White Coat Ceremony

[drsrn]

My sister-in-law is currently enrolled in a DNP program and I have been invited to attend her White Coat Ceremony. I've never attended one, and I need suggestions for an appropriate gift for her. Any ideas?

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I never had one since the tradition was not extended to nursing until 2014. If I were to have one now, I'd be happy with a congratulations card with an Amazon gift card inside.

[Oldmahubbard]

Implies that DNP is remotely equated to MD or DO. Nope.

[Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA]

Do they get a little white coat or a long one? I don't know. It has the smack of high heels to me:(

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I initially thought that the NP "White Coat Ceremony" was an aggressive attempt by nursing for parity with physicians at first. Then, I researched White Coat Ceremony and found that it's actually a relatively recent American tradition in medical schools. It was created by the Arnold P Gold Foundation in 1993 and Columbia was the first med school to have it.

This same foundation extended the tradition to Pharmacy and other health-related career training programs over the years and in 2013, Nursing was asked, if you will, to participate. Even BSN programs have White Coat Ceremonies now...it's not entirely an NP thing. Per the foundation, the White Coat Ceremony is a symbolic commitment to humanism in healthcare which sounds good to me.

https://www.gold-foundation.org/programs/white-coat-ceremony/

https://www.aacnnursing.org/White-Coat-Ceremonies

[caliotter3]

I am of the opinion that the White Coat Ceremony should be reserved for NP and I think it is a very nice idea. Were I to have gone down this path, I think I would enjoy the experience.

[caliotter3]

26 minutes ago, Undercat said:

Do they get a little white coat or a long one? I don't know. It has the smack of high heels to me:(

High heels?!! Yeah!!!

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

1 minute ago, caliotter3 said:

I am of the opinion that the White Coat Ceremony should be reserved for NP and I think it is a very nice idea. Were I to have gone down this path, I think I would enjoy the experience.

Well, I'm old enough to know that we nurses had our own traditions that predated the White Coat Ceremony for decades...pinning and capping ceremonies anyone?

[caliotter3]

1 minute ago, juan de la cruz said:

Well, I'm old enough to know that we nurses had our own traditions that predated the White Coat Ceremony for decades...pinning and capping ceremonies anyone?

Yes. Pinning and capping for RN, white coat for NP. I think that is the way it should be, otherwise, it could be argued that all the way down to UAP, nursing assistants and medical assistants, could be included in the crowd. Dilutes the honor.

[PollywogNP, ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN, NP]

The local university I taught at the Social Work students who are part of the college of health and share the building where the school of nursing is located now have a pinning ceremony. I think they "borrowed" it from the nursing program! Does not make sense to me as the pins from back in the day were unique to each nursing school.

[caliotter3]

1 hour ago, PollywogNP said:

The local university I taught at the Social Work students who are part of the college of health and share the building where the school of nursing is located now have a pinning ceremony. I think they "borrowed" it from the nursing program! Does not make sense to me as the pins from back in the day were unique to each nursing school.

Whenever I think of Social Work, I am reminded of the young lady going before the promotion board who stated she joined the Army because she could not get a job as a social worker, at, all. Sad.

[rn1965, ADN]

12 hours ago, juan de la cruz said:

Well, I'm old enough to know that we nurses had our own traditions that predated the White Coat Ceremony for decades...pinning and capping ceremonies anyone?

I had a pinning ceremony! Loved it!