By: Anna Brown, Owner Union County News
First semester nursing students at USC Union took part in a ceremony designed to be an act of caring before they begin the clinical portion of their training.
The Dedication of Hands Ceremony, where faculty members ritually wash and dry the students’ hands and then apply oil to the students’ palms, was held Sept. 23 in the school auditorium.
“We wish to instill in you a caring spirit for everything that you do, both in the classroom and in clinicals,” said Dr. Katie Chargualaf, Dean of the School of Nursing. “We need for you to think about the trust your patients will put in you, and we need you to be worthy of that trust.”
Along with Chargualaf, others who participated in the ceremony included Nursing Administrator Lynn Edwards, Nursing Faculty Member Courtney Pinnell and Instructor Heather Jennings.
“It is our desire that today, you symbolically begin connecting to the profession of nursing,” Chargualaf said. “Your faculty are almost ready to allow you to go to healthcare facilities and learn first hand what it means to be a nurse.”
Chargualaf asked the students to examine their hands.
“We often take our hands for granted,” she said. “Think about all of the actions your hands have performed over your lifetime, from infancy through childhood and into adulthood. Maybe some of you have planted garden seeds, maybe some of you have used your hands to paint pictures or play a musical instrument. The list of jobs and tasks you have performed with your hands is endless. But soon your hands will be doing something different. You will be taking care of patients. Your hands will be touching people whom you don’t know and you will be touching them during some of the most stressful and personal times of their lives- you will be measuring vital signs, helping people with their daily care and even performing intricate tasks, such as setting up a sterile field.”
Nursing students who participated included Karleigh Cochran, Kennedy Coffer, Kumorah Fant, Mayson Horton, Brooklyn Jennings, Gracelyn Jones, Cody Lawson, Zane Morton, Caitlynn O’Shields, Virginia Root, Shanya Smith, Kylie Starns, Marianne Whisenant and Kennadi Whitaker.
As each student’s hands were washed, the words, “May our hands provide fervent and skillful nursing care,” were spoken.
During the drying, “May your spirit of compassion and gentleness gide your hands,” was spoken
As the oil is applied the words, ‘May your hands bring comfort and promote healing to all who come into your care,” are said.
The ceremony concluded with the nursing students and faculty members holding hands in a circle with these words being said: “Go in peace with the knowledge of the human and spiritual caring that you hands will convey.”
