Pediatric DNP program personal statement

[alexis_brickcity, BSN, RN]

hi guys if you could read over my personal essay and tell me what you think, that would be great.

Instructions: Describe your nursing experience, career goals, and what you perceive your contribution to the nursing profession after obtaining your degree.

Essay

Aside from my long standing love for the sciences since elementary school, I spent a good portion of my time in high school traveling in with my mother to her many doctors’ appointments to manage her Type 2 Diabetes. My mother was diagnosed when she was 29 years old, just a few months before she became pregnant with me and lived with uncontrolled diabetes for many years after her initial diagnosis. I would tag along with my mother to her appointments and quickly realized how vastly different her interactions were between her and the doctors versus nurses. Whenever my mother would visit her doctors they would always give her a treatment plan with little room for compromise and rush out of the room to see the next patient. However, the nurses treated my mother like a person; always talking to her while checking her vitals, maintaining privacy while getting updates on her health history, and always making sure she understood her care plan. For the past few years my mother has been seeing a new provider, who is a nurse practitioner, to help manage her diabetes. My mother says her appointments feel more like a collaboration than with her other doctors. Together they come up with her diet and exercise plan with compromises along the way. She sympathizes with my mother and comforts her when she has a misstep in her diet and lets her know this isn't an easy condition.The differences between the two professions and how they interacted with my mother pushed me into the profession of nursing.

I began my nursing career on a Cardiothoracic Step-Down Unit in a teaching hospital in New Jersey. Though working with adults was not my ideal choice, I was excited to learn about and take care of the many heart diseases affecting this population. I spent this time learning and developing my critical thinking skills. As my career progressed, I took my skills and experiences to the pediatric world. However, my goal is to pursue further education and advance into a more primary and diagnostic aspect of the profession. Through working as an RN, I realized that I have a desire to become a pillar in urban and underserved communities like the one I was born and raised in.

After completing the program, I plan to take part in primary care clinics and initiatives as well as become an active member of nurse practitioner professional organizations. I would love to be a part of a healthcare facility in Newark or one that serves the people of Newark and its surrounding cities. In my experience on a pediatric unit, I have seen the challenges children and families face while hospitalized, often for preventable illnesses. As a pediatric nurse practitioner, I will work to help my patients control or prevent chronic illness to decrease the healthcare burden on their families. After watching my mother struggle with diabetes for most of my life, I want to specialize in diabetes management for children and their families because I have seen first hand the serious consequences of this disease if it is not treated and managed early and correctly.

I want to become a provider who teaches my patients and their families in ways they can understand. We will learn and grow together as teammates with each encounter. I want to become a vessel for the community around me, for people who do not have the access to the best health care or who feel like they are misunderstood by clinicians who do not look like them or understand where they come from. It is those attributes along with the experience I’ve gained as an RN that I will carry into my nurse practitioner career.

This country is more diverse now than it has ever been, but the diversity of the population is not mirrored in the healthcare profession. The decision to attend Rutgers University was not a lighthearted one. This university has a very impressive history and culture. The Rutgers University Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program mission is to provide service responsive to the health care needs of diverse populations and to demonstrate local and national leadership. This mission closely aligns with my beliefs on being able to provide exceptional care to overwhelmed and underserved communities as well as being a leader in my community. The amount of time and support Rutgers dedicates to research and development as well as conducting clinical trials is astounding. I have chosen this university because of its long history of continued commitment to preparing advanced practice nurses for excellent patient care. I can say with confidence that Rutgers University Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program will be able to prepare and guide me to advances into my role as a Nurse Practitioner in my community. I would love to contribute to an already outstanding legacy and be honored to one day become Rutgers University alumni.