Medical admissions essay

  Briefly discuss any unique circumstances or life experiences that are relevant to your application which have not previously been presented. This is an medical admissions essay. Please keep paper under 2500 characters Mrs. Gaines was my first patient when I first started volunteering at Hospice Plus. An elderly lady around 75 years of age, she didn’t seem quite stagnant as one would usually think of an elderly person. When I was informed of her death just two weeks after I had last seen her, I had such an excruciating pain in my heart. This was the first time in my life that I had felt the pain of loss that accompanied the death of someone close to me. Her advice, her stories, and her ability to speak with such descriptive detail with an exuberance and a smile made me believe she was my own grandmother sometimes. Since this was my first patient with Hospice Plus, my volunteer coordinator met with me to discuss my feelings. I told her I felt guilty, stemming from the regret of not having spoken to her more. She was a healthy individual, nowhere near death’s door. Yet unexpectedly, her passing made me question whether I did all I could with my visits. Did I truly know her? Why did I not visit her more? I also had self-doubt about my own future. What if, once I became a physician, and had a patient who died on my watch, would I have done everything possible? Or what would happen if a patient chose death over a particular treatment that could prolong life? How could I just go on knowing that I didn’t use 110% effort in saving them? I know I should not think like this, but I was having trouble processing my grief and my desire to be the best I can be in everything I do in life was beginning to blind me. It was as if my smooth and paved road to my future dream was now chipped, cracked, and jagged. As these questions spilled out of me, my sponsor held my hand, and told me very softly that there is nothing more I could have done. “Do not regret anything. Only remember the good times you had with her” she said. She further went on to say, “I do not know how it is in medicine, but remember one thing: Doctors are not perfect. They will make mistakes and they will have regrets too because they are human beings first”. I smiled at that and realized that as doctors, we must bridge the gap between patients to make a connection with them, no matter how short it might be. Doctors are not simply healers who treat disease; they treat the patient’s mind and anxiety and they must provide an open and empathetic environment while respecting the patient’s feelings much like how my hospice training allowed me to give that opportunity to Mrs. Gaines and allowed us to understand one another.