MEDICINE RESIDENCY PERSONAL STATEMENT

I never had to “decide” upon a medical career. I entered a vocational nursing school and my passion for medicine grew each day, as I assisted patients and learned medical techniques. Each day I would attend physician morning rounds or stand in the emergency room and marvel at their life-saving work. By my last year of high school I was sure that I wanted to be more involved in patient care, to help people recover from illnesses or injuries. Nothing fascinated me more than finding out why two patients with same disease had different complaints, different reactions to medication, and different outcomes. I applied to medical school and there I found the answers. My passion for science, my enthusiasm and my ambitions carried me to the top of my class.

During the countless hours spent in the hospital, I was frustrated that despite the great progress made in medicine, people still suffered needlessly from preventable diseases or conditions. During my internal medicine rotation, I encountered a patient who had been admitted to the hospital for chest pain. Although he had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus two years before, he viewed the condition as a fatality, because his father also had diabetes. He never tried to learn more about his disease or the available treatments. He visited a doctor only when he was in serious distress. I thoroughly explained the complications of diabetes, the necessity to monitor his blood sugar, and the importance of his lifestyle modification. I communicated the benefits of losing weight, watching his diet, could provide him long term incommensurable benefits. The next time I saw him he had more questions about his diabetes. It was then when I realized the importance of patient’s education and what I wanted was a career in which I could teach my patients that they are in charge of their health.

Throughout my Family Practice residency outside the US which gave me a broad training across multiple specialties, I found great enjoyment in the intellectual stimulation and working with adults. The variety of medical conditions that one could see in an internal medicine ward was what made me thinking at the internal medicine as my career. I wanted to provide comprehensive care to patients and to have detailed knowledge about how to manage the most complicated of medical problems found in the adult population. Being on the front line of medicine offers the intellectual stimulation and challenge of diagnosis, as well as the possibility to practice preventive medicine. For these reasons I found the practice of Internal Medicine to be most fulfilling and gratifying.

The thought of completing a residency in internal medicine in the United States is thrilling. It will offer me an opportunity to apply the advanced understanding of the interwoven factors that affect a patient’s overall health. At the same time I will bring to the program the clinical knowledge that I have acquired during my residency in Russia, my ability to listen, understand, educate, and the desire to become a better physician. I am excited by the prospect of providing care as a diagnostician, healer, motivator, and patient advocate. I am confident that my past experiences and sincere dedication to healing will allow me to succeed in your program, and I look forward to the challenge and reward of an engaging residency.