Professional identity formation (PIF) – What has NKLM 2.0 to say about it? A workshop report

Objective: Medical education should support the development of a professional identity. However, it is still unclear what exactly is meant by professional identity formation (PIF), how it proceeds, and how it can be specifically supported. Against this background, this workshop report describes an attempt by a group of experts to identify and evaluate learning objectives in NKLM 2.0 that could be relevant to PIF. The aims of this project were, on the one hand, to determine the extent to which PIF has been incorporated into the NKLM and, on the other hand, to analyze how PIF can be understood on the basis of PIF related learning objectives. Methodology: In a multi-stage, iterative process, a subgroup (N=6) of the GMA Committee on Professional Identity Formation identified PIF-relevant learning objectives in the NKLM and derived fundamental topics and distinctions from them. Results: Basically, a categorization into essential and associated learning objectives emerged, although the assessments of the participants regarding the assignment to the categories varied greatly. 130 learning objectives were marked and weighted as essential, 14 of which were classified as particularly relevant. The result was a weighted list of essential and associated learning objectives for the topic of PIF, as well as two fundamental, summarizing learning objectives in the areas of “role understanding” and “self-reflection”. Discussion: The selection and evaluation of learning objectives within the group were often heterogeneous. This illustrates that the topic of PIF has been vaguely defined to date and is obviously understood differently. In order to explicitly map PIF in the NKLM, the underlying learning objectives would have to be formulated more precisely. In addition, a theory-based definition of PIF would be helpful in order to revise the essential learning objectives and specify the boundaries of the topic.