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I've been rewriting my PS after some suggestions from my editors. I wanted some input on the overall content of my PS. I've omitted the specific details about patient encounters and personal experiences below, but I wanted to know if the overall topic described is good. Do the overall ideas make sense? Does the analogy work? And lastly, how can I better incorporate the bit about "physician as scientist" into the essay since I feel that's one part that's not well-integrated?
Here are the gists of each paragraph of my PS:
- Cross-cultural dichotomy:
As an immigrant to the US, constantly faced cultural dilemmas between my native South Asian and adopted American cultures (give specific examples of this) - my two opposite "selves" --> ultimately realized why pick between the two? As someone exposed to two distinctly unique cultures I have the opportunity to get the best out of both worlds. My path in medicine has involved two very similar internal dilemmas.
- Early exposure to medicine:
Was sensitized to physical suffering while daily observing slums while going to school. Daily went to father's clinic after-school; frequently observed the solemn, heavy faces lightened with hope after consultation. This left an early imprint in me of a physician's work - the compassionate physician that relieves emotional suffering.
- Now as an adult, further exploration of one extreme: the compassionate self of the physician
Here I talk about specific patient experiences in my volunteering in rehab department in medically underserved hospital in Brooklyn and in an ambulation assistance program in a geriatrics department in Boston.
- Exploration of the opposite extreme: the efficient, systematic self of the physician
While some medical settings afford the kind of compassionate care highlighted above, others require physician to be efficient in providing care to as many patients as possible, as I found in my ER volunteering. Discuss specific example of patients in psych ward undergoing withdrawal and how the physician must suppress his emotions and focus on objective care. Further explored this aspect of efficient, systematic care by training and working as an EMT-B. In essence, physician's job seems to revolve around a dichotomy similar to my own internal cross-cultural one and that he too must find the best of both worlds in providing compassionate care to the highest number of people.
- Physician as scientist
Grandparents' chronic, painful ailments like sciatica and arthritis have made me appreciate the inadequacies of modern medical treatments and inspired me to seek research projects for understanding and treating such conditions. My experiences with presenting posters and attending sessions at the Orthopedic Research Society Conference emphasized to me how a physician can take an active role not just in treating his patients but also in discovering better treatments.
- Conclusion
Compared to other fields, medicine is unique in the degree of opportunities it gives in compassionate care, systematic treatment, and scientific discovery and the central role the physician has in improving the patient's quality of life. However, in addition to that, the work of the physician also involves internal dichotomies that closely resemble the two selves I myself have experienced as an immigrant. And as Aristotle states, it is by experiencing the two extremes and finding the "golden mean" between them that one can truly develop his internal character.
Here are the gists of each paragraph of my PS:
- Cross-cultural dichotomy:
As an immigrant to the US, constantly faced cultural dilemmas between my native South Asian and adopted American cultures (give specific examples of this) - my two opposite "selves" --> ultimately realized why pick between the two? As someone exposed to two distinctly unique cultures I have the opportunity to get the best out of both worlds. My path in medicine has involved two very similar internal dilemmas.
- Early exposure to medicine:
Was sensitized to physical suffering while daily observing slums while going to school. Daily went to father's clinic after-school; frequently observed the solemn, heavy faces lightened with hope after consultation. This left an early imprint in me of a physician's work - the compassionate physician that relieves emotional suffering.
- Now as an adult, further exploration of one extreme: the compassionate self of the physician
Here I talk about specific patient experiences in my volunteering in rehab department in medically underserved hospital in Brooklyn and in an ambulation assistance program in a geriatrics department in Boston.
- Exploration of the opposite extreme: the efficient, systematic self of the physician
While some medical settings afford the kind of compassionate care highlighted above, others require physician to be efficient in providing care to as many patients as possible, as I found in my ER volunteering. Discuss specific example of patients in psych ward undergoing withdrawal and how the physician must suppress his emotions and focus on objective care. Further explored this aspect of efficient, systematic care by training and working as an EMT-B. In essence, physician's job seems to revolve around a dichotomy similar to my own internal cross-cultural one and that he too must find the best of both worlds in providing compassionate care to the highest number of people.
- Physician as scientist
Grandparents' chronic, painful ailments like sciatica and arthritis have made me appreciate the inadequacies of modern medical treatments and inspired me to seek research projects for understanding and treating such conditions. My experiences with presenting posters and attending sessions at the Orthopedic Research Society Conference emphasized to me how a physician can take an active role not just in treating his patients but also in discovering better treatments.
- Conclusion
Compared to other fields, medicine is unique in the degree of opportunities it gives in compassionate care, systematic treatment, and scientific discovery and the central role the physician has in improving the patient's quality of life. However, in addition to that, the work of the physician also involves internal dichotomies that closely resemble the two selves I myself have experienced as an immigrant. And as Aristotle states, it is by experiencing the two extremes and finding the "golden mean" between them that one can truly develop his internal character.
