By Steven Krolak
Earlier this month, at the second annual Compassionate Care In Nursing ceremony, 47 sophomore IU Southeast nursing students stood before family, friends and faculty in the Hoosier Room to recite the following pledge:
As a Nurse dedicated to providing the highest quality care and services, I solemnly pledge that I will:
Consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns;
Act in a compassionate and trustworthy manner in all aspects of my care;
Apply my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to assure optimal outcomes for my patients;
Exercise sound professional judgment while abiding by legal and ethical requirements;
Accept the lifelong obligation to improve my professional knowledge and competence;
Promote, advocate for, and strive to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.
With this pledge, I accept the duties and responsibilities that embody the nursing profession.
I take this pledge voluntarily, with the full realization of the responsibility with which I am entrusted by the public.
A new tradition
“The compassionate care ceremony is the students’ introduction to the professional, moral and ethical responsibilities that nurses have toward their patients,” said Kathleen Free, clinical professor in the School of Nursing. “In pledging to provide compassionate care right from the beginning, they will go forward with a pledge that will be the cornerstone of their professional lives.”
The event is a new tradition on campus, and in the country. It is based on the “white coat” ceremony in medical schools, initiated by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation (APGF) in 1993, at which students recite a pledge to deliver humanistic, compassionate care, and receive a short white coat as a visible symbol of their commitment to the study of medicine.
In 2014, the APGF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) announced that 100 schools of nursing had been selected to receive funding support to pilot the nursing equivalent of the white coat ceremony. The IU Southeast School of Nursing was among that first prestigious group.
Funded by APGF trustee Elaine Adler and her husband Mike, co-founders of the Maywood, N.J.-based Adler Aphasia Center, the ceremonies at these select campuses across the country are designed to promote humanistic, patient-centered care among future nursing professionals.
The students and their families were greeted by IU Southeast Chancellor Dr. Ray Wallace and Interim Dean Dr. Donna Bowles. The special guest speaker was Cis Gruebbel, chief nursing officer of Louisville, Ky.-based Kosair Children’s Hospital and a 2003 Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Woman of the Year. A 40-year veteran at all levels of the nursing profession, Gruebbel shared several deeply moving personal experiences and professional insights from the front lines of pediatric intensive care and other theaters of her career. She inspired students to keep in mind that simple acts of compassion – perhaps seen as ordinary parts of the job – can have overwhelmingly positive impacts for patients and their families at moments of extreme vulnerability.
The core value
The compassionate care pledge represents one “bookend” in the life of nursing students, said Bowles. The other bookend is graduation, including the baccalaureate ceremony, at which students receive their nursing pins. In between, as the students move through both coursework and external placements, the oath is frequently referenced as a mandate.
“Compassion is the core value in nursing,” Free said. “Acquiring technical skill is one important focus in nursing education, and developing critical thinking skills and clinical judgment is another, but compassion cannot be taught. It is the one great indefinable quality of an excellent nurse.”
“This is one of the hardest programs to get into, one of the hardest programs to stay in, and one of the most rewarding programs on campus,” Wallace said. “These are top students. They are going to be great nurses.”
The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, an international not-for-profit organization, works with physicians in training and in practice, as well as other members of the health care team, to instill a culture of respect, dignity and compassion for patients and professionals. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university and four-year college education programs in nursing, representing 750 member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide.