Is this an overworked topic in personal statements?

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mangoroxmysox

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Is the subject of the importance of a patient's emotional wellbeing (that it should be just as important as physical wellbeing when treating the patient) overworked in personal statements?
 
mangoroxmysox said:
Is the subject of the importance of a patient's emotional wellbeing (that it should be just as important as physical wellbeing when treating the patient) overworked in personal statements?
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No, of course not. That's what sets physicians apart from other healthcare workers or hospital staff. We consider the patient's emotional wellbeing in addition to their immediate needs.
 
ChairmanMao said:
No, of course not. That's what sets physicians apart from other healthcare workers or hospital staff. We consider the patient's emotional wellbeing in addition to their immediate needs.
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So nurses and technicians don't care about patients' emotional state while doctors do? ...how much time have you spent in a hospital?
 
It's an important topic that's really being emphasized right now in professional standards and clinical skills curricula.

As with any personal essay topic, it depends on the context and how it was influential to you.
 
i think that is a good topic, but you have to write it in a way that is not cliche or contrived.
 
If you have experience providing emotional support to patients, then by all means talk about it. If you are writing about how you think the current medical professionals are lacking in this area and you have no experience but you will make a better physician than the current ones, then no I would not talk about it.
 
ChairmanMao said:
No, of course not. That's what sets physicians apart from other healthcare workers or hospital staff. We consider the patient's emotional wellbeing in addition to their immediate needs.
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I've heard more patients talk about how the nurses and 'other girls' (predominately lab and CNAs) care about them than how much the doctor cares about them. While physicians certainly should care about their patients' well being, I've seen far more only care about their immediate needs before moving on to the next one.
 
Nursing assessments do specifically take into account emotional, social and spiritual dimentions of the patient.

None the less, if you see patients' emotional wellbeing as an important part of a physician's role, write about that in your PS. It is not cliched (not yet) and is not something that I've seen frequently.
 
ChairmanMao said:
No, of course not. That's what sets physicians apart from other healthcare workers or hospital staff. We consider the patient's emotional wellbeing in addition to their immediate needs.
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Am I the only one who read this as sarcasm?
 
mmmcdowe said:
No topic that you are passionate about is overused.
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Tell that to the adcoms when I told them I was passionate about World of Warcraft and how playing a Priest led me to want to become a doctor.😡
 
LizzyM said:
Nursing assessments do specifically take into account emotional, social and spiritual dimentions of the patient.

None the less, if you see patients' emotional wellbeing as an important part of a physician's role, write about that in your PS. It is not cliched (not yet) and is not something that I've seen frequently.
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I would LOVE to read a book that analyzes and discusses the "trends" in topics discussed in PS by aspiring doctors.
 
Kaustikos said:
I would LOVE to read a book that analyzes and discusses the "trends" in topics discussed in PS by aspiring doctors.
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After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
 
LizzyM said:
After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
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Just curious, do you roll your eyes every time you see something like this, or only after you read it if it's very cliche?
Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration
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And what's this one about?
 
JimmerJammerMrK said:
Just curious, do you roll your eyes every time you see something like this, or only after you read it if it's very cliche?
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🙄 All.the.time.


And what's this one about?
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Mountains beyond Mountains by Kidder a book about Paul Farmer, MD. Sometimes I wonder what inspired folks to go into medicine before that book was published.
 
LizzyM said:
🙄 All.the.time.




.
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I'm sure most adcomms do this, but it's also ironic that they are reading these essays with the intention of selecting candidates to enter a profession that embraces 'empathy' as its mantra. While some essays probably are full of BS, don't you think many people are writing about the above topics in earnest? Because they are legitimate, personal experiences that led them to medicine (and that don't deserve an eye roll)? Why so cynical?
 
sdguy2008 said:
I'm sure most adcomms do this, but it's also ironic that they are reading these essays with the intention of selecting candidates to enter a profession that embraces 'empathy' as its mantra. While some essays probably are full of BS, don't you think many people are writing about the above topics in earnest? Because they are legitimate, personal experiences that led them to medicine (and that don't deserve an eye roll)? Why so cynical?
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lol, just wait, in 10 years you will likely roll your eyes at your own personal statement for both med school and residency.
 
Rendar5 said:
lol, just wait, in 10 years you will likely roll your eyes at your own personal statement for both med school and residency.
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Agreed. One year later I already roll my eyes at my previous PS. At the time, I obviously felt that it was top notch writing.
 
