Four Examples of Winning Essays

Essay #1

I spent the past month with Dr. E at St. Barnabas Hospital, and the experience that I had was unlike any that I could have anticipated. I have spent time in several manipulation based practices in Missouri and upstate New York, but the time I spent working in the Bronx showed me an OMT practice that was quite different from any that I had already seen.

The patient population was quite diverse, more diverse than any other practice I had participated in. There were Hasidic Jews, Italian Catholics, and a large contingent of Spanish-only speaking Hispanics, to name only a few, and I had to learn how to convey the basic ideas of osteopathic manipulation to these varied peoples in ways each could contextualize. I had to learn to make the most of my words and gestures to communicate with people from all over the world the principles of osteopathic manipulation. That was a learning experience in communication skills, but also into the impact OMT can have on patients from varied backgrounds and means.

Nor was it only the patients I worked with that I found broadened my perspectives, but the pathology I was exposed to. We just didn't have a lot of stab wounds or strange intra-abdominal cancers out in Independence, Missouri. Yet this exposure made an impact on my understanding of the potential for the osteopathic approach to situations as diverse as acute trauma and chronic disease as only first-hand experience can. I saw amazing changes in comfort and physiology in the hospital thanks to the intervention of several minutes of palpation, contemplation, and manipulative medicine.

Finally, it was wonderful to work with a group of residents and physicians who are dedicated to osteopathic manipulation, eager to teach, and compassion ate. I am fascinated to learn different approaches to osteopathic diagnosis and treatment. During this rotation I was able to refine my balanced ligamentous tension techniques and broaden my approach to the assessment of the patient in many different situations. I have learned to appreciate much more profoundly the palpatory changes present in a somatovisceral reflex, and I have gained a new insight into the integration of midline structures with paired lateral structures.

Altogether, I found this rotation to be eye-opening in the very best way. I found my understanding of osteopathy escalating daily, as well as my appreciation of its promise to varied people in diverse situations. I am very appreciative also of the physicians and residents in the program who were willing to spend time with me during the rotation, and who helped to deepen my understanding of osteopathy. I am exceedingly grateful for this experience, as amazingly different as it was from those experiences with OMT I had before.

Essay #2

"I feel lighter, and my spirit is uplifted." A Hmong interpreter translated this to me after I performed osteopathic manipulative treatment on one of his clients. I am unsure of what the patient exactly meant, but I am confident that it reflected a positive outcome from my treatment. The patient was a sixty-three year old Hmong man form Cambodia who came to America in the exodus from Southeast Asia during the twilight of the Vietnam War. Like many Hmong, he had led an arduous life and continues to provide for his family by working the land. His physical injuries and strain patterns were the obvious signs of his struggles. The emotional injuries he had suffered, however, were unknown to me. Perhaps I was able to treat both categories of malady with the techniques I learned in my first two years at Kirksville college of Osteopathic Medicine. During my rotation with Dr. P, encounters such as this one reaffirmed my belief in the power of osteopathic manipulative treatment.

Dr. P has a strong contingent of patients that rely on his ability to integrate manipulative medicine into his family medicine practice. In the four weeks I spent in his office, I was able to take part in the care of many patients who presented with a wide variety of physical complaints. We were able to treat people with acute sacral shears so that they regained the ability to flex at the waist. We also palliated the pain in people with chronic problems, allowing them to perform activities of daily living with less discomfort. Moreover, I began to notice a pattern of emotional response from patients. These ranged from responses of elation from those helped with acute problems, to exhalations of relief from individuals battling longstanding pain. Why does this occur? Does setting one's body at ease allow the mind to relax and heal itself? Is touch an intrinsically healing modality for emotional and spiritual pain? These questions are esoteric to say the least. The impossibility of delineating the succinct, definitive answer to them obviates the need to search for one. However, it has become clear to me that you cannot separate the physical responses of those you treat form the emotional responses.

