Becoming a pharmacist: the role of curriculum in professional identity formation

Abstract

ObjectiveTo understand how the formal curriculum experience of an Australian undergraduate pharmacy program supports students’ professional identity formation.MethodsA qualitative ethnographic study was conducted over four weeks using participant observation and examined the ‘typical’ student experience from the perspective of a pharmacist. A one-week period of observation was undertaken with each of the four year groups (that is, for years one to four) comprising the undergraduate curriculum. Data were collected through observation of the formal curriculum experience using field notes, a reflective journal and informal interviews with 38 pharmacy students. Data were analyzed thematically using an a priori analytical framework.ResultsOur findings showed that the observed curriculum was a conventional curricular experience which focused on the provision of technical knowledge and provided some opportunities for practical engagement. There were some opportunities for students to imagine themselves as pharmacists, for example, when the lecture content related to practice or teaching staff described their approach to practice problems. However, there were limited opportunities for students to observe pharmacist role models, experiment with being a pharmacist or evaluate their professional identities. While curricular learning activities were available for students to develop as pharmacists e.g. patient counseling, there was no contact with patients and pharmacist academic staff tended to role model as educators with little evidence of their pharmacist selves.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the current conventional approach to the curriculum design may not be fully enabling learning experiences which support students in successfully negotiating their professional identities. Instead it appeared to reinforce their identities as students with a naïve understanding of professional practice, making their future transition to professional practice challenging.

Knowledge, use and perceived relevance of a profession’s Competency Standards; implications for Pharmacy Education

“…“Good tools can be used badly.” (p36) Unfortunately regardless of how well a competence framework is written, it is useless if not sustainably embedded or effectively supported . Australian pharmacists' disengagement with their NCS could be a symptom of inconsistent use of competence terminology, self‐regulated accreditation practices, inadequate use of mentor models for early career pharmacists and peer review of practice, poor applicability and usability of NCS in pharmacy education, issues with professional identity formation, and an accountability ‘tick and flick’ audit mentality to maintaining competence rather than a responsible commitment to life‐long learning. Our survey respondents suggested meaningful use of the NCS for life‐long learning could improve through focus on early intervention with students, periodic refreshers on self‐assessment skills training as well as NCS awareness in the future.…”

Pharmacy Education in Turkey From Professional Socialization Perspective

“…In PS, learning comprises (i) content (experimenting), (ii) practice (practicing), (iii) workplace environment and culture (feeling of belonging), and (iv) development of professional identity (transformation). 19,22 Hence, while preparing the pharmacy curriculum, the question to be prioritized should be "at what rate do the curricula enable practices and experiences that will help students feel themselves as 'pharmacists'? ", rather than "do we prepare curricula that cover all the knowledge that students need to acquire?".…”

“…24 This disparity causes students to feel disappointed and have difficulty in performing their role as a provider. 14, 22 As a result, students can neither benefit from pharmacy education nor pursue their profession with full job satisfaction.…”

“…During discussions, they stated that they do not want to establish a connection between what they've learnt and their experiences in practice since they deem it as a waste of time. 22 This could be explained with Albert Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory which argues that developing self-efficacy and producing outcome expectancy is necessary for an individual's acquisition of a new behavior. 34 It can be asserted that the reluctance of students to connect what is learnt to practice stems from lack of their outcome expectancy.…”

Impact of Pre-Pharmacy Work Experience on Development of Professional Identity in Student Pharmacists

“…5 Noble and colleagues observed that development of professional identity in student pharmacists is difficult due in part to the broad range of pharmacists' roles. 7 They used an ethnographic approach to study the culture of a pharmacy program, with one author making field observations while embedded in courses over the period of a month and interacting with students as they went through their normal program-based activities, including classes and labs. One of their findings was that many clinical faculty were seen by students as educators rather than as pharmacists, so the opportunity to develop their own professional identity from interactions with these clinical faculty was minimized.…”