In this reflective essay, I will explain my decision to pursue the Physician Assistant profession by using beneficence and dignity to support the importance of spending more time with patients and treating them as individuals and not their condition in the clinical practice.

I have chosen to become a PA because I wanted to have an impact in the world. I wanted to have a meaningful career, and to me that is helping others, alleviating their pain and suffering by providing appropriate treatment. Several years ago, my dad became very sick, and by receiving superb healthcare treatment by the compassionate and empathetic healthcare team, he is able to continue experiencing more memories with me and my mom. I want to be a part of that impact in someone else’s life, even if it doesn’t happen often. Becoming a PA seemed like the best route to take to accomplish my goal. Since the PA profession can be flexible, I can have the option of practicing in different specialties with adjustable working hours, providing me with the opportunity to have a family.

One of the aspects of clinical practice that will be important to me is spending more time with patients during the clinical visit. While physicians have to deal with a greater amount of paperwork and legal matters, PAs have the luxury of spending more time with their patients, even though they complete a vast amount of paperwork as well. By spending more time with patients, I can provide a better, more extensive care. Additionally, I want to make sure that my future patients understand what happened during their visit, and that I was able to address any of their concerns to the best of my ability. Another aspect of clinical practice that I value is treating patients as individuals, and not as a statistic of a disease. Taking into consideration a combination of factors that make the patient unique can play an important role in their care. My father was not treated just as his condition, but as a whole person, which should be the standard of healthcare and no patient should receive undignified care.

I anticipate the concepts of beneficence and dignity will play the most important role in my ethical decision-making as a PA. Beneficence can be described as acting for the patient’s well-being, maximizing their benefit (Yeo & Moorhouse, 2010). I believe beneficence supports my aspiration to spend more time with patients, potentially leading to a greater level of care. In doing so, I can find out more information about their complaint, and aspects of their daily life that could be contributory. Additionally, it is important to me to increase healthcare awareness in patients regarding their medical conditions and possible treatment. As an immigrant, there have been numerous times when my family and I left the hospital or the doctor’s office confused, ready to translate and research the information ourselves. As a future healthcare provider, I want to spend enough time with my patients, where I can address any questions and concerns that might come up. I don’t want them to just agree with what I am saying, but deep down still be confused. It is for the patients’ well-being to understand their health conditions and important aspects of their healthcare encounter. By spending more time with my patients, I could make sure they understood everything and their questions were answered, increasing their healthcare knowledge overall, which is for their well-being. Furthermore, dignity can be defined as having worth as human beings and treating others as worthy and with respect (Royal College of Nursing, 2008). I believe dignity supports my aim to treat patients as individuals, and not the condition that they have. I want to be empathetic and respectful to my patients, making them feel valued and comfortable. I do not want to reference to my patients as abdominal pain in room four, and talk about them as if they’re not in the room when they are. It is my goal to listen to my patient’s concerns, acknowledge that their opinions are important to me and involve them in the conversation. I want to be conscious of possible implicit bias that I may have and treat people of any health status with kindness and respect. Ultimately, I want to have a dialogue with my patients where my goal would be to put emphasis on the fact that their disease does not inhibit their value or worth as human beings.

In this essay, I explained my decision to become a PA and used beneficence and dignity to support the importance of spending more time with patients and treating them as individuals and not their condition in the clinical practice.

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