Nurse Practitionor School Personal Statement

[Back to December]

HI everyone. I am applying to a masters Family Nurse Practitioner program and am required to submit a personal statement. The only prompt was: What are your interests/goals in nursing? I have written a personal statement and would like feedback on what you think. Thank you in advance!

I have had a passion and desire to care for people for as long as I can remember. My family and I go to church every Sunday, and as a young child I would run up to people and hug them as long and as hard as I could. This desire to care for other carried on into my high school years. While in high school, I volunteered for a horseback riding therapy program for children with special needs. During this program, I learned how to connect with the children at their level and how to make them feel comfortable and relaxed while sitting on top of a large animal many of them had never seen before. I began to see that each of these children had specific medical needs, varying from feeding tubes to physical therapy. From this experience, I went on to have my first glimpse of working in the medical field by volunteering on a postpartum unit at a local hospital. It was during my time on this unit that I learned what a small gesture of kindness could do. I was able to bring a small amount of joy into each patient I met simply by giving them a warm smile and beverage as I walked by with my coffee cart each morning. I would watch as the nurses and aides would go about their work, in complete awe of what a difference they were able to make in each patients' life by listening, laughing and learning alongside them.

Having been introduced to the medical field during my volunteer experience, I was excited when I learned about the opportunity to earn by CNA license during my senior year of high school. Through this CNA course, my eyes were opened to what it was like to work with the geriatric population. I thought that I had learned the basics of nursing care including how to take vital signs, transfer patients, and make a hospital bed. But, I had learned so much more than this. I had learned how to sit and listen to patients tell their stories from times gone by, how to put them at ease when they were upset and how to comfort family members as their loved ones passed away, even while tears rolled down my own cheeks. As I worked as a CNA, I knew that as a registered nurse, I could do more to support, educate and nurture my patients. Thus, I began my journey to pursue my nursing degree.

As I went through nursing school, I continued to work full time as a CNA. My experience as a CNA helped to prepare me for the foundations of nursing school. But, while in nursing school, I learned to take a holistic approach to patient care: involving the mind, body and spirit. I have taken this method into my nursing career on a cardiac and neuro floor of a local hospital. I have had the opportunity as a nurse to assist in teaching the next generation of nurses, as I have precepted some of the new hires on my unit. I have been able to give them the opportunity to see an exciting and new world-view of the nursing field. I have seen many patients come into my hospital with a new diagnosis, such as stroke or congestive heart failure, and I take it as an opportunity and privilege to be able to teach them about their specific disease process. I feel that with the right education and encouragement, they will be less likely to be seen as an inpatient on my floor or within the hospital again because they know how to appropriately care for themselves, both in body and spirit. I have seen too many people come in with chronic conditions that have had improper education about their disease process in the outpatient setting and now find themselves inside of a hospital. And, just as I have taught patients and future nurses, I have become more knowledgeable with each topic discussed along the way. I have watched and listened to doctors and nurse practitioners as they make their daily rounds on each of my patients. I see how their words have an impact on how the patient views their condition(s) and their hope for the future.

As I work in my nursing career, I realize that I have become a part of a network of collaboration between health care professionals. My goal is to become one of these esteemed advanced clinicians through the University of Northern Colorado Family Nurse Practitioner program. I have a passion and desire to do more for the community around me. I hope to be the kind of clinician that can help all ages, young and old, discover their potential even with ailments and chronic conditions. I aim to be the kind of practitioner that educates and teaches each patient and their family thoroughly the first time so that they understand the entirety of their disease process(s) and with each session we grow as a team, working to better their health, both in body and spirit. My intention is to become a leader in my community, reaching out to those who may not have access to health care or understand the need for it. I believe that the UNC Nurse Practitioner program would help me achieve these goals by nurturing my leadership skills and developing an advanced practice mindset. I believe that I have gained the experience and knowledge needed to take this next step in my nursing career and I know that the University of Northern Colorado Family Nurse Practitioner program will thoroughly prepare me to step into the advanced clinician role within my community.

[Pallspice_NP, MSN, NP]

I absolutely LOVE your passion for nursing! ? You definitely have had such wonderful experiences. I advise that you condense the 1st two paragraphs into one paragraph, from the volunteer experiences -> CNA experience, so it isn't too lengthy. FNP programs are heavily focused on primary care/primary prevention and secondary prevention, which is not typically executed in the acute care setting. Acute care is tertiary prevention. For extra points, I'd toss something in related to the importance of primary prevention and how your efforts will prevent the occurrence of disease/chronic illness, but also, optimally manage those already diagnosed. When you state "my unit or "my hospital," I get an idea that you want to stay in the acute care setting, which would be better fitting for an ACNP. Rewrite it to state "the unit" or "the hospital." All in all, you did an excellent job and I enjoyed reading it ?

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

I would avoid using the phrase "my passion", that seems to be the Buzz word for everything these days. Otherwise, excellent.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to student NP forum

[sshall]

I think that you have some really good ideas and sentences in your personal statement, but I think it could also use some work. Your second sentence is borderline a run-on sentence due to your excessive use of "and." I think that you could also elaborate on how you hugging and interacting with people at church is related to your passion to care for others. I understand the idea, but I think that it is a little disconnected in conjunction with the third sentence. It is also a good idea to refrain from beginning a sentence with "but." You may want to begin it with "however" instead. In this sentence, "...about the opportunity to earn by CNA license..." you used "by" instead of "my." Overall, I think you did a good job, but you may want to make a few adjustments to make this essay really good. Just mind your syntax, grammar, choice of vocabulary, and minimize the length of some of your sentences. Good luck!