appreciated the value of confidence and trust amid a nurse or a doctor and a patient. Notably, the codes of ethics for an assistant physician are predominantly based on the support as well as an application of moral obligation that guides the physician assistant profession in relation to other healthcare professionals, society as well as patients. The physician assistant has to ensure safety as well as the health of the patients is greatly upheld. He or she ought also to promote and support integrity and honesty in the profession including maintaining the highest moral, duty of observing the law and ethical conduct as well as upholding the ethical principles of the profession at all times. By the same token, the physician assistants have to support and respect the patients’ confidentiality, dignity, and individuality. As a physician assistant, I learned that I have to be very good at communicating with the patients and possess a higher awareness of personal boundaries and limitations as well as those of other peoples’. I have to be wholly committed to social care as well as have a significant experience or capability of working in an anti-discriminative milieu where I can continue to seek and challenge some of the oppressive languages.

What I will bring to Sacred Heart University PA program and the PA profession

The Physician Assistant (PA) profession began in the 1960s while the United States of America was facing a serious inadequacy as well as misdistribution of physicians who could be able to address the state’s need exclusively for primary care services. The Physician assistant profession provides an exemplary and archetypical educational experience which emphasizes primary health care and facilitates the graduates to demonstrate competency as well as skills in an array of clinical environments. What I will bring to the Sacred Heart University PA program and the PA profession is significant research. The research will allow individuals to gain a larger picture of the physician assistant career whereas at the same allowing the students to spend shadowing and see the physician assistant’s day to day responsibilities. It is important to note that shadowing in the PA is critical since it opens students’ eyes to the versatility position and enables them to listen to physician assistant’s unique perspectives. Research allows the students to gain a lot of patient care experience. The experience solidifies the learners’ interests in the medical field. It also allows the students to be confident when spending their time with the patients throughout the clinical.

In Sacred Heart University PA program, I will start a Physician Associate which can better and significantly explain the real role of a physician assistant. Some physicians face a major problem that is, the public fail to understand who and what physician assistants are, however through the physician associate, the general public can be able to comprehend the role of the PA profession. In the same wave, I will encourage every person working as a physician to act within the standard of care exclusively for their practice and specialty. Additionally, I would support regular training in the physician assistant profession to equip the workers with appropriate and current skills in the field. Training also enables the workers to do their jobs efficiently and effectively, therefore, delivering quality health care. Education and training enable the workers to know how to operate some of the new equipment in the field, thereby preventing industrial injuries.

I will introduce a law to the university as well as the physician assistant profession. The law will indicate what a physician assistant can do within his or her scope of practice provided the supervising physician allows him or her. Physician assistants have to be licensed by the country in which they practice their profession. I will also encourage the physician assistants to specialize in a specific field of medicine, for example, pediatrics, internal medicine or surgery since specialization promotes health care quality. Moreover, becoming a specialist in a physician assistant profession necessitates finishing an extra postgraduate training; therefore, it is important for every physician assistant to complete the additional postgraduate training. I believe it is quite significant to build a good relation on the basis of mutual trust, good communication as well as respect in the physician field. I would encourage the physician assistants’ workers to understand their roles as PAs. Remarkably, I would propose an insurance cover for all the physician assistants so that they can be able to undertake their duties more efficiently. Lastly, I would encourage every physician assistant to finish an extensive training, specifically in pharmacology to act as part and parcel of his or her Physician Assistant (PA) education.

A Challenge that I Overcame and Experience Gained

The decision to choose a career to peruse in life can be challenging, especially when other people have a dissimilar opinion on your idea, and would not allow you to have an independent decision.  Choosing physician assistant as my professional career has been one of the most challenging factors since a group people who are also important to me were for a contrary opinion. While I was for physician assistant, my father wanted me to be a laboratory technician following the successful laboratory experiments and experience I have had in the past. He argued that laboratory technician has direct contact with patients and can assist the community just as the physician assistant. Although these courses are all medical, my passion for physician assistant was unmoved. It became so hard agreeing with father, who has paid my college fee and has assisted me in several successful decision making in my life. This made me feel that I may fail after disobeying his wishes and refusing to honor his pieces of advice. On the other hand, I knew that my dreams cannot just be shattered because of other people’s interest, a dream that I have longed to achieve for the rest of my life. The dilemma of deciding between my father’s wish and my long term dream was the most difficult situation I have ever faced. I wondered why he could not just leave a person with informed consent to make an independent decision.

I was once told that when the situation becomes too hard, you develop the sixth sense which is precisely meant to solve the problem. In this case, I had to seek the advice from people who are well conversant with these two courses.  The experts advised me accordingly, and one of the best guidance they gave me is to follow my heart and interest since it is the love that I have for a certain course that will determine how much I will struggle to complete despite the challenges that are likely to face me. Accompanied with my dad, we were taught about the importance of the two courses, their disadvantages, and how I will use them to assist the community. While both of them were beneficial and I have enough experience on them, Physician assistant stood best for me. My well-convinced dad applauded me for good decision making and showered me with great praises on how I managed to solve the issues.

While it was one of the most difficult situation, I managed to overcome it. As evidence, one of my greatest individualities is the ability to make correct decision without hurting those who are involved in the dilemma. This ability is not only important to me but will also benefit the school in areas that critical thinking and ability to make proper decisions will be required.

What You May Need to Know About Me

Sacrificing my time and resources to ensure people are safe is of the things I enjoy most. In that regard, I have spent a lot of my time volunteering to assist people in several companies. One of such organizations is Envision Community Member, Birmingham, United Kingdom. In this group, I completed a project in stereotyping and presented an assembly, recorded a video and collected money for charity, took part in charitable for the disadvantaged, and raised funds for children in need. I also volunteered at St Michaels Day Nursery doing responsibilities such as maintaining toys and play equipment, finding ways to stimulate children, helping to feed, wash, and clean the youngsters, following and implementing policies and procedures set out by the nursery, and ensuring that all daily routines are adhered to. Given the opportunity to volunteer, I stand a chance to assist the school to build a reputation as far as social work is concerned about reaching unprivileged people within the community. In that regard, I hope to continue with the spirit of assistance while continuing with my Physician Assistant program.  Moreover, I believe that I can achieve everything considering the difficulties I have undergone to reach where I am today.

Why I chose to apply to the USJ PA Studies Program

The exact mission of the Physician Assistant program in USJ is to teach outstanding, concerned clinicians, entirely prepared to provide high quality, available health care, signifying the commitment to a life-long learning and ethical practice. This mission relates to my dream of providing quality services not only at my work place but to the whole community since I promised to be a solution to their problems, particularly when I come from. Commitment has been my driving force, a factor that has been echoed in the mission statement, I am determined to work as a physician nurse throughout my life to bring change in the healthcare sector. As evidenced, the purpose of USJ and my dream are inseparable. My decision to apply for USJ has been motivated by the reputation of the university. I have friends who are alumni of this great university, and one cannot doubt their abilities. On the same note, PA program in USJ is well defined and encompasses all areas; this is not the same in other universities.