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NSU Medical Students Help Meet Critical Need for Physicians New Class Receives White Coats at Signature Grand
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – First-year medical students arriving at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU’s) College of Osteopathic Medicine for the fall semester will participate in a white coat ceremony at the Signature Grand on Sunday, August 8 at 9:00 a.m. The event, which will last for an hour, will then shift to NSU’s Health Professions Division for brunch and orientation.
In the presence of family, guests and faculty members, the medical students are ceremonially "cloaked" with their white coats. The event signals the students’ arrival at medical school and begins to develop the sense of professionalism and respect that should be with them throughout and beyond their four years of training at NSU.
“This event will serve as our official welcome to the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s 24 th class of medical students, and those who serve as their support system throughout the program,” said Anthony J. Silvagni, D.O., dean of NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. “By establishing this meaningful ritual at the beginning of medical school, our intent is to make these future physicians aware of their responsibilities from the very first moment they set foot on our campus and help to transmit the message that doctors need to ‘care’ as well as ‘cure.’”
Osteopathic medicine was developed more than 130 years ago by A.T. Still, M.D., to bring a holistic philosophy to medicine. With a strong emphasis on the interrelationship of the body's nerves, muscles, bones, and organs, Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.s) apply the philosophy of treating the whole person for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness, disease, and injury. D.O.s are physicians who undergo the rigors of a medical school curriculum that includes participating in multiple clinical rotations, entering hospital residencies and passing national boards and state-licensing exams.
Osteopathic physicians fill a critical need in South Florida and the nation. Approximately 65 percent of D.O.s practice in the primary care fields of family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine
