White Coat Ceremony for Nurses

[OCNRN63]

It used to be a capping ceremony, now it's a white coat ceremony like physicians. What do you think of this?

https://news.vcu.edu/article/Nursing_students_savor_schools_first_white_coat_ceremony

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

icuRNmaggie said:

The white coat ceremony is a milestone and rite of passage for medical students.

A physician told me he was not happy with a certain nurse wearing a full white coat not a jacket because

people might mistake her for a physician.

I think we ought to have black nurse ninja jackets with RN embroidered in red. Or red jackets if you believe in color psychology.

I knew a physician who was also irritated, annoyed (terrified?) at the idea that a lowly NURSE might be somehow mistaken for a MD.

I pointed out (during his Tirade of the Day) that nurses tended to wear short lab coats and they TENDED to be Charge Nurses, or Nurse Managers (IOW, someone denoting authority). He didn't care. They weren't MDs, so they shouldn't be allowed to wear the Royal White Coat.

It was absurd, and his tirade was treated as such.

Charge nurse, Unit manager, Nurse Manager, you name it, wore white coats.

Get OVER yourself, Doc!

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

anon456 said:

Nurses should have something unique to them, not copy someone else's tradition. I liked the lamp ceremony they had at my school.

I LOVED the lamp ceremony; it solidified that we were student nurses; it was done prior to is starting clinicals.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

Yeah, can't imagine Della without a hat out side the office! and Paul and Perry wore hats as well.

DoGoodThenGo said:

"..And looking grim because they have been sitting choosing a hat... does anyone still wear a hat?

That famous line from the song "Ladies Who Lunch" in the Steven Sondheim musical Company was a query by Joanne to the ladies in the group (and audience) of 1970.

The 1950's was the last era when most females still wore hats (and gloves for that matter) out of doors as a matter of routine. By the 1960's hats were on the way out and since the musical is set in mid to late 1960's what caused this change? In two words "Big Hair". Hats just were not practical with the bouffant hair styles that came into fashion during the 1960's. I mean after one has spent hours roller setting, sitting under a dryer, combing out, teasing and otherwise creating poufy hair the last thing you'd want is to cram a hat on top of your head.

Being as this may some women still wore hats for fashion and or at least for formal occasions such as religious services (until Vatican II it was required for entering RC churches), but basically once "rat's nest" hair took over that was the end for hats.

Even prior to all this by the Edwardian era females on both sides of the pond mostly ceased wearing head coverings indoors. Older women may still have clung to the fashion and of course servants but if you watch period shows like Downton Abbey none of the women are covering their heads indoors who are not maidservants.

Perry Mason started in the 1950's and ran through the mid-1960's. At least in the early years (1950's) no decent woman would leave her house without a hat no more than she would without wearing a girdle.

[OCNRN63, RN]

LadyFree28 said:

I LOVED the lamp ceremony; it solidified that we were student nurses; it was done prior to is starting clinicals.

We did the lamp ceremony three months into our freshman year, when we got our student caps. It was a beautiful ceremony; we felt connected to the past, present, and future of nursing. People who didn't go through this have no idea what they missed.

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

anon456 said:

Nurses should have something unique to them, not copy someone else's tradition. I liked the lamp ceremony they had at my school.

I think we should have a "New Car Ceremony". NO one else does that......... (We sure spend enough $$ on our education, lol)

[AOx1]

wooh said:

I'll admit it. I don't want to wear a freaking hat. A freaking cap. A freaking toboggan. A freaking beanie. A freaking scarf. I don't want to wear something on my head. Why not wear wizard hats? That would be just as useful.

This reminds me of the first time I had to wear my doctoral regalia for graduation. It felt like an odd choir robe/fabric tent/Halloween costume hybrid. It has not become less embarrassing over time.

[DoGoodThenGo]

RNsRWe said:

I knew a physician who was also irritated, annoyed (terrified?) at the idea that a lowly NURSE might be somehow mistaken for a MD.

I pointed out (during his Tirade of the Day) that nurses tended to wear short lab coats and they TENDED to be Charge Nurses, or Nurse Managers (IOW, someone denoting authority). He didn't care. They weren't MDs, so they shouldn't be allowed to wear the Royal White Coat.

It was absurd, and his tirade was treated as such.

Charge nurse, Unit manager, Nurse Manager, you name it, wore white coats.

Get OVER yourself, Doc!

That mindset was what kept scrubs off limits to nurses on the floors and helped fuel "scrub envy".

If one's uniform became soiled back in the day to get permission to wear a pair of scrubs was almost like waiting to hear Satan placed an order for snow shovels.

It required going up the ranks often from the head nurse to supervisor or even DON and even then suggestions such as "can you send home/to the nurse's residence for another?" or "can someone lend you a uniform?". The whole thing being a nurse seen in scrubs on the floors would be mistaken for a physician and *that* simply could not be allowed! *LOL* Even if permission was granted all heck could break loose if the CoD happened to pick that moment to make his rounds and saw a nurse "out of uniform".

In the end the compromise often suggested was that one worn an isolation gown (those cloth jobs that tided up the back), and perhaps be confined to the nurse's station for the duration.

[kathyp]

The white coat is worn into and out of the hospital and removed before going onto the floor to take care of patients. In theory, it prevents carrying germs in on your uniform. It is worn when going to the cafeteria, to contain germs to the scrubs and not onto your tray. The ceremony stresses the commitment to excellent patient care at a time before the very first clinical. It will hopefully give nursing students the awe-factor of exactly how important their role and responsibility is to a vulnerable patient.