Reflections Shared at White Coat Ceremonies

Abstract

White coat ceremonies began in US colleges of medicine about 20 years ago. This ceremony has become a tradition at the majority of the health profession colleges, including colleges of pharmacy. The white coat symbolizes “cleanliness, purity, and righteousness, causing no harm to patients.” The ceremony welcomes incoming students in the presence of the deans, faculty, families, and friends. The students may recite the pledge of professionalism and learn about professional identity and integrity, as well as the privileges, values, obligations, and responsibilities of offering the best possible care to patients. It has been an honor for me to be a keynote speaker at the white coat ceremony at several pharmacy schools. I am pleased to share 3 reflections presented at these ceremonies. The first emphasized was gratitude. We should feel fortunate to be in the profession of pharmacy, which offers so many opportunities to make an impact on people’s quality of life. Although the US spends the most amount of money on health care compared with any other country, we are far from being number 1 in the overall quality of health care delivered. Many patients in the US receive superb care, but too many others do not. For example, only about 50% of patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma receive the recommended care. More than one third of patients do not take their medications as they should, in part because they do not know why the therapy is crucial. We need to close the gap between the excellent care many patients receive and the average, or even substandard, care available to others. The pharmacy profession has a great opportunity to play a pivotal role in advancing health care. We are grateful for “fresh faces” coming into the profession to enhance the quality, safety, and value of medication use that are increasingly emphasized as the changes in