LizzyM said:
After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
Click to expand...
Sweet. I was outside the box!
 
LizzyM said:
Mountains beyond Mountains by Kidder a book about Paul Farmer, MD. Sometimes I wonder what inspired folks to go into medicine before that book was published.
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Are you saying that people say they read Mountains beyond Mountains and wanted to go into medicine?
 
dang it! why did I open this thread. I can't do anything about my PS now 😱:scared:😡
 
LizzyM said:
After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
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I'm actually curious what some of the other extremely common topics are. I imagine there has to be more than this...is the state of public healthcare common?
 
Narmerguy said:
I'm actually curious what some of the other extremely common topics are. I imagine there has to be more than this...is the state of public healthcare common?
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No, that's not a common topic.

The one I didn't mention earlier that dawned on me later was:

Someone was sick/injured/dying and I felt helpless.
 
LizzyM said:
After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
Click to expand...

Genius.

Thank goodness I didn't go down any of these routes...
 
Not at all. As other people said, the idea of empathic/humanistic medicine is getting more and more emphasized in today's medical education. Just back it up with your real-life experience(s) in which you realized the importance of the emotional aspect of medicine, demonstrated the capacity to promote a patient's emotional well-being while volunteering......etc. You get the idea.
 
LizzyM said:
After a decade of reading applications, I could write a book. The chapters would include:

Lights and Sirens... how exciting it is to be in the thick of it

I loved my grandma, and then she died

Mountains beyond mountains of inspiration

Being a patient made me want to be a doctor

If only he had known that grease and cigarettes were bad for his health

Three generations of physicians isn't enough... medicine is my destiny
Click to expand...

I will swear to you LizzyM! That when you read my application/personal statement, you will find it the most unique/original one. You might need to make a new chapter in your book just for me.

And another question. Can you estimate about how many people who you interview use SDN? Do you have any way of telling if an interviewee has been here, or uses this site regularly? Basically, what I'm trying to get at is percent are we SDNers in this whole pool of pre-meds?
 
Thanks for your responses...they have been very helpful 🙂

I do have a lot of experience comforting adult patients, but I have more experience comforting children that are scared to death. Would it be feasible to write about comforting a child, or should I stick to writing about providing emotional support to adults?
 
mangoroxmysox said:
Thanks for your responses...they have been very helpful 🙂

I do have a lot of experience comforting adult patients, but I have more experience comforting children that are scared to death. Would it be feasible to write about comforting a child, or should I stick to writing about providing emotional support to adults?
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You sound like a girl. (not that its a bad thing)

I'm a pretty poetic guy. The way I'd tackle your essay is by writing a narrative. Talking about a kid who is scared, use dark imagery here, to show the fear of the kid. Then use figurative language and talk about a figure, who symbolizes light, and illuminates the dark room of the scared kid, putting him at ease. Allude that harbinger of light to yourself though.
But that is only if your essay allows such leniency of the pen to conjure this stuff up. Or is it like one of those serious essay prompts?
 
Kaustikos said:
Tell that to the adcoms when I told them I was passionate about World of Warcraft and how playing a Priest led me to want to become a doctor.😡
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LOL, I totally wanted to use this as a joke on my PS. I played a priest and then a year later (after I quit) I decided to take some science courses and eventually became a premed. I've always thought that playing the priest was an underlying manifestation of my desire to healz people.
 
I think it's good if you talk about it intelligently. I actually spent a good time of my ps discussing the social dimensions of illness in patients I had seen while working as a counselor in AIDS/HIV work, and tried to connect it to other roles that I had advising others and how it fulfilled me. As long as it's not abstract and supported by concrete examples and a better explanation, it's definitely something you can include. As for Paul Farmer, I've taught classes on books he's written and literally saw him talk about a week before I submitted my app. The man's just awesome, but you'll probably want to avoid mentioning his name in your personal statement. It really is cliche, no matter how cool he is. Also, avoid any reference to the following: "ER", "Grey's Anatomy", "Private Practice". Please, please, please.
 
