My Ambition To Pursue Medicine
My desire to become a doctor stems from both my fascination of the human body and also the aspiration of benefiting people through my work. My curiosity of the human body developed from my A-Level Biology classes as I felt astonished from learning how amazing the immune system is - to be able to tactically eliminate pathogens through the use of white blood cells taught me that the human body is no ordinary work of nature. Personal experiences have reinforced my ambition to pursue medicine. One of these direct experiences comes from my mother when she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. As her carer I was entrusted to prescribe her with her medication and monitor her eating patterns. I have learnt to be kind and patient through this long experience - and the satisfaction of helping to alleviate her stress. Work experience in a pharmacy has given me an idea of the type of work doctors practice. Through shadowing a pharmacist I was able to witness the importance of verbal communication; as one incorrect statement could result in a patient misusing their medication. Talking with patients in the pharmacy has taught me to be cautious with my speech, as being able to communicate with people clearly is a key skill for a doctor to have. My time as a waiter has enlightened me on the importance of teamwork. During the busiest times of the day I had to work constructively with my colleagues to be able to organise the orders of customers and assigning roles to deliver food efficiently. Communication was key in this process as I had to be able to receive and deliver orders and organise which plates needed to be delivered to which table. Furthermore, such tasks helped me to develop my time management skills because of extreme time constraints, something which a doctor needs to have in order to meet the requirements of a hectic time schedule.
Suffering from asthma has given me a motivation to research into the condition and understand how it occurs. This has led me to a fond interest of respiratory medicine as I find pulmonary diseases and their effects fascinating.
Reading articles from journals such as the BMC Medicine reveal the ever changing and evolving aspects of medicine and how it develops through new technological advancements and developments of techniques used to treat patients. Reading articles such as ‘Asthma-like symptoms: is it always a pulmonary issue?’ strengthens my interest in this aspect of medicine. After reading documents from the General Medical Council such as ‘Good Medical Practice’ I have gained knowledge on the duties of being a doctor, such as protecting and promoting the health of patients and the public.
I have also attended a basic life support training course at a GP from which I learnt the basics of CPR and choking manoeuvres. Such experiences allowed me to get a sense of the pressures that I could be faced with as a doctor, such as performing a surgery on a patient. My trips to Bangladesh have given me an apprehension of the hardships doctors have to face on a daily basis. Due to an infection from a wart on my right hand, I required immediate surgery and was take to a clinic in Sylhet for a doctor to remove it. The calm and focused approach of the doctor revealed to me the attitude needed to face patients to make them feel safe and not to lose faith in the profession. Whilst there I was also able to observe the doctor in practice as he performed diagnoses and tests on patients.
Talking to doctors and members of the multi-disciplinary team has taught me some of the challenges that a doctor may face in their daily lives, such as unsociable working hours and the feeling of regret when a patient dies however, they have also informed me of the pros of being a doctor, most notably the satisfaction of seeing a patient’s smile after treating them.
As such, I would be honoured to work in such a profession in which I can learn about something I love which in turn helps people in a positive way.
