I hope to earn the DNP Degree and the Post-Master’s Certificate in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing at XXXX University, enhancing my capacity to see, understand, and treat my patients in a holistic fashion that entirely takes into account contributing to nursing education in my native Gambia, where I have already been on two missions, in 2009 and again in 2011, giving lectures, helping to organize health awareness education programs; and supplying hospitals with bandages.
My selected advanced practice specialty will be mental health, focusing on women. I hope to serve in America’s prison system because I see women behind bars as the ones in greatest need of my assistance and the women to whom I have the most to give. My first year in nursing was spent in our step-down psych unit, and for the last eight years, I have served in our progressive care/heart failure unit. Mental health patients are everywhere in our telemetry unit. I would go as far as to suggest that most of our patients on telemetry/PCU have mental health challenges. I am the one who is assigned to care for them because it is well-known that I am especially good with psych patients.
Coming to the US as a refugee from Africa in 1999, at 16, I have been a full-time nurse for the past nine years. Now thirty-two, I am thankful that I was welcomed to America and given a chance to build a satisfying life. My humble beginnings have helped me cultivate the greatest gifts of all, compassion, empathy, and the ability to relate to all patients who pass through the hospital doors, especially many of the least fortunate with the fewest resources, people of color, recent immigrants, etc. Women of low socioeconomic status tend to be abused physically and psychologically and tend to be women of color. Thus, in this context, being an ‘African’ woman becomes an asset because victims immediately perceive me as someone capable of understanding what has happened and empathizing with them.
I see many women of color incarcerated in America as victims on some level, vulnerable members of our society, especially since so many of them are mentally ill. I was physically and sexually abused as a child in the Gambia and then raped by someone I thought was a family friend shortly after I arrived in America, a much older man, which resulted in my son, my only child. Thus, sexual violence is central to my story and my struggle to triumph in the face of my long-term victimization. My long-term dream is to teach mental health nursing in Africa, with particular attention to diagnosing and treating women with emotional/psychological problems. My ideal job would be working with the WHO’s mental health initiatives. I remember what it was like to contemplate suicide after being raped at 17 and later pregnant at 18. I am most thankful that I am not prone to depression and that prayer and personal strength enabled me to heal and help others who have not been so fortunate.
I see inter-professional collaboration as an especially critical aspect of psychiatric and mental health nursing because the most vulnerable members of our society often, if not usually, depend on much more than medical attention, requiring a great deal of inter-professional collaboration in a variety of areas, especially with social workers but other institutions and professionals as well, occupational, physical, and speech therapists for example. The coordination of resources that need to be made available to a patient upon discharge from the hospital is left in the hands of the nurses and hospital staff. Thus, I look forward to studying everything in the curriculum related to coordination between nurses and other professionals from many sectors of our society.
XXXX University is my first choice among DNP Programs for several reasons, including the location. I admire Dr. XXXX's work in HIV/STI and substance abuse prevention and mental health issues among ethnic minorities and immigrant youth. I look forward to many decades of work in many areas in which Dr. XXXX is engaged, so it would be a special honor for me to benefit from her academic guidance. I am particularly excited about the prospect of promoting the new HPV vaccine.
Growing up in Africa, I witnessed first-hand how communities suffered from an absence of medical attention, with many children and adults dying of preventable and curable diseases. Medical care was unavailable to 90% of the members of my community because they were poor, and this always struck me as a brutal and cruel injustice. In this way, I began to hope while still a child that I would grow up to become a healthcare worker and do everything I could to address these disparities.
I started slowly realizing my dreams because I spent several years being a teenage single mom before I pulled it all together to attend nursing school. Once I began studying, I was a registered nurse within three years and earned my BSN in 2013. I will start my final preceptorship class on September 25, 2015, for my MSN program and graduate in May 2016. I hope to begin classes toward the DNP Degree at XXXX University next fall.
Earning my DNP at XXU along with my Post Master's Psychiatric Mental Health Certificate will enable me to provide optimal care for patients who not only face multiple physical challenges such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. but have serious mental health issues as well, intertwined with their physical conditions in complex ways. I will also be better prepared to advocate for my patients and participate in critically important research geared towards minority groups with mental illness, particularly women and children. Ideally, I will care for women in prison or a secure facility for the mentally ill, exercising and cultivating my leadership skills at every level.
Eventually, I hope to be accepted to work with the WHO and further cultivate my focus on Africa. My current job responsibilities include discharge planning and daily engagement with the cultural and economic factors that come into play for everyone being discharged. As a doctoral student in your program, I look forward to researching this area.
Thank you for considering my application.