Professional identity formation within Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships: a scoping review protocol

Abstract

Background: Professional identity development is an area of contemporary interest within medical education. It can be defined as 'the foundational process one experiences during the transformation from lay person to physician'. In order for this transformation to occur, medical values and principles are internalised. A robust professional identity is key to confident practice as a medical professional. As such, research regarding what works to encourage identity development is popular. New models of educational delivery, such as the increasingly popular Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship model (LICs), present an interesting opportunity to investigate impact on identity. As no previous literature reviews focus on identity development within LICs, it is unclear what is already known about their impact. Therefore, a scoping review synthesising current knowledge and mapping areas for future research is necessary. Methods: Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review steps will be used as a methodological framework. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Knowledge, ERIC, PsychINFO, Google Scholar, JSTOR, Scopus, and Web of science will be searched (from inception onwards). We will include single studies of any design (e.g. quantitative and qualitative) and reviews examining professional identity within Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships involving health profession students. Two reviewers will complete all screening and data abstraction independently. Deductive coding will be presented as a quantitative textual meta-analysis. Inductive coding will be presented in narrative format. Discussion: This scoping review will explore professional identity formation within LICs, evaluating any known impact of the educational model and mapping the ways in which identity within LICs has been researched. Mapping of current knowledge should highlight whether LICs as an educational model can influence professional identity development and outline gaps in what is known about their impact to date. Theory used in LIC-based identity research will also be mapped, in order to summarise the main theoretical orientations of research to date. It is anticipated that through such evidence synthesis, directions for future research will become clear. Systematic review registration: Open Science Framework: osf.io/hk83p

Professional identity formation within longitudinal integrated clerkships: A scoping review

“…Empirical studies, commentaries and literature reviews were included. Though the inclusion of literature reviews within scoping reviews is not always common practice, the purpose of scoping reviews is to act as a ‘preliminary assessment of potential size and scope of available research literature’ 31,34 —‘research literature’ is also comprised of reviews. The themes of reviews provide nuanced depth and insight into contemporary discourse within a field.…”

“…Following registration with Open Science Framework (ID: osf.io/ hk83p), this scoping review's protocol was published in the journal Systematic Reviews 31 to solicit peer review, prevent duplication of research effort, increase transparency and enhance reproducibility. the data; and (e) Collating, summarising and reporting the results.…”

“…Yet, despite the explanatory potential of this hypothesis, and the importance of identity development in regard to contemporary pedagogic strategies, 29,30 the sum of knowledge regarding how LICs influence student identity development as nascent physicians remains unclear. As no consensus definition of professional identity exists, and the concept can be studied from a diverse range of perspectives, available evidence concerning the identity impact of educational innovations can be difficult to discern 31 . This barrier applies to LIC research, and what is known concerning identity development within the model remains unclear.…”

“…As no consensus definition of professional identity exists, and the concept can be studied from a diverse range of perspectives, available evidence concerning the identity impact of educational innovations can be difficult to discern. 31 This barrier applies to LIC re- Scoping reviews examine the extent, nature and range of research activity concerning a topic or area of interest. 32 Guided by an exploratory research question, they offer a way to analyse emerging or nebulous research areas.…”

Professional identity formation among undergraduate pre-medical students: a scoping review protocol

“…This scoping review protocol aims to identify and synthesize the literature on professional identity formation among undergraduate students planning to enter medical school. The PS (Population, Situation) tool [ 11 ] has been used to guide the scope of our literature review: Population: undergraduate medical students in the USA and Canada Situation: professional identity formation within the premedical curriculum …”