White Coat Ceremony Grants for Physician Assistant Programs

Funder: The Arnold P. Gold Foundation in partnership with The Physician Assistant Education Association (PAEA)

Program Status: Ongoing (partnership announced December 2013)

Geographic Scope: United States

Purpose: Provide physician assistant (PA) programs with initial funding to establish the White Coat Ceremony, one of the Foundation's signature programs that emphasizes the importance of compassionate care for patients.

Eligible Applicants:

• PAEA member physician assistant programs
• Accredited PA education programs

Program Description:
The White Coat Ceremony is a rite of passage in which students are cloaked with the white coat—the mantle of the medical profession. The ceremony emphasizes compassionate care and is a hands-on experience where the white coat is personally placed on each student's shoulders by individuals who believe in the students' ability to carry on noble traditions of the medical profession.

Foundation Support:

• Initial funding to defray costs of inaugurating the White Coat Ceremony
• Gold Foundation provides Humanism in Medicine lapel pin for each student's white coat
• The pin serves as daily reminder of their White Coat Ceremony and pledge to serve patients with compassion

Background:

• Arnold P. Gold Foundation White Coat Ceremony initiated at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1993
• Now takes place at 96% of AAMC-accredited schools of medicine in the United States
• Also occurs at osteopathic schools and schools abroad