Newswise — WASHINGTON, DC, August 3, 2016 — Today, The Arnold P. Gold Foundation (APGF) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced that 50 schools of nursing across the nation were selected to receive funding support to host White Coat Ceremonies, which emphasize the importance of providing compassionate care among health professionals. Launched in 2013, this ground-breaking collaboration between APGF and AACN was developed to promote humanistic, patient-centered care among future generations of registered nurses.
"By reaching students early in their professional formation with the message that compassion matters, our goal is to ensure that all future healthcare providers see humanism as foundational to their practice. We remain so grateful to the Elaine and Mike Adler family for their enabling support of this crucial collaboration," said Dr. Richard Levin, President and CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. "We are delighted to continue our collaboration with AACN this year, which expands the universe of nursing schools offering White Coat Ceremonies to 210 institutions nationwide." Though White Coat Ceremonies have been conducted by medical schools for more than 20 years, the APGF-AACN initiative marks the first time a coordinated effort has been developed to offer similar events at schools of nursing. Nursing joins the growing number of health professions that offer "cloaking" ceremonies, including dentistry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistants among other disciplines. To date, 160 nursing schools in 46 states plus the District of Columbia have received financial support and guidance to offer a White Coat Ceremony, which typically consists of the recitation of an oath, an address by an eminent role model, and a reception for students and invited guests. Students also are given a specially designed pin that serves as a visual reminder of their oath and commitment to providing high quality care. This year, 50 new nursing schools in 38 states plus the District of Columbia were selected to receive funding to inaugurate their own White Coat Ceremony in Fall 2016. View listing of schools selected to participate in this year. "White Coat Ceremonies highlight the important role compassion plays in providing patient-centered care and improving health outcomes," said Dr. Juliann Sebastian, Chair of the AACN Board of Directors. "With health care becoming more interprofessional and team-driven, nurses, physicians, and other providers must embed humanism in their practice as a way to elevate the patient care experience."
For more information about this program, contact AACN Associate Director Shelley McKearney at [email protected].
### The Arnold P. Gold Foundation (APGF): As a growing, international not-for-profit organization we have a critical mission: to optimize the experience and outcomes of health care for both patients and practitioners by promoting care that is as humane as it is technologically sophisticated. The Arnold P. Gold Foundation works with physicians in training and in practice, as well as other members of the healthcare team, to instill a culture of respect, dignity and compassion for patients and professionals. When skilled practitioners build caring, trusting and collaborative relationships with patients, study after study reveals more appropriate medical decisions, better patient adherence with treatment plans, and less costly healthcare outcomes. Learn more at www.gold-foundation.org The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 790 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. www.aacn.nche.edu
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