The University of Alabama at BirminghamSchool of Medicine will hold its White Coat Ceremony for first-year medical students Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012, at 2 p.m. in the Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South.
Each of the 176 members of the Class of 2016 will be presented with the traditional white coat in the presence of family, friends, faculty and staff. The white coat is a powerful symbol of both professional competence in medicine and human compassion.
The ceremony follows the completion of the new student’s first class, Patient, Doctor, Society. That class focuses on the role that physicians play in society, with emphasis on professionalism, compassion, responsibility, ethics and the doctor/patient relationship. Students will take an oath of dedication at the ceremony written by the students themselves during the course of the first class.
The ceremonial presentation of white coats to medical students is a common practice at medical schools throughout the nation. The ceremony and oath of commitment to patient care remind incoming students of the dedication necessary to complete a medical education and underscore the responsibilities inherent in the practice of medicine.
The white coats are provided to the incoming students by the University of Alabama Medical Alumni Association. Each student also will receive a lapel pin that emphasizes humanism in medicine; it is a gift from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.