For the first time in its history, Kent State University's Regional Campus Bachelor of Nursing (BSN) students participated in White Coat ceremonies. Sophomore BSN students entering the professional nursing sequence from Geauga, Kent, Salem, Stark and Trumbull took an oath and completed the ceremony that sets a standard for healthcare professionals.
According to Gina Severino, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, professor & Trumbull Campus BSN coordinator, the ceremony helps elevate the value of humanism as the core of healthcare.
"This is a great time to implement the ceremony into the BSN curriculum," Severino said. "After the last three years, we feel it is appropriate to add this iconic ritual that emphasizes compassionate, collaborative, scientifically excellent care from the first day of training in the healthcare professions."
Faculty and campus administration led students through the pledge, followed by a blessing of the hands.
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation established the White Coat Ceremony in 1993 at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons to emphasize humanism in medicine at the start of medical education. It extended to nursing students in 2014.
For more information about the College of Nursing, visit www.kent.edu/nursing.
For more information about the White Coat Ceremony, visit www.gold-foundation.org/programs/white-coat-ceremony.
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