Assistance with personal statement and thesis goals

[pinkiepie_RN]

Hi all! I am looking to apply to a nurse educator MSN program to start in Fall 2010. I have started my personal statement (there aren't any specific requirements) and I've hit a bit of a roadblock. I started by describing my desire to go to graduate school and why I feel I would fit in well and then I transgressed into what I'm dreaming of as my thesis. Can I please get some feedback and perhaps information about what from my ideas of my thesis I should include in the statement? I don't want to bore the admissions director with my research that I've done, but it's something I've been excited about since I started doing research on it last year when I was in school.

"Becoming a member of the helping professions has been a great and enriching process for me and I look forward to expanding my knowledge base and continuing to pursue higher education. I look forward to using my talents to be able to teach others about nursing. I feel certain that I have personal qualities and experiences that will allow me to thrive in the graduate school environment and become what I aspire to be: a teacher of others in a field in which I am passionate about and an advocate to my peers and patients.

One of my major qualities that has been a driving factor in my choice to continue my education is my ability to inspire and encourage others. Professionally speaking, I spend a majority of my nursing shift as a staff nurse on an inpatient psychiatric unit both advocating for and supporting patients, allowing them to see their own potential and helping them grow and learn. I take time to support and encourage patients when they are having difficulty accepting their diagnosis, experiencing troubling psychiatric symptoms, or having a period of crisis. I have learned that it is important to be able to just listen to someone's problems and, if necessary, collaborate to find a solution that works for everyone. I've learned problem solving skills and creativity in facilitating solutions and helping patients make connections or in convincing a patient to make the conscious decision to become medication compliant.

I have learned through school and through my work experience, while in nursing school and as a graduate nurse what it means to be a caring, passionate individual working in the field of nursing. Nurses have many roles and I am slowly learning how to accommodate to each role, something that I feel would be further facilitated by my attendance in graduate school and furthering my education. Nurses are leaders and I have learned to delegate nursing tasks to care associates and receive feedback regarding the status of a patient appropriately. As a mediator between patients and doctors, I have been able to help patients understand why their doctors have ordered a particular medication or laboratory test and provide feedback and education on their diagnoses. As a care-giver and advocate, I have learned and been able to provide re-assurance to patients that they made the right decision to go to the hospital and facilitate appropriate ventilation of concerns and feelings.

I have had experience in learning compassion and empathy, two skills that I believe are essential in a nurse educator, through my experiences with close friends while dealing with the mental health system and in helping my peers during nursing school. As a member of the outside world, I have seen friends go through times of crisis and need. I have helped provide resources to people in need and been able to offer support in being able to relate to having difficult issues. I have been able to put myself in the shoes of someone in crisis and be able to relate how I would feel and reconcile, bringing my empathy back to the situation at hand. I have been there to support my peers in nursing school who needed moral support or help understanding a difficult concept.

Through my ability to rally people and provide support, I have formulated a plan in which I would like to be able to implement during my time in the nursing graduate program at ____________ University. Based on my interactions with peers and instructors, I have discovered a need for a student mentoring program. I feel that beginning nursing students need support and guidance during their first year of nursing school and that they should be given the opportunity to pass on that knowledge. I believe that as nurses are advocates and educators for their patients, they should first be able to learn and practice those skills amongst their peers. I feel that formulating a program in which senior level nursing students are able to provide advice and invoke knowledge based on personal experience is essential in helping the nursing program retain and matriculate more new nurses who are well rounded and have a unique perspective on compassion and empathy."

Nursing Student Mentoring Outline

I. Thesis - Nursing students who participate in a mentoring program will receive the following benefits:

a. Mentors will learn leadership and advocacy skills as well as strengthen and reinforce their knowledge base.

b. Mentees will receive support and assistance in meeting goals as determined by the program. Mentees will, through experience and support, report increased levels of confidence in their skill ability.

II. Mentor selection process

a. Personality type test (Myers-Briggs)

b. Interview process

c. Matching (survey)

III. Mentee selection process

a. At risk students

b. Foreign educated students

c. Baseline

IV. Mentoring program

a. Time frame

b. Objectives

c. Needs

i. Needs of mentors

1. Competency

2. Teaching skills

3. Reinforcement of knowledge

ii. Needs of mentees

1. Competency

2. Skill building

a. Therapeutic communication

b. Psychomotor skills

3. Confidence

4. Reduction in anxiety

d. Components of the program

i. Support

1. Phone calls

2. 1:1 meetings

ii. Tutoring/content review

iii.

e. Data collection and measurement

i. Journals

ii. Interviews

iii. Peer group de-briefing sessions

f. Results

V. Data analysis

[elkpark]

The school wants you to write a "personal statement" as part of the application but gives you no guidance as to what they're looking for? I would be v. suspicious of that (bad sign about the school, IMHO).

[pinkiepie_RN]

A one-page personal statement in which the applicant discusses his or her reasons for seeking admission to the program and how the program will meet the applicant's professional goals.

[elkpark]

A one-page personal statement in which the applicant discusses his or her reasons for seeking admission to the program and how the program will meet the applicant's professional goals.

Oh -- I would consider that to be "specific requirements" ...

I would stick to what they asked for, and not go into any research ideas at all. One page is not a lot of words, and I would not "waste" any writing about stuff they didn't ask for.

[pinkiepie_RN]

Oh -- I would consider that to be "specific requirements" ...

I would stick to what they asked for, and not go into any research ideas at all. One page is not a lot of words, and I would not "waste" any writing about stuff they didn't ask for.

Thanks, elkpark. I guess I just got excited about all of this. Does some of what I wrote seem applicable, like where I talk about my experience with the following paragraph:

One of my major qualities that has been a driving factor in my choice to continue my education is my ability to inspire and encourage others. Professionally speaking, I spend a majority of my nursing shift as a staff nurse on an inpatient psychiatric unit both advocating for and supporting patients, allowing them to see their own potential and helping them grow and learn. I take time to support and encourage patients when they are having difficulty accepting their diagnosis, experiencing troubling psychiatric symptoms, or having a period of crisis. I have learned that it is important to be able to just listen to someone's problems and, if necessary, collaborate to find a solution that works for everyone. I've learned problem solving skills and creativity in facilitating solutions and helping patients make connections or in convincing a patient to make the conscious decision to become medication compliant.