Sample WPST Question and Student Essays

These are student essays written during an administration of the WPST. Use them as a guide to how well you must write in order to pass the WPST. Write an essay of your own from the prompt given below. Then compare your essay with the sample ones.

Passage to Consider (WPST) Question:

In our daily lives or in the news, we encounter practices or systems that arouse feelings of frustration or insult our sense of justice. Some examples- are increases in student fees, cutbacks in library services, parking problems, health care delivery, involvement in government, or unjust treatment- of a social or cultural group.

Directions for Writing:

Identify a situation that you believe should be changed. In a well developed essay, present and analyze the situation and the nature of the change you would like to see made. The situation might be here on campus, in your local community, or in the world community. You may select one of the topics listed above or address a problem of your own choosing.

High Pass Student Essay

As we go about the business of our daily lives we are frequently presented with a situation that affronts our sense of fairness. We often disregard the situation as too big to confront. However, there are times when we feel we must act, for if we don't the internal turmoil created by ignoring the situation would be too onerous to bear. This is my feeling toward the current health care delivery system in America.
I have been a member of that system as a Registered Nurse for eighteen years. I have seen the acute care hospital change from a facility that had room to improve in its' efficiency, to a business that has cut human resources to the bare minimum. I have seen unequal distribution of care based on ability to pay for services. And I have seen resources wasted on patients who had no hope of recovery because the physician could not "give up".
In identifying the problems of our health care system we must give consideration to the principles on which America was founded. The constitution relates that a basic need is life. While there is no reference in the document to quality of life, it is not unreasonable to assume that our forefathers implied that the life to which they referred should be a healthy one. Otherwise, how could the happiness to which they referred be attained? It is certainly difficult to be happy while ill. It is even more difficult to be happy when a person cannot access health care to cure or ameliorate the illness.
President Johnson attempted to improve the system in the mid-1960's. The formation of the Medicare system for the elderly and the Head Start programs with immunizations and well-baby clinics for the young in poverty were attempts to improve availability of health care. His dream of the Great Society did not come to fruition. Instead, the bureaucracy grew into an unmanageable behemoth.
The failure of the health care system can be attributed to the high cost. Physicians are frequently cited as the main cause of the financial problems. 'Mat is a very simplistic view. Granted, they charge large amounts for visits, but they have large overheads in their business. Office rental, staff wages and benefits, supplies and, most importantly, unreasonable annual malpractice insurance fees erode their wages. The lofty commission they aspire to, saving lives, should accrue financial reward. The essentially have sacrificed their personal lives for many years of schooling to attain their ability to practice medicine.
Hospitals are often blamed for the cost of health care. What is not realized in this assertion is that hospitals are passing on the high costs they must pay to operate. Employee wages and benefits constitute a large portion of hospital revenues, but are not the culprits in inflating costs. It is the drug companies and medical equipment companies that are getting rich.
I have a brother who works in research and development of a large drug company. A story he related to me regarding the purchase of a piece of equipment for his department demonstrates the essence of the problem in health care. He said he was instructed by his supervisor to buy three identical pieces of the machinery--one to use, one to lose, and one for back-up. And patients wonder why their hospital charged them $5.00 for a dose of Tylenol.
The high cost of medical litigation has inflated medical costs. Large awards for medical malpractice suits have to be paid in some way. 'The cost is indirectly passed on to the consumer.
All this paints a dismal picture of health care. Application of the utilitarian moral approach would promote health care for all. Principles of justice, or fairness, and beneficence, or doing good, support this approach. That is the basis of my belief that the distribution of health care, with access for all citizens of the United States, is the overall change that must take place in health care.
This distribution would best be implemented if a change in our thinking about health and illness took place.

Currently we function under a disease-oriented system. If we become ill we seek a physicians' help, for which he is trained. However, if we changed to a health-oriented system, we should see a practitioner who is focused on preventative therapies. A physician would not be the primary health-care professional to be seen in this system. Instead, a nurse practitioner would be the first-line practitioner.
A nurse focuses on how to maintain health. If a patient was ill, the nurse would then refer to the physician for treatment of that disease state. After that disease was cured, the patient would return to the nurse for routine preventative health assessments.
This approach would be difficult to implement. Not only would the change of thinking on the part of the people of the country be necessary, but the politically powerful AMA would fight this concept. However, it is a more cost-efficient system, and a more holistic patient-care approach.
A nationalized health care system would eliminate the exorbitant fees charged by insurance companies. Granted, there are drawbacks to this type of system, for treatment might not be delivered if considered futile, but we have to be realistic in our approach. The technological advancements available today need to be utilized judiciously. If basic health care needs of all were met then the distribution of advanced treatments could be implemented to those who are still productive.
Tort reform is necessary, also. Limitation for malpractice fees could do away with the hidden costs.
I can make a difference. Through communication with elected officials that have been voted in according to their stance on health care, I can avoid the internal conflict of ignoring a situation of injustice.

Medium Pass Student Essay

Since Anglos first came to California they have altered the natural flow of water to meet their needs.
Beginning with the transformation of the Delta to the present many of California's rivers have been dammed and diverted. While much of this developed water has been used for the purposes stated by proponents of development, in some cases the public was misled.
Early in the century the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) purchased much of the water in the Owens Valley. To transport this water south they needed permission to build pipelines through Yosemite Park. President Roosevelt demanded that this water be used within the city to prevent land speculators from reaping profit from it. After the system was built large tracts of and land were added to the city and the value of this land increased many fold. 'This increased water supply led to an increased population, which has led to a need for more water. This upward spiral cannot continue unchecked. The state's water supply is finite and must be treated as such. When it is not, not only we, but the environment suffer.
In western Kern county there has been much over pumping of ground water. This process, called overdraft, has caused the subsoil to compact. There is no incentive for any one land owner to refrain from this, since the others continue. 'The water under the ground has been treated as if it were the sole property of the owner of the land. One solution to this problem, would be to recognize that this water is a shared resource of the entire community. Then reasonable limits could be placed on pumping to prevent overdraft.
In the Delta, Northern water is pulled south by huge pumps near Tracy. This causes the natural flow of water to be reversed in the southern Delta. If the pumps are used during the times that young fish are going to the ocean, they are confused and follow the flow of the water to the pumps. Despite efforts to screen them from the pumps, many die. This has resulted in a reduction of migratory fish populations. If these pumps could be turned off during peak times much of this damage could be avoided. But this is not the only problem caused by this diversion.

The environments of the bays down stream from the Delta require a refreshing flow of fresh water. While many of the problems they experience come from direct pollution, the lack of this cleansing water concentrates the pollution. These bays are another example of a shared resource. All of the people of the state need to be involved in decisions that effect the health of these bays.
All of our resources are limited, but water is critical to life. We must make decisions now which will effect the environment of California forever. We cannot continue to allow unchecked growth and development without recognizing the effects these decisions will have.