For Graduate School - Personal Statement Example

I am interested in graduate study in nursing because I love working in the medical field. I graduated from Wayne in 2006 and have been working in the Emergency Department at Henry Ford hospital ever since. I realize that nursing is a dynamic and demanding career. I am interested in extending my education so that I can continue to develop my professional skills. I am especially interested in earning a Masters in Science of Nurse Midwifery for several personal reasons. I was inclined to study midwifery as an undergraduate student but was dissuaded by some of the professional midwives because the job prospects were not great at the time.

The opportunity to assist in the birth process has always been appealing to me. Recently, I have had opportunity to attend the deliveries of three close friends. This experience has reinforced my desire to become a midwife. Perhaps the most personal reason I want to study midwifery stems from the fact that I am currently pregnant and am seeking a midwife. I want to provide competent services to other women as they prepare to deliver their babies. I am hoping to find this for myself. Most of all, I want to continue to have positive clinical experiences as a nurse.

My most satisfying clinical experience was caring for a patient that had been in a motorcycle accident. He came in with a serous pelvic fracture that was causing profuse rectal bleeding. I was able to assist this patient throughout the CT scan and several procedures required to keep his blood pressure up. When we took him to interventional radiology as requested, the doors were locked and no one was there to help. At that point, the patient’s life was in my hands. I made the decision to take him directly to his room in the Critical Care center.

By the time we were able to get him there, he was just clinging to life. We worked to get him stabilized and he was admitted for the night. This was a satisfying experience because it shoed me that I could make difficult decisions in high-pressure situations. I was commended for making the decision to take him directly to his room instead of waiting at the interventional radiology department. I was actually there for that patient so he could tell me to speak with his wife when she arrived.

He said, “Tell my wife I love her.” I felt great about my performance that day, but was extremely upset to discover the next day that he did not live through the night. Seeing people come into the hospital walking and talking but then never leaving is a very difficult part of the job. I feel I have much to offer in graduate school. I have experiences such as the one mentioned above and a great desire to work as a midwife. I also am bi-lingual, speaking English and Arabic. This will be a great advantage as I work in an area with a large Arabic speaking population.

I also have experience with injuries to expecting mothers that come in at the Level 1 Trauma Center where I work. I have experience in helping expectant mothers that have been severely injured. Our population is very diverse, so I have a lot of experience working with and educating patients about birth control and STD’s. I also have experience working with women that have had miscarriages or who are in need to pelvic exams. I look forward to working at Wayne State University in the Masters program because I have had so many positive educational experiences at this school.

I am familiar with the faculty and have great respect for them. I feel that they can prepare me for my role as a Masters trained nurse. I believe that this level of training means that I need to step-up to being a leader in my field in word and deed. I need to set a high level of professionalism for my colleagues. I look forward to working in the program at Wayne State.