A conceptual framework of student professionalization for health professional education and research

Abstract

Objectives To present a conceptual framework of student professionalization for health professional education and research.

Methods Synthesis and discussion of a program of research on competency-based education.

Results Competency-based education relies on active, situation-based group learning strategies to prepare students to become health professionals who are connected to patient and population needs. Professionalization is understood as a dynamic process of imagining, becoming, and being a member of a health profession. It rests on the evolution of three interrelated dimensions: professional competencies, professional culture, and professional identity. Professionalization occurs throughout students’ encounters with meaningful learning experiences that involve three core components: the roles students experience in situations bounded within specific contexts. Educational practices conducive to professionalization include active learning, reflection, and feedback.

Conclusions This conceptual framework drives a research agenda aimed at understanding how students become health professional and how learning experiences involving action, reflection, and feedback foster that process and the advancement of professional practices.