PA program inducts students into medicine at White Coat Ceremony

At the sixth annual White Coat Ceremony on March 23, 31 first-year physician associate students donned their White Coats with an assist from their Big Sibs—members of the Class of 2012. The ceremony is both a celebration and an initiation. Senior clinicians welcome novice physician associate students into clinical medicine. The students—newly trained in the physical exam—are poised to move from learning in the classroom to learning from the patient. By donning the “cloak of compassion,” the students take on a new identity as healers and declare their commitment to care for patients humanely and competently.

In her keynote address, Judy Nunes, PA, manager of the PA/APRN Surgical Services Team at Yale-New Haven Hospital, shared real-life stories about the significance of PA contributions to the health of their patients.