Orthopedic surgery residency personal statement

As a doctor, learning billions of topics in 4-year duration is much easier than writing a page of a statement. Here are some examples to guide you with sample personal statements.

Orthopedic surgery sample personal statement 1

Orthopedic surgery sample personal statement 2

Orthopedic surgery sample personal statement 3

Orthropedic surgery personal statement 1

“I did it! I did it!” she exclaimed as she ran across the exam room. After years of being told that she would only be able to walk with crutches if she wasn’t confined to a wheelchair, a 10-year-old patient with cerebral palsy ran for the first time in her life. I met her on one of my first days in the Pediatric Orthopaedic clinic. Less than two months after surgery, this 10-year-old girl was given an entirely new life. She looked up at me with a huge smile on her face. Orthopedics was the specialty I had been looking for.

The first two years of medical school introduced me to countless specialties that I could imagine myself entering into. I had a taste of several specialties through volunteering, work, and research, but I needed more “hands-on” experience. During this time, I began working nights and weekends for State Organ/Tissue Procurement as a tissue procurement technician. We would remove from tissue donors everything from long bones, ribs, and the iliac crest to lower limb veins, tendons, and even the heart en bloc for valves. It was the perfect job for a medical student. I was able to learn sterile techniques, use surgical instruments, and gain actual surgical experience without the fear of inflicting further injury to the patient. I loved the fast pace and feel of surgery. Then, during my first 3rd-year rotation, I tore my ACL playing football and underwent autograft replacement one week before starting my surgical rotation. Standing on a swollen leg all day and icing it all night proved taxing and made me question my love for the OR. I enjoyed the clinic during most of my rotations, but it also proved taxing without the variety of procedures.

On the first day of my 4th year in Pediatric Orthopaedics, I felt this was what I had been looking for. First of all, I could empathize with many of the patients in the clinic having broken multiple bones myself: everything from both bone forearm fracture skiing, to my nose in basketball practice, to a partial Achilles tendon tear and then my ACL playing football, not to mention all the hand, finger, and toe fractures. Second, it brought back all of the excitement I felt in my job as a Tissue Procurement Tech with the additional adrenaline rush of working on a dynamic, living person. I was thrilled to see the opposite end of the work I had done in tissue recovery. Witnessing firsthand the results of allograft tendons, bone blocks, and fracture sites packed with bone powder further increased the pride I had in working with donors. Third, I valued being able to have an immediate impact on the patient’s quality of life. I saw an 8-year-old boy in the ER who had been hit by a car and sustained multiple displaced fractures with nerve impingement at his right elbow. The tears of concern and fear in the eyes of his parents were only matched by tears of relief when the cast was removed and a full range of motion was reestablished.

Through Orthopaedics I could provide a good life for my family. Knowing from experience that I would be prepared to take care of them in the event of an accident would also bring peace to my soul. My family is the most important aspect of my life and the highlight of my day is when I can give my wife and 8-week-old daughter a hug and a kiss. My time spent with them is extremely valuable to me. Also, a good physician should be well-rounded and I value my occasional free time to pursue interests such as football, scuba diving, skiing, hiking, hunting, community volunteer work, church activities, and the occasional nap. With good time management, I feel I will be able to occasionally enjoy these aspects of my life.

I always hoped that I would be excited to go to work and that I would find people as passionate about their jobs as I was. I have yet to meet an Orthopaedic Surgeon who didn’t have a smile while telling me about their job. I could not be more excited about what my future holds.

Orthopedic surgery personal statement 2

As I approach the next step in my medical education, I look back over my twenty-five years and see several experiences that have led me to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery. These experiences have allowed me to develop certain traits that would make me a valuable member of an
orthopedic team.

When I was growing up, my father was always working on a project around the house. From building a deck in the backyard to replacing the brakes or exhaust system on the family car, I was frequently out there helping him. Learning about the mechanisms that make things work became very fascinating to me. Additionally, using my hands to create or fix things that were broken became quite enjoyable, and seeing the end results of my efforts brought me a sense of pride and accomplishment. These interests in how things work, and subsequently how to repair them when
needed, led me to pursue studies in the sciences. Further education in the sciences drew me to medicine, and specifically to orthopedics. As an orthopedist, I envision having the same kind of feelings. Whether repairing a fractured bone or replacing a worn-out joint, I would again initially consider the mechanisms involved in normal function, and then use my hands to fix things that were broken or create something entirely new. The end result, a return to normal or near-normal function and subsequent improvement in the quality of life, would be extremely satisfying to the patient as well as to me.

Years of involvement in team athletics have also contributed to shaping my career path. Engaging in football, basketball, and baseball, from Little League all the way to college intramurals, has taught me many important lessons: the value of hard work, how to function well with others as
part of a unit, and about making personal sacrifices for the greater good of the team. While these values are important in virtually any career, they seem especially critical for a resident physician in the surgical field.

