White Coat Ceremony marks start of clinical training for students at the Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions

Forty-two Master of Science in Nursing students marked a significant milestone in their studies at this year's Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health ProfessionsWhite Coat Ceremony. The traditional ceremony marks their transition into clinical practice and represents the first step in serving patients in specialized fields.

On August 13, the students and their guests gathered in Pfleeger Concert Hall for the ceremony that symbolizes the transition to clinical rotations for students who will complete 750 hours of training over the next three semesters in hospitals, clinics and health care facilities throughout the region. This year, students are embarking on one of three specialized tracks: adult gerontology acute care, family nurse practitioner or psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.

Dean Peter Rattigan, Ph.D., welcomed the students and their families, emphasizing the significance of this step in their professional journey.

The presentation of white coats was conducted by the program coordinators: Matthew Kaspar, DNP, family nurse practitioner coordinator; Melissa Mordecai, DNP, adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner coordinator; and Robert White, DNP, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner coordinator. Each student was called individually to the stage to receive their lab coat, embroidered with their name and the school's logo.

This year's cohort also represents the first group of students to have clinical placements within Rowan Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, providing them with hands-on training in mental health care, a critical and growing field.

The students each received a leather-bound journal and a naloxone dispenser (NARCAN), a nasal spray that can reverse opioid overdoses, emphasizing the critical responsibility they will bear in their future roles as health care providers.

The Rita & Larry Salva School of Nursing & Health Professions is one of three schools within the Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences at Rowan University, alongside the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine and Rowan-Virtua School of Translational Biomedical Engineering & Sciences.

The tradition of the White Coat Ceremony was initiated in 1993 by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation at Columbia University, with a focus on the role of humanism in medicine. Originally associated with medical schools, the ceremony has since expanded to include other health professions, including nursing. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing partnered with the Gold Foundation in 2014 to introduce White Coat ceremonies at nursing schools nationwide.