Remington College of Nursing: First-Ever White Coat Ceremony
Remington College of Nursing’s first-ever White Coat Ceremony took place at its Campus in Lake Mary, Florida, on September 18.
The ceremony is a traditional rite of passage for most medical schools, and increasingly for nursing schools, during which students wear their white lab coats for the first time. The ceremony marks a
student’s transition from classroom learning to clinical learning, at which time the student begins caring for patients in hospitals and other health care settings.
During the College of Nursing’s White Coat Ceremony, Karin Polifko, PhD, RN, NEA-BC and the Vice President of Operations and Academic Affairs, spoke to the 31 members of the class of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students scheduled to graduate in July 2010. She discussed the importance of moral, ethical, and professional standards in nursing practice. She stressed the significance of the advocacy role in protecting and promoting a patient’s health and well being.
Afterward, Professor Sherry MacDonald called students to the front one by one as nursing faculty members Dr. Judy Campbell, Professor Tony Pennington, and Dr. Renee Shell helped each student don his or her new white lab coat, the symbol of clinical service and care. As part of the ceremony, the nursing students recited the Florence Nightingale Pledge, led by Professor Linda Daniel. Celebratory cake and punch followed the ceremony.
Dr Polifko notes, “Here at Remington College of Nursing, we give students the tools for lifelong learning, but they alone must embrace and fulfill the promise of the nursing profession. The white coat they have received today is a tangible reminder of the contract they will make with every patient for whom they care. Each time they put it on, we hope it will serve as a reminder that their heart is as important as their minds and hands in being a registered nurse.”