This last Saturday was James's White Coat Ceremony. If you're anything like me, you've never heard of this before and/or don't get what it is. Good news! I now know and will explain it to you. Towards the beginning of their medical school career, med students have a ceremony called the White Coat Ceremony that celebrates this transition into med school. It's kind of like a pre-graduation. At this ceremony, they take the osteopathic pledge (a pledge to treat patients well, to follow the tenants of their schooling, etc.) and they receive their white coats. This is the coat James will wear in all patient encounters until he completes med school. This includes rotations, volunteer hours, and his simulated patient interactions. Here's James with his fancy new coat:
He's really a med student now! Medical schools do this ceremony at different times (first week of school, a few months in, etc.), but for us it was after 8 weeks of school. Presumably anyone who decided they actually didn't want to do this would have dropped out by now. The ceremony was nice, with some good speakers. The "coating" (I love that...it sounds like he's being marinated) took longer. He feels and looks legit now, and I'm so proud.
Perhaps I don't see very well, but James seems to have been given a very short version of the coat. I realize it is intended to be shorter than the usual lab coat, but his looks even shorter than the other students.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am being confused, it seems strange that he only has one coat for the next many years. Do you have to wash it every night so he can wear it the next day? Does it come with instructions about removing things like blood stains? I hope he doesn't gain a lot of weight!
Dear James, you do have the look of a fine doctor when you wear the coat. I look forward to seeing it, and you, in person some day.
You're right: they're not lab coats. They're all the same length, though, so James's might seem shorter because James is tall. He doesn't wear it every day (yet). I think many of the 3rd and 4th year students on rotations invest in a longer lab coat as well. They presumably wash it occasionally. It protects them and their clothes from germs, blood, etc they might encounter. And some hospitals wash your stuff for you (biohazard materials, after all). I should probably write the school and request a cleaning instructions sheet, huh?
ReplyDelete