Establishing a new tradition on any university campus can be challenging, but the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will be doing just that when they conduct their first ever White Coat Ceremony.
First year nursing students will mark the beginning of their professional journey when they receive white coats Monday, August 31 at 9 a.m. in Levin Hall auditorium on the Galveston Campus.
White coat ceremonies have been a part of medical schools for more than 20 years. UTMB now joins other nursing schools around the nation by offering the same to nursing students.
The ceremony is designed to focus on the importance of patient-centered, humanistic care and to instill in students a commitment to the highest standards of the nursing profession.
“We are excited to offer the White Coat Ceremony for nursing at UMTB,” said Pamela G. Watson, dean of the School of Nursing. “It will send a clear message to all nursing students that compassionate care is central to their clinical practice.”
The SON received a grant from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to support the Gold-AACN White Coat Ceremony for nursing. The foundation which has sponsored ceremonies at medical schools since 1993, has partnered with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to extend the opportunity to nursing schools.