Description
WCCs typically address the issue of medical ethics and praise rising students for their success in completing the basic science portion of medicine, optometry, dentistry, chiropractic, podiatry, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, advanced practice nursing (Nurse Practitioner, Nurse anesthetist, Clinical nurse specialist, Nurse midwife). 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 healthcare career. Some schools also use this as a graduation from the entire program as well. For example, Moreno Valley College has a White Coat Ceremony for the Physician Assistant students at the end of their final term, where the short coats are discarded and long coats are given as a symbol of being equal clinicians to others who have earned the long coats.
According to some, WCCs have taken on a quasi-religious significance, that symbolizes a "conversion" of a lay person into a member of the healthcare profession and is similar to a priest's ordination to priesthood.
Read more about this topic: White Coat Ceremony
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