Nursing School Hosting its Inaugural White Coat Ceremony

Approximately 143 sophomore nursing students will make University history this week when they participate in the School of Nursing’s first White Coat Ceremony.

The students will participate in the school’s inaugural White Coat Ceremony before an audience of their families and friends on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. in the Union Ballroom.

The ceremony, which serves to mark the beginning of the professional phase of the students’ nursing career, was made possible in part by funding from The Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Duquesne was among just 100 nursing schools selected from across the nation to receive the funding.

“The white coat ceremony was originated by Dr. Arnold Gold, a pediatric neurologist, in 1993. Nursing students will don a white coat for the first time and take an oath as they begin their clinical rotations pledging their intent to ethical and professional behavior as a student in a clinical discipline,” said Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow, dean of the School of Nursing. “The white coat symbolizes the process of professional development that will continue throughout one’s career. It reminds students to practice with conscience and dignity.”

The Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the AACN collaborated to establish the White Coat Ceremony initiative to instill a commitment to provide compassionate care among future health professionals as well as to promote humanistic, patient-centered care among nursing students.

“By offering White Coat Ceremonies, our schools are sending a clear message to new nursing students that compassionate care must be a hallmark of their clinical practice,” said AACN President Dr. Eileen T. Breslin. “Securing a commitment to providing patient-centered care at the beginning of a nurse’s professional formation will help to raise the quality of care available to all patients.”

As part of the White Coat Ceremony, each nursing student will process across the stage and be presented with a copy of the Nightingale Pledge, named in honor of Florence Nightingale who is the founder of modern nursing, as well as a pin from The Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

In addition, Sister Rosemary Donley, S.C., the Jacques Laval Chair for Justice for Vulnerable Populations, and Brittany Rodgers, a 2013 nursing school graduate who is a registered nurse at Allegheny General Hospital, will both deliver remarks at the event.

The ceremony, which will conclude with the nursing students donning their “white coats,” will be followed by a reception.