Table 2.

Selected quotes or emergency medicine personal statements as characterized by the five main themes

Themes	Selected quotes
Personal characteristics related to a career in EM	Altruism:     “Contributing to the community has been a standard that I have upheld throughout my adulthood.”     “I am driven to provide for the needs of my patients and provide them with the best possible service.” Personal accomplishments:     “I founded the international health interest group, Global Health Forum, which introduces medical students to current issues in international health and helps them gain medical experience abroad during their education.” Work well under pressure:     “My even-tempered, quick, logical thinking during stressful situations will complement nicely my other attributes.” “I am well suited for emergency medicine because of my ability to work under pressure, and to stay calm and think logically in stressful situations.”
Why I love EM	Broad patient and disease presentations:     “I can deal with the drunk who is uncooperative, the rambling schizophrenic or the demented elderly person.”     “What fascinated me the most was the variety of the field, as no two shifts in the emergency room are ever the same. The profession has elements of nearly every field of medicine - from procedures, to primary care, to obstetrics/gynecology, to psychology, and everything in between.” Patient acuity:     “Although Emergency Medicine can be considered the ‘jack of all trades’ specialty in certain regards, it is commonly misunderstood that they are, in fact, masters of acute intervention and prioritization.”     “…stabilizing the unstable patient…” Forming differential diagnoses:     “What I enjoy about emergency medicine is the constant need to think about atypical presentations for common diagnoses.”     “I enjoy the responsibility of formulating a differential based on the history and interrogating those suspects with a complete, but directed physical exam and laboratory studies.”
My story	Personal growth:     “…these changes have been immeasurable treasures that allowed me to grow into the person I have become.”     “During this time, I learned the valuable lesson of how to deal with adversity while fulfilling my professional commitments.” Volunteer/personal experiences:     “I learned that my mother had been living with the secret of advancing breast cancer which she had kept from her family, her friends, and even her doctor.”     “In my undergraduate years I volunteered for 4 years at a community emergency department, as well as with Habitat for Humanity.” Clinical vignette:     “I remember one patient with an asthma exacerbation due to crack cocaine use. The medical team gave him some nebulizer treatments. It soon became obvious he was not responding to the treatment and the attending physician performed a rapid sequence intubation. The experience inspired me.”
My career in EM	Future goals in emergency medicine:     “Beyond residency, I hope to complete a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine.”     “I plan on continuing to make research a part of my career and hope to bring more evidence-based practice to the field of Emergency Medicine.”
Ideal characteristics of a residency program	“I seek a residency program that is as excited at producing excellent physicians as caring for anyone, with anything, at any time.”