There is an ever-increasing desire for proof through research and clinical trials that osteopathic manipulative medicine works. Despite the difficulties of standardizing the outcomes of manipulative medicine, which tend to be subjective and hard to quantify, I agree that our profession should work towards that proof. However, research will be unable to fully address the secondary benefits of our treatments. My experience has revealed that people treated with manipulation in addition to standard pharmacological care leave the office happier. The patient with allergic rhinitis who receives five minutes of sub-occipital inhibition and some myofascial release of the thoracic inlet along with their prescription for an anti-histamine will feel that their doctor has done more for them than if they received the prescription alone. They are right, and they will be more satisfied because of it. Is it because the lymphatic drainage from their head is improved? Is it because someone they trust someone has taken time with them and has laid hands upon them? Just because we osteopaths are pursuing the goal of evidence-based proof that our treatment works, I hope we do not lose sight of the fact that our patients benefit in ways not easily explained by science.

Essay #3

When I first began my rotation with Dr. D, I knew I would gain more knowledge and improve my skills in osteopathic manipulations at the end of the rotation. What I didn't expect, and was pleasantly surprised to see as the rotation progressed, was that a revelation occurred to me: healing can manifest in many ways. Physical change within the body is one way osteopathy can present itself to show proof of improvements. But a moment of tears or a moment of spiritual release from inhibition can be just as or more powerful than just a physical change. It is the many layers of emotions, traumas, and mental perceptions that we need to help the patient remove that allow for optimal healing to occur.

Dr. D inspired us to learn not for ourselves but for the future patients we will be laying our hands on. I definitely do appreciate her for requiring daily readings and weekly presentations from us. My understanding of the sympathetic's and parasympathetic's role in maintaining the body's homeostasis and in various disease processes has vastly increased. The learning I've gained allowed me to better internalize and think through the process of finding health in a person.

The OMM Rotation with Dr. D was definitely a turning point in my osteopathic career. The experiences there brought before my eyes a clearer picture of how I can strive to be a better osteopathic physician. Before, I would treat with techniques I learned, but did not truly understand how they affected the body. Before, I would treat and hope for some physical change. Now, when I treat…I treat with a purpose: to find health in any form and through any means fit for each individual.

Essay #4

On day one of my OP&P rotation, I was introduced to "my office," which consisted of a small desk with a tiny collection of shabby OMM books and a completely broken-in OMT table. As a botton-of-the-feeding-chain third-year medical student, I was well accustomed to less than adequate educational opportunities, but this set-up was different than the previous rotations. It was absolutely superb, and the best part was it was all mine.

But it got even better very soon. The secretaries began booking patients for me. By day two I had already thoroughly treated three patients on my own with positive results. To my amazement, two years of OMM training provided a detailed enough basis to effectively care for those with somatic dysfunctions.

Soon, I began learning new OMT techniques and using them to treat my patients. Whether my attending taught me a new technique or I learned it from a book, I quickly began applying fresh modalities to the patients. With a constant stream of pathology, the clinic was an ideal hands-on learning environment. I preferred the patients that left completely healed after one visit, but if it took several follow-up appointments, that was fine by me.

My experience of medicine during this rotation was unlike any in my medical education thus far. Not only, for the first time, was I the person making the decisions about medical treatment, I was treating the whole person, not just the symptoms.

By focusing on the manual part of medicine, I found myself appreciating the body's ability to heal itself. More than ever before, I found myself building relationships with my patients, and they depended on and respected me. For once, my attending treated me like a colleague, making herself available for consult, and even consulting me for any new medical knowledge I might have.

For the first time, I had an attending that paid attention to me peculiarities as a young physician, spent the time to build a relationship with me, and provided me with very meaningful constructive criticism.

For these reasons, I believe my short time on this externship was the closest thing to the real practice of medicine that I have experience so far, in many ways trying me and transforming into a better person. I feel as if I began this OP&P rotation as a selfish and scatterbrained third-year medical student, excited with the spectacle of my "own office," and I left a more compassionate and mature professional, humbled by the relationships that I built.