White Coat Ceremony and Project HEART emphasize professionalism and humanism in first-year medical students.
Even before Virginia Commonwealth University’s incoming medical students attend their first class, they’re already practicing the standards they will follow for the rest of their medical careers.
Since 1996, the VCU School of Medicine’s first-year medical student orientation has culminated with the White Coat Ceremony, a tradition where the school’s senior faculty robe the medical students in their white coats and welcome them into the school and the medical profession.
“It was great to have the coat on even though I hadn’t started taking classes yet,” said Adam Garber, now a second-year medical student. “It’s kind of like the first step in starting your medical school career.”
Receiving the white coat binds students to the highest measures of regard and serves as a symbol of empathy and professionalism.
“It brings home that very special opportunity to serve humankind and serve as a role model about how to treat others with compassion,” said Dr. Isaac K. Wood, associate dean of student affairs in the VCU School of Medicine.
At the ceremony, held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center to accommodate crowds of more than 1,000 friends and families, the students recite the Hippocratic Oath for the first time.
Wood said it’s often an emotional experience for the students.
“It did make an impact on me, realizing that I’m officially a medical student now,” Garber said. “You’ve overcome one of the main obstacles, which is getting into medical school.”
But as the year progresses, Wood said sometimes the rigors of medical school cause students to lose sight of why they entered the medical profession. So he developed Project HEART to remind students to heal with empathy, acceptance, respect and integrity.
“There needs to be a way to maintain some sense of humanism and bulletproof them against that through medical school,” Wood said.
During orientation, students receive a pocket-size quilted heart, sewn by the Sisters of the Yam, and break into groups with faculty mentors who they will meet with at least eight times throughout the year and throughout their medical school career. Project HEART ensures that students know where to turn for support.
“It’s a good reminder because you do get overwhelmed at times, worrying about academics,” Garber said. “Not that you lose sight of what you’re working for, but it’s a refresher so that you don’t forget those values and the goals you had when you started medical school.”
Since the program began, Wood said he’s seen students collaborate with one another in a way he’d never witnessed before.
“All the students have said that Project HEART enriches the learning experience, creates a safe, caring environment, and the biggest part is that they felt genuinely cared for and appreciated,” he said.
As the class of 2011 enters medical school, Garber said he’s eager to give the new students advice to help with the transition.
“In that first year, try to find a good balance between everything — school, exercise, things like that,” he said. “If you stick to the same principles and methods that got you here in the first place, you’ll be fine.”
