Medicine Personal Statement Example 69

October 10, 2011, I walked into the First United Methodist Church Activity Center in Knoxville, Iowa. This was my first time at the Knoxville Free clinic. I took in the volunteers, patients and environment at the clinic. Along with a deep breath, I walked up to the front desk. I became more and more excited about the quantity of patients and volunteers, whose smiles appeared to accept me.

Waiting for the doctors to arrive, I observed the patients in the waiting room. One woman really caught my attention. She was a very petite elderly Hispanic woman, but one look at her stomach, and it was obvious that something was really wrong. Her stomach looked as if she was over nine months pregnant.

Dr. Mace walked in and broke my attention. After introducing myself and becoming acquainted, the PA, Marsha Collins, called the Hispanic woman’s name and took her into the exam room. Dr. Mace and I stayed outside the room talking, while waiting for a chart to come up.

After the initial exam, Marsha returned and asked Dr. Mace for his opinion on her patient. Following Dr. Mace and Marsha into the room, I was excited to see and learn about what was happening to the anatomy of her body. The woman had a grimace on her face showing that she was in pain and uncomfortable as Dr. Mace pushed and tapped on her inflated belly. As the doctor was asking questions, he found out that her belly had swelled to this unbelievable size in the last week, but she was still having regular bowel movements.

After finishing his examination he asked to talk to Marsha in the hall, which was an immediate indicator to me that there was something considerably wrong. Standing in the hallway, I was in shock as I heard him tell Marsha that she needed to go directly to the ER that night or to Iowa City the next day. She had a tumor on her spleen that had grown excessively in a week’s time and was forcing her stomach to appear distended.

After the interaction with this patient, Dr. Mace saw the chart he was originally waiting on was ready. He was able to go on with his duties, not appearing to be fazed or fascinated by the lady’s extremely large tumor. Throughout the night I heard, but did not really listen to the other patients as my head was still in that woman’s room. I found it amazing how the human body had swelled so much in only a week’s time in effort to alert her that there was something wrong that needed medical attention.

That night made me decide that my future had to incorporate ways that allowed me to interact with the human body. My passion for the human body and all its complexities was confirmed. Looking back to last semester sitting in human anatomy lecture and lab, mumbling under my breath about having to memorize every last thing in the human body suddenly did not seem so bad. It actually seemed more interesting and beneficial, because that class gave me the skills and knowledge to predict diagnoses in my head before the doctor announces them out loud and see if I was right or wrong.

Suddenly my hard work in school, all the hours spent studying and practicing in the throwing ring, and leadership activities seemed as if they were not just for my “health”. They were all leading me and pushing me towards the thing that I was really passionate about and helping me engage in opportunities that could strengthen my application to the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Program Moines University.

Gaining a deeper knowledge of the human anatomy and how systems interact, while gaining valuable experiences and skills are the aspects I look forward to in the future. This will lead me to the chance to work with the human body, which is my dream for the future.

I believe that DMU is the right choice in the first step of my journey towards achieving my goal. After multiple visits to the campus, DMU has truly proven itself as being cutting edge. The SPAL labs combined with state of the art anatomy and robotic labs haven been proven to be not only by staff but also by students to be extremely worthwhile.

These labs and the extra emphasis placed on practicing not only scientific and medical skills, but also communication skills and compassion have helped to cultivate some of the best doctors I know today. I would be honored to join the ranks of not only them but all other DMU students and soon to be graduates.