Sometimes an athlete must risk personal harm in order to advance the goals of the team. In fact, it was an athletic injury that provided me with my first exposure to the field of orthopedic surgery. While playing intramural football during my freshman year of college, I tore the medial meniscus in my right knee. Due to the symptoms associated with the injury, I subsequently underwent arthroscopic surgery twice. During both operations, regional anesthesia was used, which allowed me the opportunity to be conscious during the surgery. Because my orthopedist was very interested in his role as an educator as well as a healer, he was more than willing to explain what he was doing as I followed along on one of the television monitors. The ability to perform technologically advanced surgery through such small incisions was immediately fascinating to me.
By the time the second surgery took place, medical school was already in my future, and pursuing a career in orthopedic surgery became a distinct possibility.

Embarking upon my clinical rotations, I vowed to keep an open mind regarding residency selection, to see what the various medical and surgical fields were like. Feeling the most excited yet most comfortable in the operating room made my choice between the surgical and medical fields rather easy. After further contemplating my experiences and options, I realized that orthopedic surgery was what I saw for my future. Of all the factors involved in making my decision, the most vital one was actually the simplest. The ability to enjoy going to work every day is very important to me. It was during the orthopedics rotation that I would wake up in the morning before my alarm clock went off, eagerly anticipating what the day would bring, and finally leaving at night in disbelief that so many hours could seemingly pass so quickly. This was all the evidence that I needed to ensure that this was the right choice for me.

As for what the future holds, although I am not sure which orthopedic subspecialty I might pursue after residency, my plan is to combine my interests in clinical care, education, and research into developing a well-rounded practice. Through this practice, I look forward to making meaningful and rewarding contributions to my patients, my colleagues, and the field of orthopedics

Orthopedic surgery sample personal statement 3

The metal ladder in my hand felt cold. “Should have grabbed my thicker gloves,” I told myself with every step over the uneven glacier. I had no time to look for them when the Sherpa knocked and
yelled, “Doctors, help! My friend hurt.” Truthfully, I did not expect to be out that long in the subzero Himalayan night. The Sherpa’s friend was an experienced climber unsuccessfully attempting to climb
Mt. Pumori. He had broken his leg on a fall, gotten frostbite during the rescue, and now had cerebral edema. The backpack frame that had hours earlier carried his gear now provided traction for his femur.
The climbing rope that caught his fall now tied him to his stretcher, the metal ladder in my hand.

One false move, one moment of inattention, and all the power he had as a climber disappeared. It was my fascination with this delicate balance between strength and fragility that has twice led me to
Nepal. I have seen firsthand the possibilities and defeats of the human body and aligned these experiences with my goals as a future surgeon. What I discovered is that the specialty of orthopedics is not surgery of the extremities, but the art of restoring life. Through my patients, I saw in myself the ability to offer back strength, return motion, and recover function. I saw myself as an Orthopaedic Surgeon.

This realization became clear to me in the mountains of Nepal, but the decision was an evolution that began long ago. Lego building blocks as a child were my first introduction to engineering, Then came the integration of mechanics and movement with robotics in high school, and eventually human biomechanics as an engineer in college. With these courses, I learned to see the body in a new and amazing way. Engineering enabled me to envision muscles not as simple contractile tissues, but as the motors for the pulleys that move our bones. Biomechanics made bones evolve from static connectors into the dynamic moment-arms of life. This fascination with the human body drives my interest in orthopedics and, coupled with my love of patients and surgery, will provide me with a career of continuous discovery and fulfillment.

Continuous development is an age-old theme in Orthopaedic Surgery. Broken bones have been treated by immobilization for thousands of years, yet the field continues to evolve. Arthroscopy, nerve transfers, and, in due time, stem cells will radically change old techniques and establish new standards of care. These innovations both improve patient outcomes while demanding an increased level of skill and technique from the surgeon. Throughout my educational career, I have demonstrated the aptitude and motivation necessary to keep abreast of this expanding knowledge base. Additionally, as a lifelong athlete and engineer, I have developed the coordination, dexterity, and three-dimensional spatial relationship skills required to succeed in complex, innovative surgeries. As the field of Orthopaedic Surgery continues to change, I look forward to taking part in such an advancement. I anticipate combining my interest in surgery, my devotion to patient care, and my engineering background into a career that includes surgery, research, and biodevice development.

Now I begin a lifelong commitment to learning the art of Orthopaedic Surgery. As I look forward to the residency I am captivated by the excitement of the adventure to come. I envision residency as a place to offer my experiences to patients and colleagues in exchange for their trust and gifts of knowledge. I bring with me lessons of integrity from my parents and lessons of courage from my sister, Leigh, who lives with severe cerebral palsy. I bring a genuine commitment to patients and their families.
I bring confidence and potential, balanced with laughter and humility. I bring an understanding of the impact of Orthopaedic Surgery from my experiences, including that seminal night in Nepal. I bring all
of myself, and in return I will be given the lifelong responsibility of perfecting and advancing the art of Orthopaedic Surgery.