White Coats Learn an Ancient Oath
... Ceremony impresses upon students the altruistic nature of
the doctor and patient relationship ...
The journey to become a physician has begun for 280 Indiana University
School of Medicine students who participated in the White Coat Ceremony,
the rite of passage marking the beginning of an IUSM student's medical
education and training. With their families, school faculty and
other guests looking on, the first?year students received their
laboratory coats and, for the first time, recited the Hippocratic
oath.
"The White Coat Ceremony impresses upon students the altruistic
nature of the doctor and patient relationship," notes Dean
D. Craig Brater, MD. "It encourages students to accept the
obligations inherent in the practice of medicine, to excel in science,
to be compassionate and to maintain the honor and the dignity of
the profession."
Indeed, the heart of the healing profession is more than just applied
science, says one of the medical school's top professors. "You
must be empathetic to your patients' needs and you must develop
humanistic characteristics to connect with those you serve,"
said David S. Wilkes, MD, IUSM professor of medicine, microbiology
and immunology, in his address to the students at the Aug. 20 ceremony.
"In no other profession do people place their lives in your
hands," Dr. Wilkes added. "Healing is providing comfort
for your patients and to comfort is humane."
The Arnold P Gold Foundation established the White Coat Ceremony
in 1993, a growing program among medical schools around the country.
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