White Coat Ceremony?

[tazman]

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I just find out that the school I'll be attending has a white coat ceremony. I've heard this ceremony mentioned before in passing and never paid it much attention. I thought it was a senior thing or something.

I was just wondering what all happens at a white coat ceremony? In general, is it a big deal, or just something among faculty and students?

 

[crazygop]

I don't know if you want to call it a "big deal", but almost all schools have it and for most it is required. It's just like a freshman orientation ceremony as an undergrad.

 

[fluffyj]

I have also heard of the white coat ceremony. I believe it is where the faculty give the new med students their short white coats. Maybe I'll get off of the waitlist, and get one too! Taz-did you decide to go to Mercer? If you did I would love to hear about the curricuclum there.

 

[tazman]

fluffyj, yes I'll be going to Mercer. The curriculum is exclusively problem-based learning. Mercer also puts a good deal of emphasis on clinical training. Here's a <a href="http://medicine.mercer.edu/programs/medicine/default.htm" target="_blank">link</a> to the Mercer website, click on "curriculum" on the left of the page. It will be able to answer your questions better than I can. Hope this helps.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

I always thought the white coat ceremony was a big deal....is it? Do parents usually come to it? What if your school is not driving distance from your parents' home?

 

[Assassin]

white coat ceremony is as bad as graduation, I wish I could skip it 🙄

 

[THE instiGATOR]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by player:
•white coat ceremony is as bad as graduation, I wish I could skip it 🙄 •••••That's not possible. I sat through the longest of all ceremonies Friday and am exceedingly thankful that my med school class will only have ~64 students.

Is this, the white coat ceremony, a family event?

 

[mdmom]

Hi everybody,

I believe in Texas the White Coat Ceremony is mandatory for all. You officially don the thing for the first time. I've heard that an affluent family/association actually donates big $$$ for the event. 🙄

🙂

As far as family is concerned, depends on how sentimental you are. Think about it. We all know, it has been quite a long road to get here. I'd be proud to see my kid up there!!

See ya!

 

[mdmom]

Hi everybody,

I believe in Texas the White Coat Ceremony is mandatory for all. You officially don the thing for the first time. I've heard that an affluent family/association actually donates big $$$ for the event. 🙄

🙂

As far as family is concerned, depends on how sentimental you are. Think about it. We all know, it has been quite a long road to get here. I'd be proud to see my kid up there!!

See ya!

 

[mdmom]

sorry this posted twice. my computer is acting out. 🙄

 

[C U in MD school]

this is a very big deal. u should go for sure. ive been to one and it is very emotional. it is nothing like graduation. this is your right of passage into the medical field. all your hard work (studyig, mcat, research, volunteer work, etc) is finally recognized by the your future prof giving you a short white coat. i look very much forward to it.

 

[Nikki]

I went to one when I was staying with a friend who is a first year during an interview in the fall (they had to move back their ceremony due to 9/11), and nearly everyone's parents were there, many flew in because she mentioned picking up her parents and seeing classmates picking up their parents, as she picked me up from the airport. It is a very big deal to the school.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

My school just established a white coat ceremoney 2 years ago. I think this is a new thing for many schools (from what I've heard from my residents and my sister). Many schools had one at the end of med school but I guess their trying to make MS-Is feel good. I think its kinda unnecessary since you'll barely even be wearing that coat for 2 more years. Just another boring ceremony. 🙄

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

At my school, you do wear your coat during the first 2 years so I suppose it is necessary to have it before 1st year. In fact, I was just sent info about it and I have to estimate what size coat I will need. I wish they had samples to try on 🙁 .

 

[Jamier2]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by KyGrlDr2B:
•In fact, I was just sent info about it and I have to estimate what size coat I will need. I wish they had samples to try on 🙁 .•••••I sent you a PM, Ky 🙂

 

[vyc]

i think at uchicago, we get long coats! 🙂

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i think at uchicago, we get long coats! 🙂 •••••I think they do at UF too! 😀

 

[coop]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•i think at uchicago, we get long coats! 🙂 •••••yeah we do! 🙂

 

[oldman]

i think we go through this ceremony prior to having patient contact. it's a celebration of become a clinical physician.

 

[deva]

Hmm, most of you are missing the original point of the white coat ceremony.

The white coat ceremony was selected as a formal ritual in the socialization of physicians that would impress upon medical students the importance of compassion and humility in medicine.

