White coat ceremony

The white coat ceremony (WCC) is a relatively new ritual in some medical, dental, pharmacy, veterinary medical, physical therapy, podiatric, and optometry schools that marks the student's transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences. At some schools, where students begin meeting patients early in their education, the white coat ceremony is held before the first year begins.

WCCs typically involve a formal "robing" or "cloaking" of students in white coats, the garb physicians have traditionally worn for over 100 years [cite journal |author=Jones VA |title=The white coat: why not follow suit? |journal=JAMA |volume=281 |issue=5 |pages=478 |year=1999 |month=February |pmid=9952213 |doi= |url=http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=9952213] and other health professions have adopted.

Content of WCCs

WCCs typically address the issue of medical ethics and praise rising incoming third year students for their success in completing the basic science portion of medical, physical therapy, veterinary medical, dental, or pharmacy school. A reading of the Hippocratic Oath is common, and family and friends are typically invited. Over 100 medical schools in the USA now have a WCC and many students now consider it a rite of passage in the journey toward a medical career.

According to some, WCCs have taken on a quasi-religious significance, that symbolizes a "conversion" of a lay person into a member of the medical professioncite journal |author=Veatch RM |title=White coat ceremonies: a second opinion |journal=J Med Ethics |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=5–9 |year=2002 |month=February |pmid=11834749 |doi= |url=http://jme.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=11834749] and is similar to a priest's ordination to priesthood.

History and spread

WCCs originated in University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine in 1989. [http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/18/local/me-23619]

Since starting in the US, several medical schools in other countries outside of the USA (such as Israel, Canada, UK, Dominican Republic and Poland) have also started holding WCCs. The ceremony is no longer limited to medical students; starting in 1995, US pharmacy schools started holding WCCs, with the difference that most pharmacy students receive their coats at the end of their first academic year. In 2003 a survey found that the majority of US pharmacy schools hold WCCs. [cite journal |author=Brown DL, Ferrill MJ, Pankaskie MC |title=White coat ceremonies in US schools of pharmacy |journal=Ann Pharmacother |volume=37 |issue=10 |pages=1414–9 |year=2003 |month=October |pmid=14519030 |doi=10.1345/aph.1D124 |url=]

Criticisms of the WCCs

Some have criticized WCCs as events of self-congratulation and self-promotion and have suggested that WCCs underline the significance and power associated with the white coat, while de-emphasizing the responsibilities and obligations of the physicians who wear them. A number of critics believe WCCs create a sense of entitlement to trust and respect that is unhealthy and in turn may foster an elitism that separates patient from caregiver. [cite journal |author=Russell PC |title=The White Coat Ceremony: turning trust into entitlement |journal=Teach Learn Med |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=56–9 |year=2002 |pmid=11865752 |doi= |url=]

See also

* Pinning ceremony for nurses.
* Hippocratic Oath

References