Nursing students get white coats at ceremony Jan. 22

Ninety-nine sophomore nursing students at Youngstown State University receive their “white coats” during a ceremony 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

"The white coat ceremony is a formal welcome into the nursing profession signifying the transition to clinical learning,” said Nancy Wagner, chair of YSU’s Department of Nursing. “Beyond nursing skills and technology, the white coat reminds our students to be kind and compassionate patient advocates.”

White coat ceremonies are typically a ritual at medical schools. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing, however, has started to promote the ceremonies as nursing students transition into their clinical studies.

Students will be cloaked by nursing faculty as they take an oath to promote humanism and excellence in their nursing care.

The students begin their clinical experiences this semester, caring for patients in long term care facilities and in local hospitals including St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital, St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Akron Children’s Hospital and Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

Featured speaker at the event is Anna Klejka, vice president of Women’s Services at Mercy Health and a YSU nursing alumnus.

Also attending will be YSU President Jim Tressel, Provost Martin Abraham, Dean Joe Mosca and Cynthia Shields, BSN coordinator of the Department of Nursing.

Laura Calcagni and Lori Fusco, nursing faculty, are chairs of the YSU White Coat Ceremony faculty committee.

Typically, a ceremony for medical students, the white coat ceremony emerged in nursing during the last two years and has been celebrated by schools of nursing across the country. In 2016, YSU was one of 60 nursing schools selected by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to implement a white coat ceremony with grant support from The Arnold P. Gold Foundation.