Professional identity formation among undergraduate pre-medical students: a scoping review protocol

BACKGROUND: Professional Identity formation is the process by which learners internalize a profession’s values, behaviors, and perceptions. With respect to physicians, this occurs at multiple levels of medical education, including the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education stages. Professional identity formation likely starts even earlier, during the undergraduate pre-medical years but, to date, no known scoping or systematic review has been conducted on this topic. The objective of this scoping review is to systematically map the literature on professional identity formation among undergraduate pre-medical students. METHODS: This review protocol has been designed following the Arksey and O’Malley framework. We will search MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, and Scopus, as well as relevant grey literature, conference proceedings, and citations of selected articles. Inclusion criteria are articles (1) written in the English language, (2) involving undergraduate pre-medical students in the USA and Canada, and (3) containing original data about professional identity formation. Two independent reviewers will evaluate the titles, abstracts, and full articles for eligibility. A third reviewer will help resolve any disputes. Once the full text of articles are obtained, data will be abstracted using a standardized form. A narrative summary of findings will then be conducted, as well as a consultation exercise with university pre-medical students, pre-med advisors, and first-year medical students. DISCUSSION: By conducting this scoping review, we expect to gain a better understanding of how the experiences of undergraduate pre-medical students impact their professional identity formation. These findings will help to identify gaps in the literature, to better characterize professional identity formation in the specific context of the undergraduate pre-medical track, and to outline potential approaches to facilitate professional identity formation among undergraduate pre-medical students. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: The protocol is registered with the Open Science Framework (htps://osf.io/nfzxc). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-023-02329-8.