Since high school, I have been dedicated to becoming a nurse when I began volunteering in a hospital. I continued volunteering throughout college, usually working professionally as a CNA. Also, I almost lost my mother to severe bacterial meningitis in high school. While she did recover, it was a terrible ordeal with an extended hospital stay. The nurses took me under their wing throughout this period and made me feel that I was part of the team struggling to save my mother’s life. The sheer intensity of the experience left me hungry for nursing, sparking my desire to show a similar level of compassion as was shown to me when it mattered most.
As a CNA, I seek to develop a connection with each patient I care for and a better understanding of their experience, needs, and wishes. “Is there anything else I can do for you,” I always ask. I have had patients disclose symptoms indicative of possible medical emergencies by asking this simple question. As an FNP, I aim to foster open communication and become an inexhaustible source of unbiased, lifelong support.
Participating in interprofessional team meetings taught me that successful collaboration between healthcare team members is critical for providing quality care and ensuring patient safety. XXXX’s focus on interprofessional team building is unique. I appreciate the program's vision for creating real-life learning experiences. XXXX will not only prepare me to be an FNP but a leader in the advancement of healthcare. I have participated in service trips to areas stricken by extreme poverty throughout high school and college. While volunteering at a health center in Mexico, a local explained how managing his type 2 diabetes is a daily struggle. He cannot always afford insulin and has limited food options. Experiences like this exposed me to the importance of affordable and accessible preventative care, inspiring me to volunteer in a medically underserved area back home in California.
My internship experience as a COPE Health Scholar allowed me to serve alongside nurses in underserved communities and provide education and care in Spanish and English. Chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension take a special toll on the Hispanic community. My mother is Mexican, and because of this blood tie and my ability to communicate in Spanish, I feel a special connection - and a moral and vocational calling - to help Spanish-speaking, recent immigrants to the USA; this is central to my professional identity. As an FNP, I want to be a leader who contributes to and utilizes clinical research to improve the delivery of healthcare systems and maximize the potential for the best clinical outcomes.
While working as a research assistant at the University of California, Santa Barbara Vision, and Image Understanding Laboratory, I ran and participated in studies examining false-positive tumor detection rates in X-ray images. This experience left me most enamored with the research process, leading to my devotion to lifelong participation in research, primarily devoted to reducing chronic disease in underserved populations. I’m particularly interested in chronic diseases as they represent the most significant cause of death in the US and are highly prevalent in underserved communities. I hope to contribute to the great need for increased preventive care and disease management, which could drastically reduce the occurrences of chronic disease. This program's strong emphasis on research and evidence-based practice will allow me to continue to develop my research abilities and successfully incorporate the power of research into my future routine.
Versatility in patient age, medical conditions, and procedures that FNPs deal with daily are exhilarating. I plan to work at a public health clinic when I receive my master's. After gaining leadership experience, I hope to bring primary care to an underserved Hispanic community by opening my clinic. Becoming an FNP would allow me to lead in progressive change, improving healthcare quality and delivery while extending primary care to underrepresented groups.