My experiences in psychotherapeutic practice and community-based healthcare have shown
me that an in-depth understanding of illnesses is vital to the development and provision of
effective treatment mechanisms. This includes our ability to extract meaningful patterns from
large repositories of patient data and if analysed, the data can help us understand the patterns
of illnesses, make predictions, and provide quality treatments to patients. This has made me
realize that to be a competent practitioner who provides effective treatments, I need to have
the skills that enable me to analyse my patient’s conditions and understand the complex
connections between variables causing the illnesses. Therefore, I am applying to pursue an
MSc in Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence at Bournemouth University. I am confident
that upon completion I will be able to create analytical systems that can inform the
development and provisioning of better and accessible treatments, as well as predict the
situations that can negatively affect the treatment process.
I began to appreciate data analytics and its potential in my career as a mental healthcare
practitioner when I was working as a technical SIE assistant for a USAID-funded
community-led monitoring project. I realised that by furthering my studies in data science I
will be able to use data analytical skills to predict the situations that can trigger illnesses and
hinder the patient’s retention of healthcare services. On that note, this will also enhance my
ability to create systems that can convert patient data into algorithms that inform unique
treatments for each patient. Furthermore, as a clinical psychologist, I noticed that through
quantifying symptoms of various mental illnesses, we could understand the patterns of
various psychiatric disorders, and this enabled us to predict situations that could lead to
relapse this information was useful in training self-help mechanisms to patients. Overly I
believe skills in data analytics and artificial intelligence will make me competent in applying
descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics to provide the best mental healthcare to
patients. Research shows that these have become the fundamental pillars of modern
healthcare systems that rely on modules of data to track illness trends, make predictions,
create preventive measures, and track outcomes in real time. Therefore, I believe with such
skills I will be able to provide the best healthcare services and I will be able to adapt to this
ever-changing dynamic world.
In addition, I believe my academic competencies will be essential in fulfilling the demands of
this program. During my postgraduate studies for an M.Sc. degree in Clinical and Abnormal
Psychology, I trained in academic research methodologies and basic data analysis using
analytical software such as (SPSS). I believe this will be a foundation for the new and
advanced research skills that I will learn in this program. Also, I am an individual who is
competent in academic writing, communication skills, work, and project management, which
I believe will be essential to fulfilling the demands of this master’s program. Moreover,
through my work experience working with analytical dashboards in COMMCARE, Power BI
and Excel, I have attained advanced skills in computer systems and a basic appreciation of
Python programming language. I believe these will be essential in understanding various
modules in the program, such as artificial intelligence. I am confident that my past academic
experience will be essential in fulfilling the academic, interpersonal, and professional
demands of this program.
I became specifically interested in the MSc Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence at
Bournemouth University because of the academic modules such as Foundations of Health
Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence. I believe these will be essential to advance
my skills in the development of healthcare-based data analytical systems and patient-centred
treatment interventions that can improve patient’s quality of life. Also, the ability to go on
placements means I will also learn and have a chance to transfer concepts into practice, which
will also increase my chances of being employed by reputable organisations. Adding on, I
have chosen to study at Bournemouth University because of the renowned academic
environment, both in terms of resources, operations, and policies. Online reviews show that it
is an environment that will instil in me a culture of professionalism and the zeal to succeed.
Also, I have noticed that your institution has working partnerships such as University
Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust which has benefited various healthcare needs of the
community and has implemented successful projects with the National Health Service in the
UK. This makes me more confident that I will achieve my career goals, as I will study in an
environment that has the greatest applications of academics, technology, and healthcare.
In conclusion, as I have been progressing through my career as a clinical psychologist, I have
realized that the future of effective healthcare depends on our in-depth understanding of the
patterns of illnesses as well as how we use modern technology, and Artificial Intelligence to
predict epidemics, pandemics, and create evidence-based interventions. Through data
analytical systems it means we will be able to create interventions that are unique for each
patient or a demographic cluster. I am confident that the skills and knowledge that I will gain
from this MSc in Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence will be vital in my career goal to
provide effective treatments to patients and improvements in community healthcare
interventions.
