I am applying to your distinguished Masters's Program in Nursing at XXXX University because my relationship with my patient stands at the center of my world; helping them make daily progress in the healing process is my triumph. It is frequent that one of my patients has tears in their eyes when they thank me upon leaving the hospital, and these are my finest moments. XXXX is an excellent choice to earn my master's degree because I am eager to engage in your creative and collaborative online environment, sharing some of my day-to-day professional experiences. I also appreciate your 100% pass rate on the MSN FNP boards.
At 15, I served as a candy striper at my local hospital. During my senior year in high school, my grandmother died of lung cancer, and I cared for her during her chemo and radiation treatments. I learned how to change and clean the trach cannulas. Seeing how well the nurses treated my grandmother was an excellent inspiration for my nursing career. During my sophomore and junior year of college, I worked at an assisted living as a CNA. Since I became a nurse, I have served in various areas of nursing. I have become incredibly knowledgeable about trauma, pediatrics, and disease management. I am currently working on a Bone Marrow Transplant floor as a charge nurse. We are a 16-bed unit with 4 ICU beds. I am a preceptor to all new nurses and serve as the floor’s "Skin Care Champion.” I audit all charts and assess all patients, training the staff in many areas and avoiding pressure sores. I am also certified in ACLS and personally monitor our most critical patients. Since I earned my BSN from XXXX College in May of 1998, I have been working full-time as a nurse; thus, I now have considerable experience that will enable me to excel in graduate school. I am studying for re-certification in ONS Chemotherapy and working toward my Biotherapy Certification. Devoted to lifelong education, I emphasize the importance of empowering my patients to take charge of their recovery. I see this as a significant failure of our healthcare system, failing to properly educate patients about their condition and the steps necessary for their recovery.
My compassion, enthusiasm, and love for my patients drive me forward to becoming an FNP. Since I have served as a charge nurse and preceptor for the last ten years, I feel strongly that I have hit the ceiling in my professional advancement which now requires additional formal training. I want to earn my master's degree to become a resource for other nurses and to be able to work more closely with physicians. One of my favorite duties has been to share in allogeneic and auto stem cell transplants. The day of the patient's transplant is considered their “new birthday.” It is a beautiful celebration, a time to start everything afresh, and an emotional time for the patient, their family, and me. The joy I feel is beyond words. The patients are given a new sense of hope for the future! Since many of our patients stay on our unit for 2-4 months, I develop a deep bond with them and their families, and the joy that I get from nursing continues to grow with each passing day.
My children have only recently begun school; thus, it is my time. My family has been encouraging me for a long time to go back to school and become an FNP. My grandmother was a big inspiration. Before she passed away, she told me: "Tara, dream big, and follow your dream!" I feel she would be incredibly proud of my accomplishments and that I am making my dream of graduate school a reality. My husband has been incredibly supportive because he knows how much I have wanted to further my education. He has also supported me in my missionary activity as a nurse. We have been to Haiti three times, and this is an essential expression of our religious faith and dedication to giving back to our community. Our church has a strong bond with Haiti, even before the earthquake of 2010, but especially since then. I serve as the nurse on our missions, and I hope to continue doing so for many decades, putting my experience to work as an NP on behalf of some of the world's neediest people. We have enormous work to do in Haiti, treating and healing as many people as possible, and making long-term investments in public health education, particularly in hygiene and nutrition.
Each day, the clinic I worked at in Haiti saw over 250 people. Most children were visibly vitamin deficient, and many needed worm medicine. Since we were up in the mountains, it was difficult for the critically ill to get to a hospital, transportation, and money being scarce commodities. Many people, young and old alike, die in Haiti of something that could be easily remedied here in the US—especially where we go in the mountains, to a village named Saigon. My husband's parents were missionaries to Haiti in the 1980s, so my husband is fluent in Creole. My brother-in-law is our pastor, so we have no problem with interpretation, making it smoother when triaging the sick. I am also thankful that I have had the opportunity to learn more about disease management and how to empower my patients to take charge of their healing process this past year. As a graduate student at XXXX, I am excited about learning more in this area. Educating patients and their families is critical to me. My ideal job position as an FNP would be in Pediatric Oncology because of my special love for cancer patients and children, heightened by my experience of caring for my grandmother and hematology/oncology patients in my hospital. I am highly experienced in working with bone marrow transplant patients and would like to participate in research concerning children and blood cancers.
Thank you for considering my application to XXXX.
Examples of FNP Personal Statements
