GEM student Taranee Wangsatorntanakhun receives her pin from Mary Severino Meyer, MSN, RN (Rush 1994 and 2008).

Much like nursing students were once capped as a symbolic welcome to the practice of nursing, Rush University College of Nursing has begun to commemorate Generalist Entry Master’s (GEM) students’ transition to a new phase of their nursing preparation.

At the college’s Entry Into the Profession pinning ceremony, introduced in May 2009, nursing faculty and administrators mark the transition of prelicensure master’s students from introductory clinical studies into their advanced clinical education.

The GEM program is the prelicensure track of Rush University College of Nursing’s Advanced Generalist Master’s program. The Advanced Generalist Master’s curriculum focuses on preparing clinician leaders who improve quality and safety in changing health care environments, while giving students the knowledge and competencies to succeed in a number of different nursing roles. The pinning ceremony takes place approximately one-third of the way through the students’ 1,090 hours of clinical education.

The Entry Into the Profession ceremony is commemorated with the pinning of the students; remarks from the dean, the director of generalist education and the president of the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Nurses Alumni Association; and personal congratulations from nursing faculty.

GEM students Anna Benson and Jane Garcia celebrate their "Entry Into the Profession" pinning.

The involvement of Rush alumni in the ceremony bridges the gap between the prelicensure clinical education the GEM students are currently receiving and the licensed, Rush-educated nurses they will soon become. Mary Severino Meyer, MSN, RN (Rush 1994 and 2008), president of the alumni association, and Melissa Burdi, RN, BSN (Rush 2003) alumni association board member, and faculty members Beth-Anne Christopher, MS, RN, and Mary Johnson, PhD, RN, pinned the students at the inaugural pinning ceremony.

Read remarks from Frank Hicks, PhD, RN, director of generalist education, about the significance of the pin.

Read Dean Melanie Dreher’s complete address to students at the 2009 pinning ceremony.