time when I failed: secondary ideas?

[barbieandbrainsmd]

Am currently toying with discussing how when I was a medical assistant, I was overwhelmed during my first morning rush on my own without shadowing the lead MA and charted two patients with the same first name wrong by 1) forgetting to verify date of birth and 2) not organizing my notes well on my small post it note. Essentially, I put in one person's height, weight, reason for visit, etc. into the other's and vice versa. This resulted in the MD becoming very upset (understandably), and then me buying a new notebook and creating a note taking system to efficiently document patient info, force a habit of verification no matter how busy, double check my charting, and overall keep a careful eye on my work in busy clinical spaces. Does this work?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted929944]

I was overwhelmed during my first morning rush on my own without shadowing the lead MA

So is this really your failure or institutional failure?

 

[wysdoc]

So is this really your failure or institutional failure?

???

 

[wysdoc]

Am currently toying with discussing how when I was a medical assistant, I was overwhelmed during my first morning rush on my own without shadowing the lead MA and charted two patients with the same first name wrong by 1) forgetting to verify date of birth and 2) not organizing my notes well on my small post it note. Essentially, I put in one person's height, weight, reason for visit, etc. into the other's and vice versa. This resulted in the MD becoming very upset (understandably), and then me buying a new notebook and creating a note taking system to efficiently document patient info, force a habit of verification no matter how busy, double check my charting, and overall keep a careful eye on my work in busy clinical spaces. Does this work?

I can’t see that this mistake is worth an entire essay, try to think of something else

 

[deleted929944]

???

Was it really OP's failure or was it really the institution's failure for putting people in unfavorable positions. I see this happen all the time. New hires don't get the appropriate training or mentorship and are thrown out to sink or swim.

 

[Med Ed]

Was it really OP's failure or was it really the institution's failure for putting people in unfavorable positions.

Both. Institutions should have processes and procedures to avoid critical mistakes, and recognize them when they occur. But no system is impervious to human error, and humans are responsible for keeping the fundamental aspects of their jobs straight.

Either way, this answer comes off as more as an oopsie than a genuine failure.

 

[deleted929944]

Both. Institutions should have processes and procedures to avoid critical mistakes, and recognize them when they occur. But no system is impervious to human error, and humans are responsible for keeping the fundamental aspects of their jobs straight.

Either way, this answer comes off as more as an oopsie than a genuine failure.

Depends on if you think fundamental aspect of the job includes how to manage being overloaded, which is what happened here.

This resulted in the MD becoming very upset (understandably), and then me buying a new notebook and creating a note taking system to efficiently document patient info, force a habit of verification no matter how busy, double check my charting, and overall keep a careful eye on my work in busy clinical spaces

The fact that the OP had to institute a completely new process is credit to them and shows greatness. But this clearly shows institutional failure that a literal newbie had to come up with a better process. Why wasn't it or something similar in place? Why wasn't verification or double checking taught? And does anyone besides OP verify their work? OP shadowed a lead MA. Did the MA not verify? Not teach OP to verify? Or did but OP forgot? Was there any confirmation from lead MA that OP was ready to go on their own?

As a former manager, I cringe when I see other departments don't invest in training/mentoring their new people appropriately and then the newhires quit or get thrown under some bus. And I'm guilty of this too. Sometimes, you just don't have the time to train people.

So your statement that it's an oopsie is definitely on point. Definitely not a genuine failure on OP's part.

But I'm splitting hair here. Most adcoms probably don't have the time to think that deep about any individual essay.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Write Your Secondary Essays First - SDN

The Student Doctor Network provides free tools, resources, and advising services to help students become health professionals.

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[barbieandbrainsmd]

I had an idea for the secondary concerning failure, but I am not sure if it is enough of a failure (though it was for me because I wanted to finish out my time dancing with this group with a bang and very much so did not):

During my senior spring, I ambitiously joined one of my dance group’s most challenging, fast-paced pieces despite balancing MCAT studying, challenging classes, too many other extracurriculars, and research. Due to my packed schedule, I struggled to attend rehearsals (rarely ever doing so) and therefore could barely learn the choreography, which disappointed the choreographer, who was also a close friend. I kept saying I would learn the choreo, not being honest to myself and him about my capacity that semester. Once it was a month out from the show, I only knew 2 out of the 6 songs I was in for his piece, and he let me know he was frustrated because he had to pull me out of the other 4 and completely reblock and reteach them. I begged to have another week to learn, again not honest with myself in terms of my time. After a week of intense practice, I ended up only learning 1 more and then performing in 3 out of 6 songs, which I was quite disappointed in myself for.

What I learned: self-awareness and understanding my capacity, communication, and understanding that failing to fulfill my word impacts the outcomes of collaborative projects for others and my dependability.

Side note, is it necessary to extrapolate this to my more recent work (research, gap year job, etc.)?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Maybe more of a disappointment than a true failure to me. Showing you cannot manage your priorities (though in this case you're placing your MCAT and classes above dance... you want us to argue with this?) isn't a good look and is more a weakness than a failure. I don't think that the stakes are high enough to really warrant a "failure" because to me, your friend failed you by not cutting you for a lack of dedication.

ADDED To the audience:
Just because Aaron Rodgers last year tore his ACL after 4 plays as NY Jets quarterback does not mean his season was a failure, right? Definitely a serious disappointment. Compare to the years that for the GB Packers his team couldn't get to the Super Bowl: in competitive sports, those are failed years given his (team's) tools and his availability for the entire year.

 

[chilly_md]

I have merged these threads about this particular secondary topic. Please keep discussion within one thread in order to allow posters to best help you and other users.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I agree with the advice you got. Seems like you didn't get what you wanted and went to try in another sandbox.

 

[Med Ed]

Currently trying to pre-write one of Brown (Alpert) secondaries: "Reflect on a situation when you had to change course, and how you did so. (3000 characters)"

I am thinking about talking about not getting voted for a college club VP position after already being part of the executive team (diff position). I plan to talk about how this ultimately led me to co-founding a similar organization outside of the college. Is this a good idea? Or would mentioning that I did not get voted for somehow make me look bad.

Would it be helpful if I mention that I stayed involved with the org as a general member, and even have plans of setting up collaborations between the two orgs now? I was advised to change topic as this might come off as me not getting what I wanted and leaving the original organization.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions/advice!

With rare exception, the esteem of college clubs is about half a notch higher than high school clubs, which is about a quarter notch higher than middle school clubs. There are thousands of clubs in colleges and universities across the country, and therefore tens of thousands of students vying for positions of "leadership" in tiny organizations that usually accomplish very little.

Put another way, try and think of something better.