As a man, I am proud to be a nurse. And as a Filipino, I am especially pleased to contribute to the beautiful diversity that characterizes the face of health care in America. I have been working as a Registered Nurse now for almost 5 years, ever since I immigrated to America from the Philippines, following my graduation from nursing school. I am currently employed at XXXX Hospital, in XXXX Connecticut and I find my work enormously fulfilling. My first nursing experience was in Telemetry, Intermediate care from 2006 to 2008; for the last two years, I have served in the Intensive Care Unit in preparation for entering a Master’s Program in Anesthesia.
It is here in the ICU that I have come to realize that I very much want to pursue certification as a CRNA; as I have come to see this as the highest and noblest of callings. I think my greatest strength as a nurse is my intense sense of responsibility as an advocate for my patients. Patients in critical condition are always vulnerable and I find the highest sense of joy and professional satisfaction caring for them as if they were my own family. I have worked very hard to develop excellent communication and interpersonal skills, especially in terms of keeping my patients and their families updated about their conditions so that they have full and accurate information upon which to make critically important health care decisions.
I have a tremendous respect for diversity and I strongly believe that each person is a unique human being and deserves to be treated with the greatest of dignity and respect; and this is why I always work very hard to develop a unique rapport with each and every patient. Watching patients make progress until they are discharged from the hospital leaves me with a smile and a happy heart. It is the most truly gratifying experience that I can imagine. I feel strongly that I now have the necessary experience to excel in your esteemed program. XXU is my first choice for graduate school because of the cutting-edge nature of your program along with its convenient location for me and my family. I especially respect and look forward to your emphasis on the importance of simulation training provided in the operating room, particularly with the SimMan simulator.
My interest in nursing dates back to my childhood and the profound influence of my grandfather who was a surgeon. One day, when I was only 12, he invited me to accompany him into surgery. I held the surgical instruments in my hands and he also handed me the diseased organs that he had removed from patients´ bodies. He was surprised that I did not feel disgusted and he invited me to return with him to the operating room on several subsequent occasions. Soon, he also let me pass him the medications needed for surgery, most importantly, anesthesia. Looking back, I now trace the genesis of my life´s calling to this early period. I was astonished to witness the effect of the anesthesia, rendering the body free of pain as my grandfather penetrated the skin with his scalpel. As time went on, I even had the privilege of serving as his personal assistant when his partner was not available. He taught me how to calm and reassure his patients that everything would be just fine. At 13 and 14 years old, I was already learning how to become an efficient OR nurse, in our own very simple ways common to the practice of medicine in rural areas of the Philippines. Later, I would choose to pursue a career in nursing rather than attend medical school because of my profound attraction to the hands-on, holistic care of the nurse and his or her intimate engagement with the patient´s well being.
I have already learned so much about the art of nursing, and I live to continue to learn, in fact, devoting myself to life-long learning, especially about the science of nursing. Because of my passion for taking care of people, I volunteered to do community health service projects together with doctors, nurses, and my classmates in nursing school. Sharing my knowledge and skills with the community, providing free health care and education to the needy is especially dear to my heart. We also worked around the clock to provide emergency medication and food relief in response to the natural disasters to which the Philippines are so tragically prone.
After extensive research about the CRNA profession, I embarked upon fulfilling all of the necessary prerequisites for the program at the same time that I gained critical care experience upon having my request granted for transfer to the ICU. And I have now had the privilege of shadowing CRNAs for the past two years. I profoundly crave the responsibility, knowledge, and skill that they possess, so as to contribute as much as I can to our community and the health care professions. Since I began working in critical care, my passion for anesthesia has grown enormously. I live to help free our patients from pain and make sure that they remain in a state of homeostatic balance. At some point in my career, I have the dream of returning to the Philippines and teaching other nurses, helping to improve the impoverished state of the art in our country, fulfilling a desire and commitment that began in my grandfather’s operating room.
