Personal Statement for Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program

This personal statement is a compelling application to the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program, specifically in Anesthesia, at Michigan State University (MSU). The author, a 33-year-old ICU nurse and businessman, details their motivation, background, and experiences that have shaped their career aspirations. The statement emphasizes the applicant's cultural competence as a Muslim individual from Saudi Arabia with experience in Australia, highlighting the importance of cultural sensitivity in healthcare. The applicant recounts a pivotal experience during a trauma surgery, solidifying their desire to become an anesthesiologist and improve patient outcomes. They also discuss their teamwork skills, manual dexterity, and plans for lifelong learning, including integrating theory with practice and contributing to the field of nurse anesthesia, particularly within Saudi Arabia. The statement includes references to support their claims and demonstrates a clear understanding of the field and their goals.

PERSONAL STATEMENT
Student name:
Student ID:
University name:

I am zealous to purse graduate program in DNP. The thing that makes me a suitable choice for
the current course is my amicable nature. Being a 33-year-old individual and a father of three
kids gives me immense flexibility to handle tasks and mix with people irrespective of their age
and social status. Talking about my annual income, it would be fair enough to state that I am
fully employed nurse, with annual income of 50000$. On the other hand, I even run a business
that helps me to increase my income to roughly 98000$ annually. However, my passion remains
in nursing and helping people, my academic record can attest my statement. I have acquired
double majors in domain of operating room from the college of Health Science with a score of
3.55 out of 4. In addition to that I belong from a cultural diverse family with 8 siblings who are
highly educated and supportive. The fact that makes me suitable choice for the degree is the
understanding of cultural diversity. Raised as a Muslim individual in Saudi Arabia I am well
versed with the cultural obligations from the Islamic patients. Additionally, I have gained
immense experience during my 4 years professional tenure in Australia. Both the places have
taught me something new and made me increasingly cultural competent as a nurse.
I personally feel it is important for a nurse to be culturally competent. The National Institute of
Health (NIH), acknowledges cultural respect as an important factor in reducing the disparity
related to healthcare (degree.astate.edu, 2019). I personally feel, it is important to be culturally
competent, failure to the same can lead to patient dissatisfaction. Evidence based research
suggest that lack of effective communication between patient and the healthcare professional can
lead to problems and even wrong diagnosis (Tawfic et al. 2017). For instance, Spanish speaking
individuals often complain about limited dissatisfaction with English speaking healthcare
professionals. Thus, I can provide quality care to individuals speaking English and even Arabic
as I have good control over both of them.

I am personally elated to pursue further degree in nursing related to anaesthesia. After graduating
from the courses related to health science, anesthesiology emerges out as a special subject that
aptly aligns with my future and even personal goals. As far as my knowledge goes,
anesthesiology is a complex combination of cerebral requirements of internally administered
medicine (Mulier, 2016). The internally administered medicines demand complementary skills of
surgery. The excitement of performing the medical intervention that can have instant effect on
patient stability and comfort, furnishes me with high satisfaction. In addition to that I look
forward to enrich my existing experience of working with different patients for better nurse-
patient interactions
There are just few more reasons for me to apply for the position that I have applied. The prime
reason why I love this speciality as it provides me high level of job satisfaction. As per the
perception of Jevtovic-Todorovic and Brambrick (2018), patients ate appreciative of the health
related services provided by the anesthesiologists. It is for the same reason that I desire to
provide these important healthcare related anesthesia services. One of the most evident memory
that I remember till date was during my first rotation in medical school during trauma surgery. I
can clearly recall the condition of a trauma patient lying without conscious and required
immediate intubation. Due to the pre-existing body habitus of the patient, it was increasingly
difficult to gain a proper airway for the patient. Unfortunately, the level of oxygen saturation in
blood was seen to diminish leading to extreme tension among the nurses and doctors.
Thankfully, an experienced anesthesiologist was present during that scenario. Through constant
endeavours and several attempts of anesthesiologist, the medical team was successful enough to
intubate the patient.

The incident mentioned above gave me a major professional goal. I found the incident highly
stimulating as anesthesiologist was literally the life line for the patient. After the event of
intubation, the patient was transferred for surgery which was another enthralling experience for
me as a novice. The thing that fascinated me the most was how anesthesiologist was the one
individual, responsible for maintaining vital functions of the patients. I was already eager to
purse my future career goals as an anesthesiologist; however, this incident solidified my final
decision. My experiences and associated values makes me appreciate teamwork. As pointed out
by Zink (2018), leadership plays an important role in becoming an effective anesthesiologist. My
prior experience working as a ICU nurse is an added advantage. In addition to that I possess
manual dexterity that makes me an efficient choice for the course.
The plans for my future graduate proposition is highly linked with improving my pre-existing
academic and research skills. I have committed myself to undergo lifelong learning. In similar
regards, I have understood the importance of learning the ways to use critical thinking ability in
real life evidence based practises. Furthermore, my learning objectives do not halt at the very end
of the objective mentioned above; I plan to integrate my theory based knowledge into real
practise. Thus, with great anticipation, I plan to integrate my graduation program with MSU as I
feel that the institute can give me the required exposure. MSU is well stocked with experienced
educators, laboratories and even clinical incidents that can help in enhancing my existing base of
knowledge. I envision myself, pursuing training is pain management. Thus, I feel the program
can help me immensely, in achieving my professional goals. Finally, I have a clear
understanding that the right anaesthesia can provide better health outcomes and relief to the
patients (med.unr.edu, 2019). After the completion of one-year experience I plan to join the
hospital with which I am working since 2008. I plan to change the perception of people for nurse

anesthetists. I aim to change the perception by providing evidence how anesthetists can improve
the quality of care. As of now, there is a limited number of anesthetists within the hospitals of
Saudi Arabia. However, I plan to increase the demand and importance of such nurses for better
health outcomes.
Reference list
degree.astate.edu (2019). Importance of Cultural Competence | A-State Online. [online] A-State
Online. Available at: https://degree.astate.edu/articles/nursing/importance-of-cultural-
competence.aspx [Accessed 7 Jul. 2019].
Janssen, H., Buchholz, G., Killer, M., Ertl, L., Brückmann, H. and Lutz, J., 2016. General
anesthesia versus conscious sedation in acute stroke treatment: the importance of head
immobilization. Cardiovascular and interventional radiology, 39(9), pp.1239-1244.
Jevtovic-Todorovic, V. and Brambrick, A., 2018. General anesthesia and young brain: what is
new?. Journal of neurosurgical anesthesiology, 30(3), pp.217-222.
med.unr.edu (2019). Sample Personal Statement: Anesthesiology. [online] Available at:
https://med.unr.edu/office-of-student-affairs/career-development/year-4/personal-statements/
anesthesiology [Accessed 7 Jul. 2019].
Mulier, J.P., 2016. Perioperative opioids aggravate obstructive breathing in sleep apnea
syndrome: mechanisms and alternative anesthesia strategies. Current Opinion in
Anesthesiology, 29(1), pp.129-133.
Oliveira, C.R.D., 2018. Increased longevity and anesthesia. Anaesthesia, Pain & Intensive Care,
pp.148-150.

Tawfic, Q., Kumar, K., Pirani, Z. and Armstrong, K., 2017. Prevention of chronic post-surgical
pain: the importance of early identification of risk factors. Journal of anesthesia, 31(3), pp.424-
431.
Zink, W., 2018. Complications of Regional Anesthesia.