It is not surprising that you guys missed the point, though. The white coat has long been used in the socialization of physicians, but not necessarily to teach community values. Instead, the white coat often symbolizes the professional authority and hierarchy of physicians, not compassion and humility. The coat asserts authority over others. This may be the reason that some of you believe this ceremony is just meant to be a pat on the back for all your hard work. It is sad that this attempt to instill compassion and humility in future doctors has turned into what many of you view as "just another boring ceremony."

 

[eagle26]

You also take the Hippocratic Oath at the White Coat Ceremony..so I'm looking at is as a committment to becoming a physician.

 

[oldman]

also the beginning of the change into becomeing a physician.

 

[Assassin]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by devastator:
•It is sad that this attempt to instill compassion and humility in future doctors has turned into what many of you view as "just another boring ceremony."•••••most med school bound individuals wouldn't have made it this far unless they already possessed compassion and humility; most med school bound individuals already understand the gravity of entering a profession where the lives/well-being of so many will depend on them; most med school bound individuals/strike that - I will speak for myself here - do not need another b.s. ceremony/show, and would rather just get it on, as Mills Lane would say 🙂

 

[deva]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by player:
•most med school bound individuals wouldn't have made it this far unless they already possessed compassion and humility•••••Sadly, I don't think this is the case. I have been around many doctors who did not possess enough humility and compassion.

I agree with on one thing, though - this ceremony is definitely NOT the best way to instill values in the medical community. Read Delese Wear's critique of the white coat ceremony: <a href="http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/01nov98/whitcoat.htm" target="_blank">http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/01nov98/whitcoat.htm</a>
(it's a short article)

 

[KDocGirl]

I agree with the above post... It seems like there is a similarity between how people view the wc ceremony and the profession itself. There are some students who just go into med school, thinking they will achieve the ultimate prestige and respect from others, or as a personal achievement, when really they should be focusing on leading a life of service.

 

[The Fly]

The school I am going to (Penn) has a white coat ceremony, but personally, I could totally do without it --

I think it's nice for parents (especially my father who's a doc and is really really excited to see his son entering the family biz) but I am much more interested in being a doctor for personal intellectual satisfaction / pleasure I will derive from making a difference in others' lives and am totally disinterested in ceremonies that some people need to feel important (or parents need to feel their $$ is going to good use). I really do feel this is more for the parents and PR than for the students but I am totally up for others to challenge this claim.

I DO agree that how people view the ceremony can be indicative of the reasons behind their becoming MDs.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

[This post has been edited upon further research]

devastator,

I think you midunderstood my original post a little bit. I have been through medical school and understand what it means to be a physician and to wear the "white coat" as well or better than you. The relatively recent onset of MS-I white coat ceremonies are, in my opinion, unnecessary and foster the exact kind of thinking you are speaking of (pat on the back). These ceremonies were started in 1993 at Columbia, when the hippocratic oath was also moved from the end of medical school to the beginning. Most schools followed suit. I still believe that this is more appropiate at the end of medical school. When one has been through clinical rotations, then it is possible to fully appreciate such a ceremony. That is why I consider the MS-I ceremony to be more of a PR thing than anything else. This is why I believe this to be just another boring ceremony. I'm sorry if I sounded elitist, I am anything but.

 

[deva]

Whisker Barrel Cortex,

I find your elitism disturbing. I am looking at this from a sociological perspective, but you seem to have no respect for that. You won't analyze the situation unless another physician, someone who understands what it is like to wear the white coat, points something out. You don't think sociologists can make valid claims about physicians? I am not a sociologist, and I am not a doctor, but I think I can learn from both. Can you? Or do you need to assert your authority through that white coat? Can't someone without the white coat make valid arguments? Don't think that the white coat gives you an authority that you don't need to justify. Did you even read the article, by the way?

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

Please read my revised post above. I did not even see your second post with the article link. I would have liked to have read the article, but your link is dead (I think the acponline site may be down). However, I did read up on the ceremony through a google search and realized I was wrong about parts of it.

The ceremony itself has not been around for that long. It was started at Columbia in 1993 for the reasons you stated in your original post and has since been adopted by most medical schools. The funny thing is, I think we actually agree on the unfortunate misperception of these ceremonies.

Of course sociologists and people without white coats can make valid arguments. I inaccurately perceived your original post to be an attack on my opinion. That was the reason for the tone of my last post. Chalk this whole disagreement up to the difficulty of perceiving tone in an anonymous internet board and to some touchiness on my regard. So no, I am not elitist and am humbled by the responsibility that being a doctor entails.