educational and professional goals

Please discuss your educational and professional goals, short term and long term, and address how earning your degree will help you reach these goals. The Personal Goal Statement should be a minimum of 350 words. Please use APA formatting.
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consider myself the true definition of African American. My parents immigrated to the United States from Nigeria in hopes to achieve the American Dream. I was fortunate to be born and raised in the United States, known as the great country of opportunities. In trying to achieve the American dream, my parents worked very hard to provide a great life for my siblings and I. My parents instilled a strong work ethic in my siblings and I. As a result, I always worked hard in school and my jobs to best and provide excellent outcomes. I live in a diverse suburban community outside of Atlanta, Georgia. In fact, the high school I attended was known as the most diverse high school in the state of Georgia. Many of the people in my community also migrated from different countries, in pursuit of the American dream and to have a better life, just as my parents did. As a registered nurse in my community, I treat and care for many minorities. Many minorities are more prone to certain chronic diseases. I would like to contribute to the improvement of the healthcare of the disadvantaged populations- especially blacks, hispanics, people with disabilities, older adults, and other minorities. Many primary care physicians only focus on treating the illness. As a nurse practitioner, I would like to focus on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to create better outcomes for the patients that I would treat in the community.
My inspiration for pursuing the nursing career comes from the nurses that cared for my father in the neuro-intensive care unit. In the summer of 2008, my father suffered a brain aneurysm. During his stay at the hospital, the nurses were very caring to my father and my family. The nurses helped to answer any questions that my family had about any procedures my father would undergo. Whenever my mother was unable to be at the hospital, the nurses would call and update my mother about my father’s condition. Although my father did not survive, I believe the nurses provided my father with the absolute best care during his last days. I have always wanted to help people and the nursing field would allow me to help people who are not able to care for themselves. I really admire the work of nurses and our ability to influence the people we care for through our nursing and educational interventions. Moreover, I am honored be involved in a profession that continues to grow and become a valuable part of health care. While nurses may not get a lot of respect for all the work they do, especially in the wake of a comment made about a nurse with a “doctor’s stethoscope,” I appreciate that nurses continue to work hard and I am proud to be a part of the profession.
My work as a registered nurse has been rewarding. Through my work as a nurse, I feel that I am able to help people live more healthy, productive, and happy lives. I always strive to be the best nurse I can be and provide patients with the best care possible. I care for many patients admitted with preventable conditions. Many patients fail to have access to primary care provider due to the inability to afford insurance, medications, and services. As a result, the patients would come to the emergency department to get treated. Many of these patients wait until their illness is severe to be seen by a health care provider. Unfortunately, these patients have very poor outcomes including disability and sometimes death. Sadly, it becomes a vicious cycle because disability affects a person’s ability to be very productive in the workplace. This ultimately causes many people with disability to live in poverty and unable to afford medications and health services that are not covered with Medicaid. Because of this, I would love to further my education to become a nurse practitioner and obtain a doctor of nurse practice. I would like to help low income individuals who may not have health insurance by offering affordable services to this population. I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to live healthy and happy lives, despite social and economic status. In addition, becoming a nurse practitioner would allow me to pursue a leadership role with the knowledge and skills I have obtained from nursing and other health care experiences. Shortage of primary care physicians due to the large number of the aging population as the baby boomers grow older with chronic illnesses. My interest in working with the aging population due to the need. I would be able to educate and hopefully prevent patients from being admitted to hospitals with my background in public health and health promotion from my prior bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, I desire to obtain my degree from the college of nursing at the University of South Alabama because of its strong support for diversity in the student population and its mission to provide high quality education to the students. With a quality education from the college, I believe I can provide quality health care to my patients. Thank you for your consideration.