White coat ceremony

The white coat ceremony (WCC) is a ritual in some schools of medicine and other health-related fields that marks the student's transition from the study of preclinical to clinical health sciences.

[1] In 1993, Dr. Arnold P. Gold, a teacher and pediatric neurologist, created the first full-fledged WCC at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

[8] This was intended to provide students with well-defined guidelines regarding the expectations and responsibilities appropriate for the medical profession prior to their first day of class.

[12] In December 2006 the first white coat ceremony was held by Fatima Jinnah Dental College (FJDC), in Karachi, Pakistan.

On April 29, 2011, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn was the first medical school in Poland, that has introduced the White Coat Ceremony.

[16][17] In September 2011, Jagiellonian University in Kraków became the first medical school in Poland to introduce a white coat ceremony for the incoming class.

[18] On February 28, 2011, the Faculty of Medicine at the Università del Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro" in Novara became the first Italian medical school to introduce a white coat ceremony for its third-year students.

T. POPA" of Iasi, Romania, became the first Romanian university to integrate this ritual, for its first-year medical students, into the symbolism of developing as a physician.

On September 18, 2019, the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis became the first in Tunisia to introduce this ritual in collaboration with Hygie Organization for the Promotion of Ethics.