Controversial Personal Statement Topic?

[928140]

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Hello,
This very well may be premed neuroticism manifesting itself, but I am a tad concerned about my personal statement. I have gotten quite a bit of feedback on it and was feeling fairly confident. However, I was just reading some posts on personal statements, and one tip in particular makes me nervous. The tip is to not criticize doctors/medicine. One of the central themes of my PS is my desire to become a physician who treats the whole patient, rather than just their discrete medical problem. I can clarify further if needed. The problem is that I worry that in some places this comes off as judging current medical professionals. Specifically, I have a paragraph where I mention that I have watched as failure to communicate and treat the whole patient has bread mistrust between some patient populations and the medical community. I reference growing up watching the antivax and other anti science movements blossom. My point is, does this topic seem too "high horse" for a premed student?

 

[Goro]

It's a cliche. Please don't use it because I seen it oh, maybe a gazillion times.

It's also insulting to clinicians, because it implies they don't treat the whole patient.

 

[928140]

It's a cliche. Please don't use it because I seen it oh, maybe a gazillion times.

It's also insulting to clinicians, because it implies they don't treat the whole patient.

Thank you for your response. I have spent a fair amount of time on this PS, and gotten positive feedback from a variety of sources. I am hoping to submit June 1st. Do you think I should scrap it outright and start over? Or could it be salvageable? I understand these questions may not be ones you can answer, but I thought I would ask.

 

[Goro]

Just change the holistic business to what kind of doctor you'd like to be, according to your idea of the idea doctor.

 

[stubblesmcgee]

My personal statement was also somewhat critical of doctors, though on a different topic. It went through several revisions after med school faculty I know took a look and pointed out that I came in too hot. I toned it down a lot, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't enough. I got a handful of acceptances, but I'm guessing my PS turned away a few adcoms. I stand by it though, since it reflects what drives me and I don't know that I could have written a convincing PS without channeling a bit of that.

 

[Durty-Trixxx]

Just so you know --- "treating the whole patient and not just the disease" is the hallmark mantra of the osteopathic medical profession --- so if you make that the central theme of your PS then you are basically telling M.D. admission committees that you'd rather be a D.O.

 

[Durty-Trixxx]

I wondered if it would come off that way. That being said, I disagree that there is not a focus in allopathic schools to see the whole patient. This is manifested in teaching about cultural competency, bedside manner etc. as well as increased focused on the psychological aspects of illness. I am NOT saying that I am interested in alternative medicine or osteopathic manipulation...but I understand 100% how it can come off that way. For background, my two majors are a science and psychology. I have always been interested in the patient-physician relationship, and particularly enjoyed "when breath becomes air" by Paul Kalinithi and "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande. Both of these docs exemplify in their books the type of relationship I am interested in developing...where medical decisions are made in the context of the patients individual priorities and life circumstances. That is what I mean when I say "whole patient"

I applaud you for your perspective --- and truth be told the M.D. profession has aggressively moved towards "treating the patient and not just the disease" for over 30 years now. I'm just saying be aware that the theme of your PS may be interpreted as codespeak by certain M.D. adcoms as maybe you think M.D.'s should treat patients more like D.O.'s do, even though there is no real difference in how both professions treat patients these days.

 

[Lucca]

You might not have to scrap the whole thing. Instead of going with the whole “treat the whole patient, not just the left side of the right hand” angle, you could talk about the ways that your particular path has made you into a person who is interested in/experienced with different aspects of human health and not just basic science and you like that medicine has so many ways to apply that interest/experience

 

[deleted480308]

Hello,
This very well may be premed neuroticism manifesting itself, but I am a tad concerned about my personal statement. I have gotten quite a bit of feedback on it and was feeling fairly confident. However, I was just reading some posts on personal statements, and one tip in particular makes me nervous. The tip is to not criticize doctors/medicine. One of the central themes of my PS is my desire to become a physician who treats the whole patient, rather than just their discrete medical problem. I can clarify further if needed. The problem is that I worry that in some places this comes off as judging current medical professionals. Specifically, I have a paragraph where I mention that I have watched as failure to communicate and treat the whole patient has bread mistrust between some patient populations and the medical community. I reference growing up watching the antivax and other anti science movements blossom. My point is, does this topic seem too "high horse" for a premed student?

You don’t really know enough at this point to know what any of that really means.....even if it was more than just a tired cliche (which it isn’t)

Just talk about wanting to be good at your job and helping people