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Abstract
<p class="first" id="d10834571e67">While teaching medical professionalism has been
an important aspect of medical education
over the past two decades, the recent emergence of professional identity formation
as an important concept has led to a reexamination of how best to ensure that medical
graduates come to "think, act, and feel like a physician." If the recommendation that
professional identity formation as an educational objective becomes a reality, curricular
change to support this objective is required and the principles that guided programs
designed to teach professionalism must be reexamined. It is proposed that the social
learning theory communities of practice serve as the theoretical basis of the curricular
revision as the theory is strongly linked to identity formation. Curricular changes
that support professional identity formation include: the necessity to establish identity
formation as an educational objective, include a cognitive base on the subject in
the formal curriculum, to engage students in the development of their own identities,
provide a welcoming community that facilitates their entry, and offer faculty development
to ensure that all understand the educational objective and the means chosen to achieve
it. Finally, there is a need to assist students as they chart progress towards becoming
a professional.
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