XXXX University is my first choice for graduate study not only because it is the finest MSN program available online, but also because of your Jesuit philosophy and tradition of placing those who most need our help as our highest priority. There is nothing that I am as proud of as I am my 6 trips to Guatemala as a nurse, 2 weeks each time, accompanying doctors, dentists, and nurse practitioners. We went deep into the countryside, often sleeping on a concrete floor with no showers, using a hole in the ground for a bathroom. It pleases me greatly that these were the best times of my life and I cannot wait to return.
Consistent with this objective, and the overall mission of XXXX University to provide student-centered, excellent professional education in the Jesuit tradition, the School of Nursing & Health Studies has based its baccalaureate and master's program curricula on terminal objectives derived from its mission and core values.
I stayed in very primitive motels with no hot water most of the time, but once the group slept for 3 nights in an abandoned school building. We slept on concrete floors on blankets. We had no showers and relied on baby wipes to clean ourselves. We used the bathroom that was a hole in the ground surrounded by a cement wall with no door or, the nearby cornfield.
My heart’s biggest desire is to continue working in the same department as I am now; and to spend some of my time off doing medical missions (see countries visited section). I have been working in Interventional Radiology for the past 2 years and I love that it offers such diversity in case types and patient population. Some procedures are truly cutting edge medicine like providing palliative treatments for hepatic carcinoma. We also do rescue in many ischemic strokes and embolization of the hemorrhagic stroke.
There is a Nurse Practitioner in our department who has become my mentor. This is truly what I want my practice to be like. I love how his practice involves both inpatients and outpatients. He does consultations in the office. He sees inpatients on daily visits on the floors and in the critical care unit. He also discharges post procedural patients that have stayed overnight. My desire is to do what he does and more. There has been discussion already to add some duties to the NP(s) [the Radiology administration and IR physicians have been talking about hiring another NP in the next year or two and I feel confident they will wait for me to graduate if I am in school] doing some minor procedures such as minor organ biopsies, lumbar puncture, thoracentesis and paracentesis. These are things that I definitely want to pursue.
10 years from now, I want to look back and know that I made a difference in the lives of my patients. Whether or not they remember my name is irrelevant. What I hope they will remember is that I educated them in managing their illness and healed their spirits through laughter, kindness and a listening ear. That I helped their loved ones in coping with disease and providing them the tools they needed to help their family member.
I was a Medical Assistant for 10 years before becoming an RN and I have read back over some thank you cards I received so many years ago and it is so heartwarming to know that I made a difference for that patient, in that moment in time.
Of additional note, I love that the hospital I work in is a major referral center for a 5 state area: AK, WA, OR, ID, MT. There is diversity among the patients we serve: the very poor and the very rich; vast number of ethnicities, religions and cultures; the urban Seattleite and those from remote areas of Alaska requiring air ambulance to get to us.
