Personal Statement: Internal Medicine

Personal Statement
Choosing internal medicine as a specialty of choice, to be honest, was an easy choice. As a curious student, I loved every aspect of medicine. The decision to choose internal medicine came during my third-year rotation. I was amazed and awestruck by the thought process my attending and the rest of the team would use to come to a diagnosis and in a few instances going beyond the diagnosis, in terms of thinking about the financial constraints and various cultural aspects. It made every day feel like a chapter from a Sherlock Holmes novel but then again, a physician did serve as the inspiration for Holmes! The concept of health education played an important role in the day to day management of our patients as many of them are

One such incident was during my third-year rotation, I interacted with a patient who unfortunately had a stroke. My attending took the time out of her schedule and helped me understand the anatomy and pathophysiology with such ease, almost making it sound almost like a story. My anecdote doesn’t end there though. 2 years later while I was rotating in the out-patient department (OPD), the same patient walks into the OPD and asks me how I was. He was hale and hearty and had come in for a regular checkup. These small happenings make the daily slog seem like a hobby. The satisfaction that comes from treating a fellow human being and to see them sometime later doing their regular activities or just a simple thank you from them, makes the career even more

Be it at high school or medical school level, we would take part in teams and try to crack the Quizmaster’s game which demanded playing to our team’s strengths and building a sense of trust. Chairing the Quiz Club, myself, I realized how important it is to be able to coordinate and execute various projects while having to manage academics. I also was a part of a local Non Government Organization (NGO) named H.O.P.E.S (Health Organization for Public Education by Students). Coming from a country like India, we felt it was essential to educate families below the poverty line about hygiene and providing primordial preventive measures for diseases such as Malaria & other vector borne diseases, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis and nutritional deficiencies. Working with such an organization helped to realize the importance of the phrase ‘Each one. Teach