6ER-010 Am I a pharmacist yet? Building undergraduate pharmacy students sense of professional identity during experiential learning (EL) in hospital pharmacy

<h3>Background and Importance</h3> Professional identity (PI) formation is an essential aspect of developing as future pharmacist. PI is considered to be a multifaceted interaction between an individual’s perception of themselves and their career. Students with a strong sense of PI can reportedly transition more readily into the workplace, have greater self-confidence in fulfilling their requirements of their role, particularly more complex and uncertain aspects of practice. EL during the pharmacy degree offers an opportunity for students to engage in real-life practice and interact with role models, helping to shape their understanding of their future role as a pharmacist. <h3>Aim and Objectives</h3> To explore opinions of year 2, 3 and 4 students on whether their recent period of hospital EL made them feel more like a pharmacist. <h3>Material and Methods</h3> Year 2, year 3 and year 4 pharmacy students from both schools of pharmacy in this country participate in EL in a hospital during their pharmacy degree. All students who completed EL were invited to complete an evaluation questionnaire with Likert style questions. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. <h3>Results</h3> Response rates to the evaluation questionnaires; year 2: 72% (202/279), year 3: 66% (161/245) and year 4:65% (160/245). ‘I felt part of the hospital pharmacy team in the clinical area I was allocated during hospital EL’; year 2, 80% strongly agreed (SA) or agreed (A); year 3, 87% SA or A and year 4, 89% SA or A. ‘I felt inspired by the pharmacists that I interacted during my hospital EL’; year 2, 76% SA or A; year 3, 95% SA or A and year 4, 92% SA or A. ‘After my hospital EL, I feel better prepared to be a pharmacist’; year 2, 96% SA or A; year 3, 98% SA or A and year 4, 97% SA or A. <h3>Conclusion and Relevance</h3> Experiential learning in hospital practice during the pharmacy degree offers pharmacy undergraduates the opportunity to develop their professional identity by completing authentic pharmacist activities and interacting with pharmacist role models. Students in all 3 year groups studied reported feeling part of the team, being inspired by the pharmacists they met and feeling more like a pharmacist, increasing as they moved through the degree. <h3>Conflict of Interest</h3> No conflict of interest