Bernard Emuze

I am currently a college graduate at Texas A&M University-Kingsville along with a bachelor's degree in bio-medical science with a minor in Chemistry as of May 2016. However, I presently reside in Fort Worth, Texas which is the city that I grew up in, but both of my parents are from Edo State, Benin city, Nigeria. But, for the past several years I have been in the pursuit of one day becoming a medical doctor as a result it led me to shadow a orthopedic surgeon with the specialty of the hand and wrist for about the past year-and-an-half. During that duration of shadowing I witnessed various procedures which were: carpal tunnel release, excision arthroplasty of the thumb, and stenosing tenosynovitis (trigger finger release)—which I find to be truly fascinating. Trigger figure is caused when inflammation narrows the sheath that surrounds the tendon, causing immobility in the finger. Respectively, the issue can be resolved with open trigger figure release surgery. Which is when the doctor makes a small incision in the palm and then carefully cut through the tendon sheath to make it wider. Therefore, To further my experience and familiarity with the medical field, I am participating as a volunteer in the cardiology department at John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS) in Fort Worth. As a volunteer, I assist the nurses with various duties which includes being able to fulfill minor patient requests like serving them food and water. However, during my time as a volunteer, I have learned more about compassion and the human condition by witnessing some of the more unpleasant realities of healthcare. In closing, I hope that one day I would able to utilize my orthopedics surgeons genuine interest as he is able to engage with his patients in conversation and attended to their various needs, but have the ability to maintain a demeanor that confident, yet patient. Those would be the qualities I would want acquire as a future physician.