We are delighted to share another dynamic essay about Professional Identity prepared by a graduate of the Academy medical Affairs course. Below is an essay written by Matteo Napoleone. We remain grateful to Matteo for his industry insights into what Professional Identity means to him.

“Characterize Professional Identity in Medicines Development and the need for a Professional Identity for professionals involved in the field.”

Matteo Napoleone is a Medical Doctor and works as Medical Scientific Relations Advisor in Rare Disease at Pfizer Italy. He joined Pfizer in January 2020 after 4 years’ experience in Diagnostic Radiology.

“Professional Identity is an important part of individual identity and is what the individual defines about him/herself, based on actions, behaviours, experiences, knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and ethics, which allow to define a professional profile. It isn’t something fixed and unchangeable but is modified through the growth of the individual and changes over time. It’s an active and dynamic phenomenon that evolves rapidly: “the development of Professional Identity has been noted as a continuous process that is influenced by several factors including experiences in practice and professional socialization “(Ashby SE et al.)1.

Medicines Development has assumed an increasingly important role in health, the absolute value of mankind, and the Professional Identity is an essential intrinsic requirement. Dealing with public health and patients and for the task we perform in society, a fundamental aspect is to believe strongly in what we do and feel part of something important, knowing that our actions can leave a tangible mark on others and therefore, based on all this, aim to be satisfied with our work: as stated by Rasmussen et al.2 the sense of belonging that comes from Professional Identity can lead to job satisfaction and feelings of achievement, while, on the contrary, a weak Professional Identity was found to increase stress and decrease self-confidence and decision-making ability (Anita Fitzgerald).3

Medicines Development concerns the whole lifecycle of a pharmaceutical/medical device, from R&D to marketing. As we have seen, there are many people involved in this field, but the goal is the same one, working as a single large entity: make a product available to patients who need it and contribute to public health. All of this, however, involves very different professional and personal paths, resulting in a multitude of different Professional Identities. There could be some common aspects (i.e., background, scientific training, etc.) while others could be the result of personal experiences, context and especially socialization (an essential aspect in the Medicines Development field), which define the process of transitions in Professional Identity formation, according to the scheme “identification – reflection – transformation”.

As a physician I think that every patient determines a continuous evolution of the Professional Identity of a physician, and in the same way, as a Medical Affairs professional, I am equally convinced that every experience made in this field (i.e., relationships with patients or HCPs, collaborations with R&D or clinical research, socialization) is the engine of the evolutionary process of Professional Identity in Medicines Development roles.

It is not easy to characterize Professional Identity in Medicines Development, which as we have seen in the various modules of this course, is a field in continuous development and change, with an evolution that concerns roles, activities, interlocutors, and that contributes to make the dynamic phenomenon even more active and accelerated. So taking my cue from the definition of physician identity by Cruess RL et al4 which I like very much (“A physician’s identity is a representation of self, achieved in stages over time during which the characteristics, values, and norms of the medical profession are internalized, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, and feeling like a physician.”), given the various roles and aspects that are involved in this field, we could say: “A Medicines Development Professional Identity is a representation of self, achieved in stages over time during which the characteristics, values, and norms of the pharmaceutical, medical and health systems are internalized, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, and feeling like a Medicines Development professional”. 

References

  1. Reframing medical education to support professional identity formation. Acad Med. 2014 Nov;89(11):1446-51
  2. Evers M, et al. A vision for Medical Affairs in 2025. McKinsey&Company.2019
  3. Rasmussen P, Henderson A, Andrew N, Conroy T. Factors influencing registered nurses’ perceptions of their professional identity: an integrative literature review. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2018;49(5):225‐232.

Disclaimers

  • The material in these reviews is from various public open access sources, meant for educational and informational purposes only
  • Any personal opinions expressed are those of only the author(s) and are not intended to represent the position of any organization(s)
  • No official support by any organization(s) has been provided or should be inferred