Personal statement development and reflection

Personal Statement

In today's world, there are several reasons nursing is one of the most essential professionals imaginable.

First, medicine is changing in two directions that make the nurse an essential, indispensable member of the patient care team. The continuing expansion of medical technologies means that physicians will be more and more specialized. Nurses will specialize as well, but because they are often the first and last person a patient sees when visiting any health care facility, nurses are the key to the interface between patient and technology. While physicians may order tests and treatments -- and while technicians of various sorts may administer them -- the nurse is the one who will have the entire treatment picture and can interact in ways with the patient and the rest of the staff that results in a positive and intelligent care-giving experience.

Second, even while medicine is undergoing vast technological advances, is also becoming more holistic. Physicians know that treating the entire patient is essential. Such patients are more likely to accept even painful treatments when they understand it is in the interest of their regaining health; the nurse is often key to helping a patient understand the work of the physician, the nutritionist, the phlebotomist and so on.

Third, because hospitals and other medical facilities are major corporations, they have the expectations and demands of such enterprises. Key among these demands is that all 'stakeholders' be served. Stakeholders include, often, investors/shareholders, physicians, insurance companies, the community, and the patient and patient's family. Nurses are increasingly being called upon to be nurse managers, a role in which understanding the needs of the stakeholders, and having the knowledge and interpersonal skills to accomplish consensus is essential.

There is, as well, one additional constituency: the global community. George Mason University's College of Nursing and Health Science World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, is certainly an exciting part of the George Mason program. Moreover, it is positioned to do an enormous amount of good around the world by contributing expertise where it is most needed. Because my undergraduate degree is in management, I have a significant knowledge in this area already; adding more would only enhance my value to the rapidly changing and always demanding profession of nursing.

My undergraduate degree is in business management. Since then, I have worked as a flight attendant for seven years, catering to various stakeholders, from customers to pilots to administrators. I have also developed a keen appreciation of various global cultures. In addition, my recent additional nursing studies have helped me understand how I could combine my work and life experiences with a nursing degree to participate in nursing at a very exciting time in the evolution of the profession, and make a very valuable contribution.