Personal Statement
what's my why?
To fully explain my perspective on the importance of nursing in my life and why I have chosen to pour the majority of my day (every single day for the past four years) into understanding its craft, I must first explain the importance of nursing in the broader society.
The academic major of Nursing has an unwavering importance in today's society, especially in light of how significant of a role physical health has played in all of our lives since the beginning of 2020. To begin, nurses were once again voted the Most Trusted Profession for the 19th consecutive year (only skipped 2001 when firefighters were awarded this title). Trust has to be earned, and this alone shows how not only have nurses done so, but they continue to grow trust for the profession in an unparalleled way. Of course, the medical field as a whole has great importance in today’s society (thanks to a global pandemic), but I would strongly argue that nursing specifically has an even more important role than the “medical field” in general. Nurses do more than care for individuals. Nurses help marriages, families, and parents by aiding them to understand the range of emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual experiences they or their loved ones may encounter during the progression of their illness. No other health care professional has such an intimate and emotionally-burdening role.
Nurses are advocates for those in need, empathetic to people of all walks of life, committed to the greater good of the profession, and continually fighting for the rights of those within their care. Even in the midst of the tragedy that is COVID-19, from the very first case in the very first hospital- nurses have been and are continually sacrificing themselves on the front lines. Nurses continue to give up time with their families in order to make a dent in flattening the curve of COVID-19, working 12-hour shifts with three times as many patients as usual. Nurses are the ones who hold your hand when you aren’t allowed visitors, make the calls to your family to update them on your condition, and help you die with dignity and respect. Being a nurse does not stop when your shift ends; you are a nurse in every room you enter. Nurses are the profession that you hope your child’s best friends’ parents are, because then you know your child is in good hands. Nurses are the first friends you call when you have a rash that looks weird or can’t remember what to do if you’ve sprained your ankle. The healthcare system and thus, society as a whole, would be unable to function in today's society without the profession of nursing. This hierarchy of needs in society boils down to all the way to the intense training within the academic major of Nursing.
As for me, my spark for nursing was truly confirmed a little over a year ago. In the span of a lifetime, one day appears to be only an insignificant drop in the bucket. For less than 24 hours worth of life in comparison to my 187,704 hours on Earth thus far, most people would agree this amount of time could be forgotten in an instant. However, over the span of my entire lifetime, a mere single day transformed my life in ways that I never imagined possible; this was the first day I worked a night shift in the Emergency Department, and truly fell in love with the career path I had chosen. I always thought nursing was for me, just as every college student "thinks" their major is "probably for them" (and will "figure it out better when they graduate"), but that night in the ED ignited something within me that I did not know was there. I left my shift with pure adrenaline, with a heart so full that I felt like I had just won the lottery, and it was all because I had just helped save my first life. That feeling, knowing the work you did let somebody live another day on this Earth, is one that will never grow old-- and I consider myself blessed to be able to call saving others' lives "work".
A life well-lived is one where you leave the world better than you entered it and put as many smiles on others’ faces as you can in one lifetime. Becoming a nurse is a perfect outlet for me to live my life up to this definition, as I can combine my passion for science with my passion for helping others. My personal values and long-term aspirations are reflected in my choices of academic discipline, intended career field, and personal aspirations due to my passion for helping others. Opportunities and challenges exist within the medical field that will allow me to make a positive impact on others, while also authentically reflecting on my commitment to my personal values, as helping others positively impacts not only the person I am aiding but also myself. My academic achievements, co-curricular involvement, and signature work of the Capstone project will help me prepare for my life well-lived because in each of these areas I am developing as a person and networking with other high-achieving individuals who will like-wise push me to be the best version of myself.