Developing a Professionalism Plan

Abstract

Professionalism is a way of being which underlies all the responsibilities of a pharmacist and associated general and professional abilities. The Student Affairs Committee was charged with developing a college-wide professionalism plan to meet the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 15.1 and 23. This plan was developed concurrently with a new curriculum. The plan was developed systematically with the following goals: 1) create a definition of professionalism, 2) determine outcomes of the plan, 3) identify existing components which should be continued and new components to be added, 4) ensure existing and new components are linked to outcomes and 5) develop a continuous assessment process for the plan. The proposed plan consists of curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities designed to help students gain experience in three professionalism pillars: Competence, Connection and Character, as defined by Brown et al in "Taxonomy of Professionalism". While knowledge and skills will be enhanced, the focus of development will be on student virtues, values and attitudesäóîthat what they do defines who they are. The goal is to help students develop as people and professionals who value the high ideals expected of a pharmacist.
 
 Type: Idea Paper

Factors influencing the current practice of self-medication consultations in Eastern Indonesian community pharmacies: a qualitative study

“…If I am not [in a good mood], I do not provide it.” Furthermore, pharmacy staff often took a passive stance, in which the interaction was largely driven by the patients. A pharmacist said “In our current practice, the tendency is that the pharmacy staff wouldn’t ask or provide information if the patients do not ask [questions] first.” Professionalism in this paper is defined as an individual’s competencies, attitudes, and behaviours appropriate to a particular profession [ 24 , 25 ]. Problems with professionalism in the research setting appear to be the consequences of a lack of knowledge and competence, an inability of the majority of trained staff to focus on their pharmacy jobs due to dual employment, and a lack of awareness and implementation of national standard operating procedures for self-medication consultations.…”

Definition of professionalism and tools for assessing professionalism in pharmacy practice: a systematic review

“…As the American College of Clinical Pharmacy et al [25] point out, “no single definition can encompass all applications”; each application is a combination of specific competences, beliefs, and behaviours. Brown and Ferril [26] highlighted that the existing definitions of professionalism in pharmacy focus on devising lists of behavioural elements and do not touch on the depth of interactions that occur within the professional relationship, such as dealing with patients and the healthcare team [27]. The opinions of Brown and Ferril [26] align with Kelley et al [28], who stated that building on previous definitions without clarification can lead to seeing definitions of professionalism as a set of attitudes and behaviours [28].…”

A Comprehensive Reflective Journal-Writing Framework for Pharmacy Students to Increase Self-Awareness and Develop Actionable Goals

“…This mirrors current practices in various industries where yearly employee performance reviews are tied to actionable goals. [28][29][30][31] As professionals, we know the difficulty in developing goals in our own careers, and we also can attest to the challenges and learning that result from formulating even one goal. Anecdotally, faculty members noted that after implementation of the RJW process, students appeared more comfortable with prioritizing patient pharmacotherapy problems and setting therapeutic SMART goals.…”

“…The university has historically used RJW and portfolios to document student development as we believe these provide valuable insight into students' perceptions of their learning, while documenting their continuous professional growth. [27][28][29][30][31] However, the quality of students' RJW entries was inconsistent, and early efforts at creating portfolios often produced cumbersome and impractical bound hard copies.…”