Admission Essay
Every child dreams of becoming an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer and all other manner of rosy professions. Television programmes and adverts make these professions appear surreal. As a child, I was no different; I knew I would study medicine and become a famous surgeon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sadly, my dream did not last long. At ten years old, I discovered that I could hardly stand the sight of blood. Even the tiniest drop would make me queasy. Still, the fact that I grew faint at the sight of blood did not immediately extinguish my dreams. My friends would laugh out loud when I told them I wanted to become a surgeon. I realized that my dream was perhaps just that; a dream. Finally at about fifteen years old, I gave up on becoming a surgeon and decided to focus on what I considered to be a more practical profession; engineering. One day, while I was walking home from school, I witnessed an unfortunate botched robbery in which several bystanders were injured. Calls for ambulances were made to several nearby hospitals but by the time the first ambulance arrived at the scene of the crime; thirty minutes had elapsed and two of the victims had succumbed to their wounds.
The first ambulance did not have adequate equipment to facilitate emergency treatment for the injured. Neither did the second nor the third. Ultimately, the ambulances did nothing more than ferry the injured to the hospital just as an ordinary cab would have done. Later on as I reflected upon the events of the evening, I could not help but wonder why persons who were skilled in the art of saving lives could not effectively discharge their duties due to mere technicalities such as arriving at the accident scene a little too late and failing to have the appropriate tools to carry out their work. Every professional has the skills to deliver services but without proper management of the professional’s time or resources, the delivery of the professional’s services is likely to be hampered. It is unfortunate that it took the occurrence of such a traumatic event to help me find my calling. I could not become a doctor or surgeon but I could manage the doctor’s schedule and the resources at his or her disposal to ensure better delivery of services which in the case of healthcare could be a matter of life or death.
I want to study healthcare management so that I can give back to my community and improve the delivery of medical services in the best way I know how. After completing my studies at California State University I plan to offer healthcare management services to Dallah hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I believe that my country, despite promoting the training of healthcare professionals, occasionally fails to provide for the management of these professionals to ensure improved quality and access to healthcare. I hope to establish programmes that specifically address growing concerns such as the amount of time it takes an ambulance to arrive at an accident scene, affordable long-term health care and access to quality medical services for all. California State University presents the ideal opportunity for me to realize my dream of being a famous health care practitioner albeit in a different way from that which I had envisioned as a child. A healthcare manager may not fall within the traditional definition of the term ‘healthcare practitioner’ but their services go a long way in streamlining the provision of healthcare. Healthcare only concerned with the delivery of the service but also the manner in which the service is delivered.
