Starting this year, the class size at Jefferson Medical College has been increased to 255 students to address an impending national shortage of physicians and other health professionals

		News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

DATE:  Friday August 5, 2005

TIME:  9:45 a.m.
(Note: Donning of white coats is expected to take place at 10:55 a.m. approx.)

LOCATION:
Scott Plaza
Thomas Jefferson University
Locust Street, between 10th and 11th streets
Philadelphia

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Robert L. Barchi, M.D., Ph.D
President, Thomas Jefferson University

EVENT:
A sea of white coats will fill Scott Plaza as 255 first-year medical students from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University take a monumental step in their journey toward becoming doctors by taking part in the annual “White Coat Ceremony.”

During this impressive outdoor ceremony, the students, in a domino-like fashion, will each help their classmate don a doctor’s white coat and then, in unison, take the Hippocratic Oath.

This year marks an increase in enrollment at Jefferson’s medical school to a total of 255 students, up from the previous 228. The larger class size, approved by the Association of American Medical Colleges, is designed to help to address an impending shortage of physicians and other health professionals in the United States. Thomas Jefferson University also intends to expand educational programs in related health professions areas, such as nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

BACKGROUND:
Jefferson Medical College (JMC) was the first medical school in Philadelphia to establish the “White Coat Ceremony,” a tradition symbolizing the clinical beginning of every student’s medical education. It has been part of the first year program at JMC since 1994.

Once they’ve taken that step, the first-year students will have the exciting opportunity to interact, for the first time, with patients under the supervision of a Jefferson physician.

Jefferson Medical College has one of the most balanced medical schools in the country, and approximately one fourth of all medical school applicants throughout the country apply to Jefferson. The University has continued to build upon the illustrious achievements of its founder, Dr. George McClellan, and his colleagues who founded "the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia" with the firm, but then outrageous, belief that medical students should participate, under proper supervision, in the diagnosis and care of patients.