Director of Interprofessional Education and Clinical Professor Purdue University Fishers, Indiana, United States
Objective : Professional identity formation (PIF) is “a complex and transformational process of internalizing a profession's core values and beliefs”. This aligns with aspects of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Competency domain Values and Ethics. Given this overlap, IPE can support PIF, with this poster presenting a curricular structure for using IPE initiatives related to healthy equity to support PIF of pharmacy students.
Methods: The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) program is an educational model that helps to “reduce disparities in care by providing case-based learning to enhance mastery of complex information and increase practice impact.” Purdue College of Pharmacy partnered with the IUPUI ECHO program and a community partner specializing in wellness, advocacy, and health equity to engage pharmacy students in an ECHO series that supports these components of PIF. Topics include, but are not limited to, LGBTQIA+ Inclusion, Trauma Informed Care, Cultivating Belonging for Vulnerable Populations, and Social/Personal Location Assessment.
Results: Survey results support the interest of students in including aspects of healthy equity in their PIF process. Over two-thirds of students are Somewhat/Very Interested in learning more about health equity, including critical topics such as reducing stigma and racism in healthcare, equitable and inclusive care for LGBTQ+ patients, impacts of food insecurity on health, exploring cultural humility, and more.
Conclusions: With the help of a community partner, pharmacy student PIF can be supported by combining the established ECHO educational model and the required components of IPE in pharmacy education. Given the iterative process of PIF over time, this poster demonstrates the role IPE can play in supporting key initiatives related to PIF for pharmacy learners.
