I spoke with the Program Director at XXXX University on the telephone a few days ago and this sealed my decision to apply to your particularly creative and distinguished Nurse Anesthesia Master’s Program. I particularly appreciate the way that XXXX places a priority on creativity and diversity in the teaching of clinical knowledge in a very broad variety of practice settings with exposure to an equally broad variety of anesthetists, resulting in some of the best prepared students in the world who shortly find themselves in their dream jobs after graduation. To be frank, XXXX also stands above other programs through your helpful generosity, allowing students to begin taking classes before officially entering the program, leaving what I consider to be the correct impression that XXXX is more interested in helping students to succeed than they are in grabbing their cash, at least when compared to many other programs. 

A very hard working and diligent nurse who gives her all each day to her patients, in addition to raising and educating my children who are now 12 and 14, nursing provides me with a sense of noble identity and purpose through service to those in great need. I now want to advance professionally and distinguish myself in a Master’s Program in Nurse Anesthesia. I have been in love with this area of nursing in particular for some time now and have routinely observed the CRNAs in my hospital to the fullest extent to which I have had the opportunity to do so. By the time that my children are college students, I hope to be traveling, giving my all to medical missions in support of surgical teams going to the Developing World, disaster zones, etc. Both during and after completion of graduate school, I will be spending a big chunk of my time reading about opportunities for CRNAs to go on medical missions. Contributing to global health care is perhaps my greatest aspiration for the rest of my professional life.

I look forward to contributing to discussions in your program as someone with a PHD in Physical Therapy who has extensive experience in this area, serving as Director of Rehabilitation beginning in 2009, at Hospice and Home Care of Reno County. I worked alongside not only a highly skilled, supportive, and professional team of rehab staff, but also an exceptional Program Director who became an important mentor and role model.  Darla will never cease to inspire me, always achieving that perfect balance between the needs of her staff on the one hand, and the needs of her own superiors on the other – steering a steady course even during times of financial austerity. Darla helped me to learn how to most effectively advocate for my patients, become a team player and inspire my co-workers to excellence, most of all by being alert to the needs of the nurses around me.  Thanks to Darla, in particular, I feel like I am able to both intuit and understand the needs and concerns of managers from an insider perspective. 

Physical Therapy has helped me to become a better nurse and every day throughout the last year that I have served as part of our ICU team, I have made at least some contribution to patient comfort and recovery which is based on or flows from my experience in PT. I have served on the full continuum of health care services spectrum: from admission to the emergency room, to critical care, step down, skilled nursing, home health, and out-patient therapy.  I understand how patient perceptions are formed throughout this process and what is most valuable to them - especially being treated with dignity and respect and having things clearly and consistently explained.  

I have grown most comfortable in the presence of people who are stressed, scared, angry, sad, and tired, a skilled communicator with a steady personality, I do not get ruffled when situations get ugly.  Teamwork is my forte. Particularly when problems arise that are serious in nature - skin breakdown, falls, UTI, central line infections, I attempt to learn something new, especially with respect to ways to prevent issues in the first place. An analytical thinker, in the face of each new challenge, I am scanning for service recovery tools and performing a root cause analysis (RCA) in my mind, looking at incidents as problems that are more often than not systemic rather than individual in nature. I observe closely what was done well so as to imitate it at the same time that I am always searching for ways that it could be better still.  

With each passing year attending to my patients, I have become increasingly ready to assume the best and less likely to let the ego escape, a thoroughgoing professional with a big heart. In addition to patient care, I have also learned a great deal concerning the way that healthcare is paid for throughout the continuum: diagnostic related groups, part A and B Medicare, prospective payment systems, etc. I understand how money is both made and lost within the system and I enjoy very much searching for ways to maximize care and minimize cost. 

Because I have been around for so many years, I am comfortable in the presence of people who are stressed, scared, angry, sad, and tired. I am confident in my communications skills and have a steady personality that doesn't get ruffled when situations get ugly. One of my strengths flows from having spent so much time observing other professionals closely, helping with something when given the opportunity to do so; from open heart surgeons through orthopedics and also CRNAs most recently. After returning to school to earn my BSN, I found myself in even more operating rooms where the CRNAs embraced me and encouraged my course of study.  I deeply admire the skill, compassion, competence, and critical thinking skills of the CRNAs that I have observed. I have long studied this most intellectually challenging career and I am ready to fully challenge myself.

I fell in love fast and hard during my first observation of an open-heart surgery. A resident Anesthesiologist talked me through the whole process, showing me what he was doing, what he was watching for, and explained the rationale behind each of his actions.  "Lung down" and he flipped a lever and that lung deflated like a balloon as the patient was transitioned to the heart lung machine and anesthesia was co-regulated with the perfusionist. Next, I was totally shocked that the resident would decide to go on break when the CRNA walked in. She ended up finishing off that case all the while teaching me what she was looking for, what she was doing, and the rationale behind it.  These are the people I want to work with.  This hits all the marks - science, patient care, high-tech, team work, thinking and working hard.  How on earth could I want to do anything else? I am so excited about the prospect of becoming a CRNA that I sign off almost trembling, thanking you for considering my application to XXXX.