<p>Pharmacy student professional identity formation: a scoping review</p>

Abstract

Purpose Transitioning from being pharmacy students to pharmacists is challenging. Students need to reconcile their professional aspirations and what they have learnt with the realities of practice. A smooth transition can be hampered when they are unable to enact the role they have envisaged or if their expectations are not met. These challenges relate to professional identity. A key challenge for pharmacy educators is how best to support the professional identity formation (PIF) of pharmacy students. To assist with this challenge, we conducted a scoping review to identify factors influencing pharmacy students’ PIF and pedagogical strategies to support PIF. Methods In September 2018, we undertook a scoping review of all contemporary research investigating pharmacy student PIF including all relevant qualitative, quantitative, theoretical, and gray literature. We searched eight databases for the review: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase, Australian Education Index, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Literature published between January 2008 and September 2018 was reviewed and screened using inclusion/exclusion criteria. The selected articles were charted and thematically analyzed. Results We included 22 articles in the review. Studies generally concurred about the importance of attending to PIF throughout the whole pharmacy curriculum. Yet, those studies reporting on pharmacy students’ professional identities found that students experienced challenges forming their identities. While several curriculum interventions supporting PIF have been implemented, these tended to be one-offs and there was an absence of interventions engaging key stakeholders including placement preceptors, other health professionals, and patients/consumers. Conclusion Supporting the formation of pharmacy students’ professional identity, while recognized as an important goal for pharmacy education, requires further empirical inquiry. Pedagogical practices focused on identity formation including adopting an integrative curricular approach are required.

Education Satisfaction among Pharmacy Graduates in Sweden

“…Because the education results in a vocational degree, it is essential for the students to be prepared, and for the university to prepare the students, for their professional working life. In addition, it is important for the students to be able to develop their professional identity to facilitate the transition from pharmacy student to pharmacist [ 7 , 18 ]. The master’s graduates generally felt more prepared to work as pharmacists compared with the bachelor’s graduates.…”

“…A previous study in Canada showed that community pharmacists lack a clear professional identity, and this may affect pharmacists´ interactions with other healthcare personnel or patients [ 7 ]. Another study concluded that pharmacy students experienced challenges when forming their professional identity and supporting the formation of a professional identity is an important goal for pharmacy education [ 18 ].…”

Professional identity formation: A shared responsibility for academia and pharmacists

“…All of these curricular elements play a valuable role in enhanced professional identity formation, but perhaps the most important is the expansion in experiential education. As pointed out by Noble et al, 6 students “need to reconcile their curricular learnings and aspirations for professional practice with the realities of authentic practice.” Early experiences are critical in that a negative experience can be a significant setback in a student’s tenuous formation of professional identity. Importantly, early experiences are interspersed in the didactic curriculum.…”

The Impact of Pharmacy Student Participation in the White Coat Ceremony on Professionalization

“…25 Interestingly, our students reflected on all 10 of these traits, with varying degrees of emphasis, as per our distillation of reflection content into six overarching themes. While we recognize that the white coat ceremony is one small component of student professional development, 26 our findings suggest that participation in the white coat ceremony serves as a powerful way to introduce student professionalization early in the professional education journey, with many important professional themes surfacing as revealed by our thematic analysis.…”

“…The actual cloaking by a faculty member who was also wearing a white coat represented to students that these faculty members, who often were cited by name in reflections, were professional role models to the students. Such positive role modeling is essential to the development of strong professional identities, 26 and the white coat ceremony served as foundational in this regard. Further, students viewed the cloaking faculty members as gatekeepers to the profession of pharmacy, and these gatekeepers were now welcoming them in.…”