personal statement!

Thanks everyone for the comments on my last post. It actually was therapeutic to write it all out and I am not going to delete it, despite some of the private information that I shared. Yesterday, even more drama occurred and I know that I need to distance myself further from this situation in order to live a healthy and normal life.

As for the nursing side of life...

Today at 1:20, I will be interviewing for the Grad program. My white, Ann Taylor suit has been dry cleaned and I have mentally prepared myself. I know that I have written the best personal statement that I could, received great letters of recommendations, and accomplished the most that I could in 2 years. There's not much more that I can do at this point besides do my best in the interview.

I'd like to share my personal statement on the blog, actually.

The requirements were to answer two questions in under two pages in APA format:
1)Explain why you have chosen your specific area of study in advanced practice nursing over other types of advanced practice nursing.

2) Describe your future as an advanced practice nurse (include type of clinical practice).

My statement:

            As a critical care Registered Nurse in the Medical Intensive Care unit, each 12-hour shift I work with a multidisciplinary team to provide care to the sickest and most complex of patient conditions. Many of our patients are attached to ventilators, assisting them to breathe from respiratory infections, or chronic illnesses, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Others are battling aggressive multisystem organ failure from a raging blood stream infection; their veins being pumped of intravenous medications to keep their blood pressure from dropping to dangerous levels, and strong antibiotics to fight sepsis.  Each of my patients has a story: a tale that is multifaceted; that weaves throughout the comings and goings of everyday, ordinary life. Their stories explain how they found themselves sick enough to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 

            Some patients are simply at the end of their lives, and they find themselves in the hands of healthcare providers trying to provide them with dignity as they take their last breath. However, others are struggling with chronic illnesses that have taken a turn for the worst, or conditions that have been poorly managed from the start.  As a future Advanced Practice nurse, my focus would be on responsible management of these illnesses, and preventive measures to keep my patients from becoming a statistic in the ICU. With a graduate focus on the primary adult population, I would see patients throughout their life continuum as they age.  As the cost of healthcare in America continues to rise, and the population becomes less able to afford to see primary care providers, children will grow into adulthood without the proper education and tools to prevent the common illnesses and complications that we encounter everyday in the acute care setting. As an Adult Nurse Practitioner, my goal is to provide the necessary preventive education, and help to refocus our entire system away from the sick-based model to one that encourages disease prevention and health promotion. Those are the reasons that I chose the Adult specialty over Family or any other area. I will be able to catch those adults that have slipped through the cracks in their health education, and provide the tools that they never received as a child.

            As a future Advance Practice nurse, my clinical practice would involve seeing patients in a primary care setting, specifically a doctor’s office. My clinical practice would consist of developing strong rapport and relationships with my patients, providing not only care when they are acutely ill, but through follow-up wellness visits. Through the close knit ties that I gain with my patients, I would be able to extend my skills, providing counseling and education to the community as a whole through walk-in clinics, health fairs, and general health promotion education to the public.  The goal for my clinical practice is to treat not only the individual patient’s that I see everyday, but also the community as a whole through encouraging others to lead a healthy lifestyle.

            As a graduate of the University of South Florida, I am confident that the College of Nursing will provide the best education and route for me to continue my career in nursing at the Advanced Practice level, and to again foster the same successful tools that I received in my undergraduate studies well into my graduate courses and beyond.

So, that's it. All of it true and how I feel about our society needing to get away from the sick based model of care and into something more preventive. Wish me luck!!