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MC Student Nurses Honored at White Coat Ceremony


A total of 38 Mississippi College student nurses were honored Monday at a white coat ceremony on the Clinton campus.

Mississippi College student nurses will proudly wear their new white coats during clinical services they will provide in at least three states.

President Lee Royce joined MC School of Nursing leaders to honor more than three dozen students at Monday’s White Coat ceremony at Anderson Hall.

A total of 38 student nurses will begin clinical work during the spring semester. As part of the nursing program at MC, the students will serve at medical facilities like the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, St. Catherine’s Village in Madison County and St. Dominic Hospital in the capital city, among others.

The students will head to clinical duties across Mississippi as well as states like Louisiana and Texas by early next month.

The MC students are on track to graduate from the Baptist-affiliated university in December 2016, said nursing professor Charlotte Wood.

On the Clinton campus and beyond, they’re preparing for a fast-paced medical career that’s seeking to hire many more nurses nationwide for years to come.

“There’s still a major nursing shortage,” Wood says.

MC’s School of Nursing is among 100 schools nationwide awarded a grant from the non-profit Arnold P. Gold Foundation to conduct the institution’s second annual white coat ceremony.

The foundation seeks to optimize the outcomes of healthcare for both patients and practitioners by promoting a high level of care. The Gold Foundation works with physicians and nurses to strengthen their training and compassion for patients.

MC student nurses are looking forward to the clinical training and taking a step closer to joining the profession.

“I always loved medicine – this is a great place to serve,” says MC student Nicole McKissack of Madison.

“I found a calling to serve others,” adds nursing student Becca Dupuy of West Monroe, Louisiana.

Mississippi College’s Physician Assistant program conducts similar white coat ceremonies for its graduate students before they start clinical assignments at medical facilities across the region.