Family nurse practitioner application essay

[thejen0719]

Hey everyone!

So I am applying for a nurse practitioner program and I had to write a goal essay under the directions to "write a well-crafted statement about your desire to become a family nurse practitioner. Include information about yourself and your professional goals. Please type separately and limit yourself to 300-500 words.". So this is my draft that I have come up with. If you guys would give me some opinions and suggestions on it I would greatly appreciate it!

I hate any bug that crunches when I step on it. Junebugs, beetles, cockroaches, if it crunches when you step on it, I hate it. One day while working as a hemodialysis nurse, I was talking to a patient and a beetle ran by my foot. I panicked and unsuccessfully attempted to kill the beetle with a trash can. The patient said, just step on it� to which I replied I can't, Because I'll feel it crunch under my shoe and it will haunt me therest of the day. I hate crunchy bugs!�. From that day on, every time I saw him he asked me if I had stepped on any crunchy bugs lately and it became our running joke. Moments like these are one of the reasons I love patient care, particularly chronic care. Working with the same patients builds a bond that is unrivaled by any other specialty. Becoming a family nurse practitioner will grant me the ability to continue building these bonds while refining my knowledge of chronic conditions and obtaining the capacity to provide quality holistic care to better the community I serve.

My drive for chronic disease management stems from the fact that I come from a family with an extensive history of chronic illness. I understand the importance of appropriate education, monitoring, and management. Because it is near to my heart and may very well be in my future, it is a focus I am passionate about. I look forward to working through the challenges and providing my patients and community the resources and education to enable their success and provide quality care they deserve.

My current experience has included leadership roles such as working as an on-call after hours' hospice nurse which required independent thinking and decision making. I have also worked as a charge nurse in a busy 16 chair hemodialysis clinic where I was responsible for the supervision of 4 other staff members and 32 patients. These experiences have made increased autonomy a comfortable fit for me and is also another appealing aspect of becoming a family nurse practitioner. I know to trust my instincts and that with increased responsibility comes new and harder challenges that I welcome with an open-minded determination.

One of my goals is to become involved in a community health program that provides education to the public about awareness and management of chronic illness and participating in public events to promote healthy lifestyle and resources to my community. One of mybiggest goals is to eventually teach. When I have gained years of experience and continued education, I would be honored to pass that knowledge and wisdom to the next generation of family nurse practitioners to carry on with this noble profession. The advanced education I will receive from _________will sharpen and refine my current knowledge of chronic illness, build upon my current leadership skills, and ensure my ability to successfullyreach these goals.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I would not submit this as a professional application essay. There are some grammatical and sentence structure errors, but the biggest opportunity for improvement is your content. The story about not liking bugs is cute, but not at all suited for the opening paragraph of something that should be portraying you as professional. You can make this statement a lot stronger by clearly stating your goals, and then supporting those statements. It's great to support your desire to be an FNP by explaining the enjoyment you find building long-term relationships with patients. It's another to make your squeamishness the focus of the entire first paragraph. Below, I created a brief outline of information that I interpreted from your statement above. The problem is- I had to interpret it. These are things that you want to state purposefully and clearly. Of course, you may find that I misinterpreted or you have better supporting statements. Aim for 4-5 paragraphs. A 1-2 paragraph opening about why you chose this career, 1-2 about your goals when you become an NP, and a conclusion about why this FNP program is your first choice. Restructuring this essay will make it much more powerful.

Your desire to be an FNP:

1. You want to be a nurse practitioner in order to holistically promote the health and wellness of the chronically ill in your community.

1a. This desire originated from your experience caring for chronically ill family.

1b. Your current position in hemodialysis revealed that there are opportunities to better meet the specialized healthcare needs of the chronically ill in your community.

1c. Your skills and education make you well suited to the FNP role.

1d. Having a recurring nurse/patient relationship and seeing that patient through the management of their illness is important to you.

Your goals as an FNP

2. Launch or partner with an existing community health outreach program.

2a. Provide education and resources to the public

2b. Host community events to promote a healthy lifestyle.

3. Become an FNP instructor

3a/b: you need to come up with some supporting statements that explain what you would do as an educator

[thejen0719]

Thank you so much for your feedback, this is exactly what I was looking for. The outline you provided was extremely helpful! So this is what I have come up with now. I feel like it is much stronger than the original essay I posted.

Over the past year, I have worked as a chronic hemodialysis nurse in the town of Shawnee Oklahoma. Through this experience, I have seen firsthand the effects of the current decrease in primary care on rural communities. Most of my patients lived in rural communities and commuting for healthcare was a constant hindrance. One of my patients suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease along with end stage renal disease. She regularly missed appointments and refused to go to the doctor. I learned that her primarycare provider was 45 minutes away and travel was uncomfortable for her. As aresult, she was admitted into the hospital often for exacerbations and pneumonia. This is one of many situations that initiated my interest in advancing my education to become a provider of a higher level of care. I want to bring comprehensive quality care to rural communities in need.

My family has an extensive history of chronic illness. My grandmother suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, fibromyalgia, colon cancer, depression, and anxiety.Her care was complex and required an incredible amount of education to properly care for her at home. Assisting with her care showed me the importance of education, monitoring, and management f chronic disease. Being near to my heart and possibly my future, chronic disease management is a focus I am passionate about. As a provider of chronic care patients, I will seek out resources within my community such as local food banks,medication assistance programs, and psychosocial support groups. This will arm my patients with the tools for long term success.

I will create opportunities to educate my community on risk factors, prevention, and appropriate follow up. Partnering with or launching a public outreach program will allow me to provide these opportunities. My inspiration for this came from volunteering at OpenStreets OKC, a biannual local health and wellness project in which the Oklahoma City County Health Department's Wellness Now Coalition blocks a section of busy street in downtown Oklahoma City for a few hours to promote non-motorized transportation as well as health and wellness vendors. The local hospitals in attendance offered free blood pressure screenings and blood sugar checks and educated participants on appropriate follow up. Providing similar education and screening for rural communities will create much needed preventative education opportunities.

Advanced education will help hone my skills and provide me with the professional knowledge and tools to continue building strong patient-caregiver relationships. This will refine my knowledge of chronic conditions and allow me to obtain the capacity to provide quality holistic care to better serve the community. The Associate Degree of Nursing bridge option will provide the opportunity to streamline my education while utilizing the community based program to understand the needs of those I serve in the local area. I welcome the intellectual challenges I will face at _____ and look forward to making a positive contribution to the wellbeing to some of our most vulnerable citizens.