Omni said:
You sound like a girl. (not that its a bad thing)

I'm a pretty poetic guy. The way I'd tackle your essay is by writing a narrative. Talking about a kid who is scared, use dark imagery here, to show the fear of the kid. Then use figurative language and talk about a figure, who symbolizes light, and illuminates the dark room of the scared kid, putting him at ease. Allude that harbinger of light to yourself though.
But that is only if your essay allows such leniency of the pen to conjure this stuff up. Or is it like one of those serious essay prompts?
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Are you serious?
 
zerial said:
humility goes a long way
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For serious!

Poetry is nice, but remember it can be very over the top too, except to maybe a few adcom members that are poetry buffs. What sounds beautiful now will probably feel very corny when you read it in a few months (personal experience with one of my secondaries)
 
im just offering suggestions to OP. He/she can pick and choose what he/she wants. and yes, it could be over the top, but it all depends on how subtle you are with it. if you spend one whole parageaph describing how youre the light, that might sound too cheesy. but if you use one sentence towards the end of your essay, it will sound better and it will also serve to make the essay a bit more coherent. a writer can call himself a pteradactyl in his essay but it all depends on HOW the author writes/incorportes it.
 
ChairmanMao said:
No, of course not. That's what sets physicians apart from other healthcare workers or hospital staff. We consider the patient's emotional wellbeing in addition to their immediate needs.
Click to expand...

Actually, nurses, in general, are probably better at this than most docs. It's more in the job description for a nurse to care for the Px's moment by moment emotional as well as physical health. In most specialties, physicians spend much less time with their Px than do nurses. Bedside manner seems to have been a fairly problematic issue for docs for years. Even the specialty charged with emotional well-being (psychiatry) has been often-criticized for marginalizing patients' emotional and psychological health in favor of biomedical quick fixes. This often happens in both psychiatry and other medical specialties b/c physicians are often too busy and/or underpaid (by insurance) to spend significant periods of time with patients.
 
Omni said:
im just offering suggestions to OP. He/she can pick and choose what he/she wants. and yes, it could be over the top, but it all depends on how subtle you are with it. if you spend one whole parageaph describing how youre the light, that might sound too cheesy. but if you use one sentence towards the end of your essay, it will sound better and it will also serve to make the essay a bit more coherent. a writer can call himself a pteradactyl in his essay but it all depends on HOW the author writes/incorportes it.
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If there's a subtle way of calling yourself a beacon of light or a pterodactyl, I'd like to hear it. :laugh:
 
saqrfaraj said:
If there's a subtle way of calling yourself a beacon of light or a pterodactyl, I'd like to hear it. :laugh:
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Something from the top of my head:
I am someone who can help ease the fear for children who are about to undergo surgery. To many, I am like a night light that provides security, trust, and confidence to those who feel uneasy in a dark room that is casted by the thought of surgery.

You don't seem too great with figurative language. It looks like you took my hyperbole with the pterodactyl quite literally.
 
Omni said:
Something from the top of my head:
I am someone who can help ease the fear for children who are about to undergo surgery. To many, I am the night that provides security, trust, and confidence to those who feel uneasy in a dark room that is casted by the thought of surgery.

You don't seem too great with figurative language. It looks like you took my hyperbole with the pterodactyl quite literally.
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Uh oh, here it comes. I bet you think I'll make a terrible doctor too. :laugh: Also, if you make the changes above, we're suddenly talking about Batman.
 
Omni said:
Something from the top of my head:
I am someone who can help ease the fear for children who are about to undergo surgery. To many, I am like a night light that provides security, trust, and confidence to those who feel uneasy in a dark room that is casted by the thought of surgery.

You don't seem too great with figurative language. It looks like you took my hyperbole with the pterodactyl quite literally.
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But spell check goes a long way...
 
saqrfaraj said:
Uh oh, here it comes. I bet you think I'll make a terrible doctor too. :laugh: Also, if you make the changes above, we're suddenly talking about Batman.
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I think you'll make a terrible doctor. And I know nothing about you 😛

J/K (I know how you like to take things literally...)
 
saqrfaraj said:
Uh oh, here it comes. I bet you think I'll make a terrible doctor too. :laugh: Also, if you make the changes above, we're suddenly talking about Batman.
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lol. Why jump to conclusions?
I'm not like most other people here who act like 12 year olds here, haha. You brought up a legitimate question, so I decided to explain it to you. And what does being a good/bad doctor have anything to do with good writing?
 
bamtuba said:
But spell check goes a long way...
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Haha, thanks for the heads up. If I were using the SDN forums as a word processor, I would have probably left that mistake there, lol.
 
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