GREENEVILLE – A new and important tradition for nursing students comes early in their studies when they don a white coat in a special ceremony marking their entrance into this field.
During the 2019-20 academic year, Tusculum University’s School of Nursing will join 360 others that have white coat ceremonies. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing recently notified Tusculum that the nursing school was one of 50 in the United States selected to receive funding to host a white-coat ceremony for incoming nursing students.
Dr. Lori Anderson, the nursing school’s dean, said the university will now begin planning the event, which will also include students reciting an oath.
“It is exciting to provide this ceremony for the university and the school and further show the quality of our program,” she said. “The event is focused around professionalism and ethics. When you have that white coat on, you are a professional and you should act like a professional.”
The Gold Foundation and the AACN partnered in 2013 to establish white coat ceremonies for nursing schools. The foundation said the ceremony welcomes students to health care practice, elevates the value of humanism as the core of health care and emphasizes compassion in combination with scientific excellence.
More information about Tusculum’s nursing program is available at www.tusculum.edu.