Abolishing the Pinning Ceremony

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Should the Pinning Ceremony traditionally held to honor graduate nurses be abolished?

    • 61
      yes
    • 245
      NO

306 members have participated

Hi all,

I am currently a nursing student in a BSN RN program heading into my senior year (woo hoo almost done). I have also been elected Vice President of the Student Nurses Association at my school and today I got hit with a big blow in an officers meeting!! I was advised that the ceremony to honor the culmination of all my and my peers hard work is no longer going to be celebrated; as the school has decided to do away with the pinning ceremony.

Initially, i was at a loss from words. I remembered sitting in my very first nursing class and learning about what a prestigious honor it is to be pinned; to be recognized and welcomed into the the profession of nursing. When I questioned the faculty as to why this decision has been made, there only response was that "The pinning ceremony is more common place in associate programs..." (My school is a BSN program)...they followed with our school "is trying to become a larger school, in terms of the nursing program, and we found that the larger schools no longer have a pinning."

So my question is, is this true? Has it become more common place to not have a pinning ceremony? Is this a long held tradition that has fallen to the way side? If so is there some sort of recognition held in lieu of a pinning? and if so what? Personally, I DO NOT want to let this tradition go and I feel if this is the case it is a shame. Myself and the other officers are trying to gain feedback on this issue. We are also tasked with breaking this information to the rest of our class, whom i feel will be just as upset as I am. However before doing so, we want to have sufficient enough information and a petition prepared in the event the general consensus is to fight for our right to be pinned! Please let me know what you all think of this, or if you have heard that the recent trend is to do away with the pinning and what schools are doing so. My college is located in New York, very close to the city.

Thank you for all your input:)

My argument that the practice is outdated, is I am wondering if they also make an announcement at these graduation ceremonies where they cheated nursing students out of their pinning, if the administration told the audience that the nursing students have to hit a HIGHER ACADEMIC STANDARD than for most other majors. So that A that I busted my butt for? I had to get a 94 for it versus a 90 other majors get to make for the same grade.

Granted, other majors have higher academic standards as well and I am suggesting they should also be included.

Bottom line: Pinning is a tradition in nursing just as the "white coat" ceremony is to medical students. There is no such tradition associated with psychology majors, history majors, teachers, communications, engineering, etc.

Time and modernization doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Point taken about the white coat ceremony. However, that is equally silly, so I don't know why anyone does either.

Specializes in kids.
I have a whale boned corset, and that thing is actually useful. A silly cap or pin, not so much. ;) Of course if the pins were made by Cartier I might change my mind.

Klinger You are killing me!

I digress, I cherish my pin..to each his or her own!

I have a whale boned corset, and that thing is actually useful. A silly cap or pin, not so much. ;) Of course if the pins were made by Cartier I might change my mind.

That reminds me; have to clean out my sewing stash. Have tons of NIB patterns that need to find homes for including one for a Victorian corset by "Past Patterns".

The mind reels as to what you find a whale boned corset useful for, but we're not on that right now! *LOL*

My argument that the practice is outdated, is I am wondering if they also make an announcement at these graduation ceremonies where they cheated nursing students out of their pinning, if the administration told the audience that the nursing students have to hit a HIGHER ACADEMIC STANDARD than for most other majors. So that A that I busted my butt for? I had to get a 94 for it versus a 90 other majors get to make for the same grade.

Granted, other majors have higher academic standards as well and I am suggesting they should also be included.

Bottom line: Pinning is a tradition in nursing just as the "white coat" ceremony is to medical students. There is no such tradition associated with psychology majors, history majors, teachers, communications, engineering, etc.

Time and modernization doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

Yes, but out of all the careers mentioned teaching is the only profession. More to that medicine and nursing for that matter have a much longer history than most other professions and as such have built up certain traditions and customs along the way.

Will agree caps and pins probably serve no useful purpose for many RNs today. However back the day that cap and finally your school pin meant quite allot to most nurses and even students.

One worked darn hard to obtain one's first student cap, and just as hard to get stripes and or one upon graduation. Like many other professions and associations such as Greek groups or school tie, one's cap announced to the world one belonged to a particular privileged group.

