Surreal Becomes Real: Ethical Dilemmas Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Professional Identity Formation of Health Professionals.

ABSTRACT: Fundamental quandaries of clinical and biomedical ethics for health care professionals, committees, and systems have been raised into stark relief by the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature and extent of critical issues raised by this ongoing crisis, including challenging ethical dilemmas for the health care profession, is likely to have an indelible impact on the professional identity formation (PIF) of learners and practitioners across the trajectory of the professional lifecycle. The lifelong process of PIF for health care practitioners, from learner through independent practice, is supported in medical education by intentional reflection, relationships within community of practice include guidance from mentoring, as well as resilience, both emotional and moral. We consider how grappling with ethical dilemmas related to the COVID-19 pandemic can challenge, inform, and even potentially transform the PIF process, thereby supporting development of a morally resilient, humanistic professional identity in health care trainees and health care professionals.