Here it lies on the top of my parcel of laundry, just a strip of folded linen pressed quite flat, an inanimate object, most insignificant in appearance, and yet how precious! …What a happy day when it became a possession! My whole world changed, patients asked my advice, doctors discovered my existence, friends beamed upon me. All of which I realized were tributes to that crisp bit of white linen. – Ann Cavers1
These days the “crisp bit of white linen” that became a nursing cap, lauded by Ann Carvers and ritually presented to new nursing students, is more often seen in museums than on the heads of nurses. Modern nursing students receive a different, though no less significant and symbolic, identifier upon embarking on their studies – the white coat.
On Friday, Jan. 14, the College of Nursing welcomed 80 new students to the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program with a white coat ceremony. Hosted by Dean Julie Zerwic, the ceremony featured remarks by Kimberly Hunter, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, chief nurse executive at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
Ranked top ten in the country by US News & World Report, the college’s innovative BSN program combines in-depth learning with extensive patient contact and provides an incomparable foundation for a future career in nursing and nurse leadership.
“Today’s white coat signifies that you are a health care professional who has committed to caring, compassionate service to humankind,” Dean Zerwic said to the incoming students.
“Inherent in the image of the professional white coat are the core values of altruism, excellence, caring, integrity and respect for human dignity. Those who wear it are called to these professional values and the associated behaviors they represent.”
Hunter, a third-generation nurse who began her position at UIHC in April, recalled receiving her nursing cap in a similar ceremony and emphasized both the internal and external symbolism of the tradition.
“The donning of the white coat is a very exciting thing,” she said to the students. “This crisp, white, tailored coat is an outward sign to those in attendance today and to those patients, families, and health care colleagues you are about to meet, that you have committed yourself to take on a new role as an undergraduate nursing student.
When the white coat is placed on your shoulders, you may feel something different inside – a new sense of responsibility to yourself and to those around you today, but most importantly, to your future patients who will be recipients of your outstanding care.”
Typically, the white coat would be placed on the student’s shoulders by Executive Associate Dean Sandra Daack-Hirsch and Dr. Kim Hunter. As this year’s event was held virtually, the students were able to choose who coated them. Choices ranged from parents to twin sisters and kids to best friends, but the excitement and pride on their faces remained the same.
1(Cavers, A, (1949) Our school of nursing, 1899 to 1949 (pp.75). Vancouver General Hospital, School of Nursing)