Assessment of a structured longitudinal professional identity development curriculum for pharmacy students.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To describe and assess a longitudinal Professional Identity Development (PID) curriculum at Northeast Ohio Medical Universities (NEOMED) College of Pharmacy. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Northeast Ohio Medical University, a four-year professional program, has assimilated its career development and advising program into the curriculum as a primary element of the Pharmacist Patient Care Experience (PPCE) course. The concept of PID focuses on student pharmacist career development. The goals for the PID module include guided self-assessment and goal-setting related to career choice with attention to work-life balance, community engagement and leadership. Students also work in small groups, called Professional Development Advising Teams (PDAT), led by a PDAT clinical advisor who is a practicing pharmacist. These meetings provide a forum to debrief self-assessment work and clinical experiences and make connections between the two. FINDINGS: A voluntary survey was administered to six classes of NEOMED alumni (2011-2016) to evaluate the longitudinal PID curriculum. Respondents found many aspects of the PID curriculum to be beneficial in the development of their professional identity and career planning journey. Most felt that PID sessions enabled them to effectively prepare for a career in pharmacy, with goal setting, Curriculum Vitae (CV) review, and career exploration most helpful in planning for their future careers. DISCUSSION: PID curricula are resource-intensive and require a firm commitment from administration and the faculty. Elements of the program can be adapted and utilized in a variety of different ways, making this model accessible to all pharmacy schools.

Three innovative curricula for addressing medical students' career development.

Medical students make specialty decisions that are critically important to their long-term career satisfaction and overall well-being. The dynamic of larger class sizes set against stagnant numbers of residency positions creates an imperative for students to make and test specialty decisions earlier in medical school. Ideally, formal career advising begins in medical school. Medical schools typically offer career development programs as extracurricular offerings. The authors describe three curricular approaches and the innovative courses developed to address medical students' career development needs. The models differ in complexity and cost, but they share the goals of assisting students to form career identities and to use resources effectively in their specialty decision processes. The first model is a student-organized specialties elective. To earn course credit, students must complete questionnaires for the sessions, submit results from two self-assessments, and report on two physician informational interviews. The second model comprises two second-year career development courses that have evolved into a longitudinal career development program. The third model integrates career topics through a doctoring course and advising teams. The authors discuss challenges and lessons learned from implementing each of the programs, including marshaling resources, achieving student buy-in, and obtaining time in the curriculum. Invoking a curricular approach seems to normalize the tasks associated with career development and puts them on par in importance with other medical school endeavors.