Demystifying Dual Professional Identity and Interprofessional Socialization in Health Professions Education
Background
Healthcare educators are challenged with preparing students for a multidisciplinary team environment. Integrating interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity within healthcare curricula are important for developing the next generation of medical providers. Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative suggests that interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity are essential components for clinical practice success. Interprofessional socialization is a general process, describing how an individual becomes a contributing member within a professional community, both uniprofessionally and interprofessionally, involving many healthcare disciplines. Dual professional identity involves understanding how roles are uniquely defined within different contexts. Developing both constructs among students may indirectly support the Quadruple Aim which is an innovative framework developed to improve performance of healthcare treatment. Health education programs commonly focus on achieving the Interprofessional Education and Collaborative (IPEC) competencies including roles, values, communication, and teamwork. Little is known about the integration of intentional interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity. Recommendations of how to implement both constructs into healthcare education curricula will be highlighted alongside its value and potential influence on the Quadruple Aim.
Design
A summary review of the IPEC literature (2012 – 2022) focuses on interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity development. Search terms include: “dual identity” AND “healthcare”; “professional socialization”; “professional identity.”
Results
Interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity clarify how roles are uniquely defined in different contexts.
Conclusion
The future of healthcare emphasizes the Quadruple Aim and the value of interprofessional teams to optimize quality of care and population health. Therefore, intentionally incorporating interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity into the healthcare curricula may foster the development of students as members of a multidisciplinary healthcare team.
Reflections
Examples of fostering interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity within the healthcare curricula include:
1. Introduce the value of these constructs during orientations for new faculty and students.
2. Highlight the value of interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity formation to prepare learners for post-graduation.
3. Offer didactic and non-didactic interprofessional experiences and social mixers for learners to interact with other healthcare disciplines.
4. Find experiential opportunities that demonstrate interprofessional collaborations.
5. Develop a longitudinal assessment of interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity.
Poster fulfills priority criteria description
This poster fulfills the criteria for Interprofessional Student/Learner poster by addressing interprofessional socialization and dual professional identity within healthcare education.
