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A pinning ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of newly graduated or soon-to-be graduated nurses into the
nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
profession. The history of the ceremony dates back to the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in the 12th century, and later, when
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
awarded
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...
the
Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. Foundation The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Victoria of the Un ...
for her service as a military nurse during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. By 1916, pinning ceremonies had become an established tradition in both the United Kingdom and the United States, although, by the 2010s, many nursing schools in the United States had abolished them. At pinning ceremonies, nurses are presented with
nursing pin A nursing pin is a type of badge, usually made of metal such as gold or silver, which is worn by nurses to identify the nursing school from which they graduated. They are traditionally presented to the newly graduated nurses by the faculty at a pi ...
s by either the faculty of their
nursing school Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...
or by a person significant to them. These ceremonies also often include a candle-lighting or lamp-lighting ceremony, which commemorates Nightingale's nighttime aid to wounded soldiers by candlelight, and the reciting of the
Nightingale Pledge The Nightingale Pledge, named in honour of Florence Nightingale, is a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath. Lystra Gretter and a Committee for the Farrand Training School Grace for Nurses in Detroit, Michigan created the pledge in 1893. Gret ...
, the International Council of Nurses Pledge, or another similar pledge. A pinning ceremony is not a graduation, as it does not signify the completion of all criteria necessary to earn a nursing degree, although it sometimes recognizes the completion of educational requirements that enable nurses to take their state licensing examinations. Historically, a nursing pin symbolizes an educated nurse who is prepared to serve society as a healthcare professional.


History

The history of nursing pins dates back to the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
in the 12th century. Monks initiated into the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
that cared for injured and ill Crusaders were given a
Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...
, which is considered to be the first form of a badge given for nursing. After the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
,
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
awarded
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...
the
Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. Foundation The award was established on 27 April 1883 by Victoria of the Un ...
for her service as a military nurse during the conflict. Nightingale later presented a somewhat similar "medal of excellence" to her outstanding nursing students. Initially, only nurses who attained exceptional grades or made remarkable contributions to practice received nursing pins, although in time pinning ceremonies came to include all nurses. The
Nightingale School of Nursing The Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care is an academic faculty within King's College London. The faculty is the world's first nursing school to be continuously connected to a fully serving hospital and medic ...
at London's
St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
created a badge featuring a Maltese cross that it awarded to nurses who completed their studies. The first pinning ceremony in the United States occurred at New York City's
Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...
in 1880. By 1916, pinning ceremonies at which all nursing graduates were awarded pins had become an established tradition in both the United Kingdom and the United States. By the 2010s, many nursing schools in the United States had abolished their pinning ceremonies, often considering them out of date and unnecessary. Other nursing schools retain ceremonies that are entirely planned and funded by the students.


Ceremony

A pinning ceremony is a public event involving the family and friends of nurses being recognized. The nurses often dedicate their pins to a person who has made a significant impact on their lives. At the ceremony itself, a faculty member from the nursing school typically hands a pin to each designated significant person, who in turn places it on the nursing student who selected them. Sometimes the faculty member themselves places the pin on the nursing student. During the pinning itself, another faculty member will often read a dedication that the student has written about the person pinning them. Pinning ceremonies also generally feature an address from a nursing faculty member and a candle-lighting or lamp-lighting ceremony, which commemorates Nightingale's nighttime aid to wounded soldiers by candlelight. The candle-lighting or lamp-lighting ceremony is often accompanied by the reciting of the
Nightingale Pledge The Nightingale Pledge, named in honour of Florence Nightingale, is a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath. Lystra Gretter and a Committee for the Farrand Training School Grace for Nurses in Detroit, Michigan created the pledge in 1893. Gret ...
, the International Council of Nurses Pledge, or a pledge specific to an individual nursing school.


Symbolism

A pinning ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of newly graduated or soon-to-be graduated nurses into the nursing profession. It sometimes recognizes the completion of educational requirements that enable nurses to take their state licensing examinations. The ceremony is not a graduation, as it does not signify the completion of all criteria necessary to earn a nursing degree. At some nursing schools, the pinning ceremony is held a few weeks before commencement. According to Linda Ketchum, a pinning ceremony is "recognition from the nursing faculty and acknowledgment on the part of the student, that in the students' hearts, they are ready for the role of a nurse." Lenora Bodway called pinning ceremonies symbolic of "initiation into the brotherhood and sisterhood of nurses" and remarked that they are "often more personally meaningful than the graduation ceremony". Historically, a nursing pin symbolizes an educated nurse who is prepared to serve society as a healthcare professional. Typically, each nursing school designs and awards its own unique pin. For example, Bellevue Hospital's 1880 pin design includes a crane that represents vigilance, a blue band symbolizing constancy, and a red band symbolizing mercy and alleviation of suffering.


See also

* Capping ceremony


References


External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Pinning ceremonies (nursing) Graduation Nursing education