By statue or case law in most all United States and elsewhere in the Western world the wearing of a nursing cap whilst in a facility and or other healthcare settings is restricted to licensed nurses. Yeah, you can wear one on Halloween and parade around the city, but try walking into a hospital and or being photographed "pretending" to be a nurse and see what happens.

Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.

That's it, if they do this, I'm going to crash a "White Coat Ceremony!" It is like like slapping Florence across the face, and Celebration is NEXT to cleanliness!

:redbeatheBoston

Specializes in kids.
That's it, if they do this, I'm going to crash a "White Coat Ceremony!" It is like like slapping Florence across the face, and Celebration is NEXT to cleanliness!

:redbeatheBoston

l

And with nursing pin in hand, we can deflate some of the big egos residing in the white coats!

On Guard!:yelclap:

I was the student rep my last semester in an ADN program at a CC and we were told by the Dean that pinning ceremonies were "old school" and not professional, it wouldn't look good on our resume, local hospitals would look down on us, etc. This was 15 years ago.

Well, I checked. I called hospitals in our area and in other states. I called the BRN. No one said they would look down on us, no one said it would cause them to not hire us, no other schools that I contacted at that time stated they didn't want their students to having pinnings. I went to the last meeting with the Dean and teachers and told them that I'd researched it and could find no reason not to have a pinning and invited them all to come. The Dean had already forbidden the teachers from attending if we went ahead with a pinning.

We did our own pinning ceremony off campus. It was very nice. Two teachers showed up - one because he nephew was part of her class and one probably to show the Dean that she couldn't be pushed around.

If the majority of the class wants a pinning, save money for it yourselves and have it off campus.

Cannot understand your school's logic.

No one ever listed their capping/pinning ceremony on their resume. Nor for that matter bothered mentioning it during interviews for employment other than perhaps making small talk.

Caps and pins only came up in the course of discussion of employment after one was hired and advised of the dress code for one's floor/unit.

I think what has happened is that many of the old school nurse educators have died off/retired and what one is left with are these new *professionals* who have very firm ideas about the profession.

Kneeling before a quasi altar and having a cap pinned onto one's head, and or being pinned is just to "icky" for some modern nurse educators.

Oh and forget about candle/lamp lighting and saying the oath.

"I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care."

Specializes in FNP, ONP.

I'd chew my tongue off before I'd recite that tripe!

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

My problem isn't so much that they want to abolish the ceremonies, but that underlying attitude of many that actively seeks to distance the present-day profession from the history it is built upon, which was reflected in the quote about the Dean "wanting to get away" from things that reminded of the diploma school days. I don't know of another profession who's educators don't honor, or even ignore reminders of the past. Nursing seems to actually shun it's past. Other professions evolve as well, but they see it as progression without the antipathy.

I guess the difference may be the issue of feminism that gets wrapped up into it, so instead of valuing what worked about that type of education, they see it mainly as nurses being servile "handmaidens", or people who don't claim the ability to make independent judgements as doctors do. I think we've sold diploma schools short with this focus and falsely given people the idea that there was no academic rigor instilled in them since they were based out of hospitals and not a college campus.

Specializes in Med Surg, Specialty.

20% of qualified nursing school applicants were accepted into my program, and of those, only 23% graduated. I felt the school did not do its part to assist the students to graduate - my family was what got me through. However they required that an instructor be the one to pin, which, to be honest, would have been a little insulting to me. Because of that I chose not to go to my pinning ceremony and instead spent the day celebrating with my family. I have never regretted opting out of my pinning. But if the school isn't supporting you and you would like to do your own ceremony I think that's a great idea :)

I know I am in the minority but as far as I am concerned, one "ceremony" should be adequate to recognize the achievement of nursing degree which is what the graduation ceremony now is. Beyond that, throw a party to celebrate when the pins come in.

However, you can take what I say with a grain of salt ........:) as I was a member of the first clinical group of eight in our BSN program to successfully resist wearing the nursing cap. This was late seventies. From then on, we were forever known throughout the school and in all the facilities we rotated through as the group that refused to wear caps.

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