Care Of The Patient example essay topic

In your own words, explain your motivation to seek a career in MEDICINE. Discuss your philosophy of the medical profession and indicate your goals relevant to the profession. (Limited to 62 lines of text only) Feel free to delete or add stuff! Please return AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! The doctor performed the Babinski's sign among other lower limb neurological examination techniques to show the extent of the paralysis.

I went up to the patient, took her hand in mine and looked deep into her eyes in an effort to gain some insight of her affliction; while attempting to reassure her that everything would be alright. The fear in her eyes was memorably vivid as both she and I came to terms with the vulnerability of the frail human body. As a hospital volunteer, escorting patients, my interactions with many had revealed the therapeutic and comforting effects of an encouraging smile and a friendly conversation. I consider patients analogous to refugees who must be treated benevolently and gravely, without condescension. In order for a physician to help a patient cope with an illness, it is vital to consider the patient's emotional requisite while standing solitary on the narrow ledge of physical torment.

The sutured skin is all of his operation that the patient will see. It is the surgeon's inscription left upon his body for the rest of his life. For the patient, it is the emblazonry, of his suffering, a reminder of his mortality. I fortunately, have not yet experienced much to consciously habituate me to the painful evidence of one's mortality. Therefore, especially in stressful situations, I appreciate the reassuring confidence and warmth, conveyed through a physician's bedside manner; that can gradually transform a patient's imminent fears into strength and hope.

Lying still in her green gown that matched the bedding and sterile green tilled surroundings. This was no ordinary patient, she was my grandma, with tubes sticking out of her and bed sores on her back. The grandma I grew up with, in an extended family ethnology, in India. It had barely been a year since grandpa had passed away with a heart attack.

It was difficult for all of us, but she was coping well. One day without warning, we got a call from India two weeks prior, that grandma had gotten very ill. Her condition was quickly deteriorating we left to see her before it was too late. Less altruistic than a desire to help others - yet an equally powerful motivating force in my life is my love of learning. I researched her condition and tried to understand its debilitating effects. The "doctor almighty" had not sufficiently appeased the relatives who were at their wits end out of fear of this unknown malady that had struck so suddenly with such devastating impact.

The harshest reality however was the fact that it had taken more than a week to diagnose her with Guillain-Barre Syndrome; no one knew what caused it, and all this while she developed deep bed sores - a sign of the level of care we take for granted here. Having been a junior pre-med student at the time in a family with engineers of every breed but none in health care, they came to me looking for answers. I had to recall essentials of neurobiology explaining how this autoimmune disease attacked the myelin lining the nerves in lay man terms. I saw first hand how patients and their relatives need and demand the knowledge and understanding of the illness and require a sense of autonomy to decide how to treat the malady. An issue our physician in India did not fully actualize and so I found myself quickly filling that void. A week later the paralysis spread and the muscles that controlled her breathing gave in.

I found myself appeasing my ethnically diverse family members in three of the six different languages I grew up learning. Not because they did not know English but because they would understand better in their own language. Speaking in their tongue was a simple fact of sensitivity I learned from an Emergency Room physician I followed in Sherman, Texas. She comforted her Hispanic patients in Spanish which moved her from the status of a foreign doctor to one they could trust. Trust - a vital aspect of the doctor-patient relationship had been gained by breaking the language barrier and had added to the care of the patient which was ultimately the very task of the physician. This was a trait I wanted to emulate, and attempted at this juncture.

In an ever advancing global civilization and in a nation such as ours that has witnessed the convergence of people from different cultures; I believe this view to be integral to a physician. Now, as an epidemiologist in training, I speak with a distinct view that the conduct of medical practice is that of constantly applied epidemiology. My epidemiological research experiences have enhanced my confidence in research and data analysis, and given me an invaluable perspective in terms of making medical decisions and interpreting diagnostic tests. However, I find a deep yearning to build a bridge between my research and analytical abilities and that of caring and to see both fields influencing each other's practice. I spent my childhood in a society where diseases like Polio and Leprosy were rampant. I remember not being able to do more than just give money to the beggars, stricken with these atrocious maladies.

Looking back from a public health perspective I believe people benefit from education and training, however at times they also need medicines and treatment. My efforts to help people improve their quality of life could be enhanced by expanding my capabilities. The study of medicine would greatly increase the impact that I could have on people's health. Medical knowledge would afford me a much broader perspective on human health. The career path I intend to follow compels the successful blending of public health experience and epidemiological knowledge with the field of medicine making me a holistic physician with a view that "The practice of medicine calls equally for the exercise of the heart and the head".

~ Sir William Osler.