Having to ride 30 miles on a scooter with a broken clavicle and excruciating pain to the nearest hospital taught me at a very tender age that basic medical facilities are often a privilege. This has been and continues to be my drive and compels me to provide for my patients to the best of my abilities. After graduating from medical school, I pursued my interest in providing primary health care and chose to work as a medical officer at a rural primary healthcare hospital in India.
My love for challenges and my penchant for making meaningful connections with my patients served me well in my job. Not only did I lead a team of 150 health care workers – keeping patient-centered care as our primary aim, I also made sure to be judicious with the limited resources at hand. Starting with diagnosing simple diseases, like appendicitis, asthma, and various infections, I was able to diagnose more complicated diseases, such as congenital heart diseases, cancers, Wilson’s disease, and cutaneous tuberculosis.
Working as my medical school’s annual gathering administrator came in handy and helped me successfully develop and integrate a simplified and standardized patient care system. I maintained a notebook to track the geographical distribution of diseases which helped me understand disease trends occurring in the community setting. This also helped me implement preventative interventions in areas with greater incidence of disease. I coordinated awareness efforts regarding government health programs and benefits in weekly markets to increase program outreach. I focused on trusting my instincts and believing in the strength of history taking and physical examination. It was amazing to see how patience and that extra step could spare the poor from suffering morbid complications stemming from undiagnosed chronic medical conditions.
Although I could not provide advanced medical care, the right guidance regarding the next steps often went a long way in improving people’s lives and brought me immense joy. Towards the end of my tenure as a medical officer, my uncle’s untimely death from a delayed diagnosis of myocardial infarction completely changed my plans for the future. Losing him at a young age was a major shock and made me realize my true path in life: Internal Medicine. It is the one branch of medical science that encompasses everything and encourages the doctor to treat the patient as a whole, not just one organ system. This holistic learning would help me achieve my full potential and help my patients in a more meaningful way.
I learned about the United States medical system from my seniors at med school and found it extremely fascinating. The culture of patient-centered approach fosters compassion and warmth from the very beginning, and the incorporation of research in residency training encourages evidence-based medicine. I thus landed in New York City for my electives. During my time as a sub-intern at Mount Sinai and as a research assistant at Jacobi Medical Center, I learned the benefits of an integrated electronic medical record system as well as the importance of creating a safe environment for patients. My experience during electives had already sparked in me the yearning to learn evidence-based medicine.
My research rotations in the United States have allowed me to experience the unique breadth of collaborative work culture as well as the opportunity to learn the nuances of clinical research in a stimulating environment. My determination to help people restore their health has taken me to many different places, from remote villages of rural India to urban hubs, like New York City. Even though modern medicine keeps advancing each day, its accessibility is still limited to a privileged few, something that I have observed while working in India as well as the Bronx.
My goal is to provide accountable, responsive, quality care with the highest degree of sensitivity to society’s most fragile and vulnerable members. As someone whom colleagues and mentors have always applauded for being persistent and diligent, I look forward to further honing my skills as an ardent and lifelong student of medicine. During my internal medicine residency, I hope to uphold and share with my peers my strong values of hard work, compassion, enthusiasm, and dedication to serve people in need.
