Continuing our series on Professional Identity and Medicines Development, we welcome the publication of another great essay from a graduate of our 2022 cohort, Mercedeh Wiggh. Mercedeh is a pharmacist and Field Medical Lead for Rheumatology in the ABN region (Alps, Benelux, and Nordics) at UCB.
“Discuss Professional Identity and the Sense of Purpose in Medicines Development and their relevance for professionals involved in the field.”
“In recent years, the importance of Professional Identity has been acknowledged in a vast number of articles. A search on Pubmed reveals almost nine thousand articles with an increasing trend over time. Several of these articles emphasise the importance of developing a Professional Identity. It has even been suggested that the development of Professional Identity is as important as acquiring practical and theoretical skills during one’s medical education (Wilson et al., 2013).
Although the term “Professional Identity” is frequently used in the literature, a clear and generally accepted definition is lacking (Fitzgerald, 2020). It’s therefore crucial to clarify the meaning and definition of Professional Identity.
To understand the meaning of Professional Identity, a starting point is to investigate the meaning of the separate words. Identity has been defined as “the process by which a person seeks to integrate his various statuses and roles, as well as his diverse experiences into a coherent image of self” (Professional Identity, EduTech Wiki, 2019). Indeed, this definition includes several important features when defining the term ‘Professional Identity’. The definition includes the word process which is essential in the description of Professional Identity. This means that forming a Professional Identity is an ongoing process and not something that is fixed and ready at a time point. This is important to consider in how a person’s Professional Identity is developed.
The definition of “profession” has been investigated by numerous researchers. Garder and Schulman described six characteristics of a profession, “a commitment to clients and society, a specialised body of knowledge, a specialised unique set of skills, the ability to make judgements with integrity in environments of uncertainty, growing new bodies of knowledge through experience and a community of professionals who perform oversight and monitoring of professionals practise” (Fitzgerald, 2020). These characteristics are useful when discussing Professional Identity. From these, it can be emphasised that a Professional Identity must be based on specialised knowledge and skills. Without this, there wouldn’t be anything that separates the Professional Identity from people outside the identity sphere. This is true both with aspect to what defines a profession but also how we perceive ourselves within that profession.
In Medicines Development, a conflict in a Professional Identity can occur. This can be exemplified with the situation when, for instance a clinician, nurse, or a pharmacist transitions to the pharmaceutical industry. This phenomenon occurs when the role within the new context differs from the role that involves expected characteristics of their professional role (Fitzgerald, 2020). Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge this and reflect on this process. This reflection is a necessary part in forming the new Professional Identity since a self-image of the new identity needs to be developed. The work within Medicines Development is in a matrix organisation that is constantly changing. Therefore, different skills and knowledge need to be constantly acquired to further develop the Professional Identity.
Another important component in a person’s professional development is sense of purpose. This can be described as the deeper meaning a person finds in his/her work and that the work is meaningful. The pharmaceutical industry has a clear purpose in helping patients and this purpose is shared by most people working in pharma. I believe that the purpose of helping patients is constant over time and the common denominator regardless of if you are studying to become a healthcare professional, work at a hospital, or within Medicine Development.
In conclusion, Professional Identity is an ongoing process based on specialised knowledge and skills. To develop one’s Professional Identity, one must reflect upon this and connect it to one’s sense of purpose.
References
1. Fitzgerald A. Professional Identity: A concept analysis, Nursing Forum, 2020; 447-472
2. Professional Identity. (2019, May 14). EduTech Wiki, A resource kit for educational technology teaching, practice and research. https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/index.php?title=Professional_identity&oldid=71924 (assessed: 17 Nov 2022)
3. Wilson I, Cowin LS, Johnson M, Young H. Professional Identity in Medical Students: Pedagogical Challenges to Medical Education, Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 2013; 369-73
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
