Growing up in a culturally diverse city in Nashville, I have gained cultural competency from my interactions with people from a plethora of ethnic backgrounds. Lastly, I am a highly ambitious person who always looks to broaden his horizons. Thus, I’m returning to school for the upcoming fall semester to take upper-division biology courses. I plan to take anatomy and physiology I and II, physiology, and research if the opportunity is available. These classes will better prepare me for medical school by helping me establish a solid foundation in the anatomical sciences.
When I was thirteen years old, I knew I wanted to go into the medical field. Personally, I felt that that was my passion: to help people. Last year, while I was looking at the course catalog, I saw the words Ethics: Law, Business, and Medicine. Once I saw “medicine,” I put the class as my number one choice. Once I found out we were going to read “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” I was interested but didn’t know how it could help me in the future.
At the Medical Department of the College, students were able to receive their bachelor's degree or a doctor's degree. In order to obtain a bachelor’s degree students had to prove that they were proficient in the subjects of medical science. Students had to complete one course of lectures in anatomy, Materia Medica chemistry, and the theory and practice of medicine. They had to observe at the Pennsylvania Hospital for one year. Finally, they had to be examined by the school’s trustees, professors and then the public.
Traditions are something most families have. In the dystopian novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas lives in a community where everything is routine, even some rituals that aren’t right. In the short story, “The Lottery,” by Shirley Jackson, a village participates in an awful event they call The Lottery. Both stories show the theme of how blindly following traditions isn’t always right. In the dystopian novel titled The Giver by Lois Lowry, the author conveys the theme of how following customs isn’t the best thing to do at times.
Rebecca Cook, a first year medical student at Vanderbilt University at the time, gives her first hand account of the gross anatomy lab in the article “Getting to know a cadaver: reflections of a medical student,” telling of her experiences with cadavers. “Studying anatomy on a cadaver is like solving a puzzle, or trying to find Waldo in a Where's Waldo? book: you are trying to figure out how it all fits together, or searching for one small part.” While you can learn anatomy as though you were in high school, through names and charts, you can only know anatomy by seeing it for
I knew that I wanted to pave the way for candid treatment and diagnosis of patients worldwide. In the process, I became intrigued with experimentation and learning to comprehensively understand the nature of Science. Indeed, my intent to pursue an education in Clinical Laboratory Science was influenced by my eagerness to learn the mechanisms that controlled cell behavior. Furthermore, I was inspired by the idea of becoming a diligent healthcare professional. My ambitious spirit led me to furthering my education and earning a Bachelor's in Biology at Dillard University.
Science is the greatest factor in all medical care, but it is not the only factor to consider. Working at a multi-specialty center as a medical assistant gave me an edge to witness first-hand the ‘un-taught’ aspect of medical practice; the emotions, the uncertainties, and the unbroken resolve. The science in medicine is the hope to relieve the uncertainty, the fear, and the anger we face upon sickness. This is the space where I have learned to empathize with patients, where I have a natural sense of care for strangers, and where I enjoy investing my time.
Fortunately, I was selected and was thrilled to examine the human anatomy with an incredible “hands-on” experience. Clearly, a simple summer job at a hospital sparked and fueled my interest in science. The string of experiences has directed me to my calling in life. The Tri-Health program helped me realize my interest in medicine and my passion to pursue a career in
One night, I woke up to my sister screaming; her body was drenched in sweat, and she repeatedly said, “I can’t move my legs”. I was young then and didn’t understand what she meant. I slowly lifted the covers off of her legs. They looked perfectly normal to me, so I asked her to wiggle her toes. Thirty seconds went by, and no movement occurred; she says, “I really can’t move my legs”.
At the start of this unit, I thought I was going to be against the Kony 2012 social media campaign and that it was not effective, mostly because I had not heard of it before. I began going through the course materials with the readings and they did not give me much of a reason to before it due to them discussing how bad the issue of child soldiers is around the world. To elaborate, one of the readings stated that in the media, “rarely do descriptive accounts of child soldiers adequately explain how they undergo fundamental changes in their identities and actions, from lives of relatively tranquility to the perpetration of wanton destruction and violence, often on defenceless civilians” (Denov & Maclure, 2007, p. 244-245). These descriptive accounts that are on the rare chance even
Conditioned Response Imagine being five years old and being attacked by a four-year-old German Shepherd dog. That is exactly what happened to my brother-in-law, Timmy. Ironically enough we grew up as neighbors, my sister later married him. I remember growing up with an elderly man living in the house directly behind my now brother-in-law’s house. This man adopted a German Shepherd puppy as his only companion after his wife died just a year or so before.
As a young child and seeing doctors aiding to people, I felt a spark inside of myself and a curiosity of the medical world. My interest grew deeper and deeper after taking Health, the Applied Health during my sophomore year in High School. During my field trip to the cadaver lab, I got to experience my first encounter with body systems of a human. Prior to this experience, I had only read about, seen pictures, or watched movies about organ systems in a human body or the functions of organs. But, on that day at the cadaver lab, I got to view the innards of a body completely exposed.
Over the course of the last few months my life was changed for the worst yet another time. This time, the whirlwind was caused by my youngest brother, Zane. Being sucked into school life with all the extracurricular activities, I have had to balance demands of his diagnosis with all the academic requirements of achieving at a high level and participating in sports. On October 2, 2016, he was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Bechet's Syndrome.
The practice of medicine is seen everywhere. The conventional worldview is the pharmaceutical route to the onset of illnesses and conditions. However, there is an opposing worldview, which I see myself as, and that is emphasizing healing through exercise, nutrition, and self-care. Through observing my parents and learning in nursing school how the body works, this had shaped my worldview on the practice of medicine.
I'm always looking up diseases and when I hear my grandmother talking about her cases I always ask her when I don't understand something. In my senior year I took anatomy and I was one of the best students in the class. With only 20 years old I already know how to take blood pressure, how to give shots, how to put in IVs, and I have even seen surgeries. I am a student that knows what I want because I have had the chance to shadow a doctor and learn some practical skills. The fact that I have been able to do these things has made me love medicine more and I am sure of my decision of becoming a
