Nicky Rouse explores how the training of biomedical scientists and the role itself can present barriers to the formation of a clear professional identity ; one that is not faced by other healthcare professions.
Do you remember your first day in a real clinical laboratory, not the teaching laboratory, but the bench where the results mattered? Did you feel ready to take your place in the profession? If you were anything like me, probably not. Biomedical scientists generate much of the data behind clinical decisions yet form their professional identity around work the public rarely sees, mediated by instruments rather than patients, and learned through a route that separates theory from practice almost by design.
A closer look at the theory behind how identity develops more generally suggests that we may underestimate the impact of asking students to go from competent and confident academic performers to healthcare professionals. They may find themselves struggling to grasp the basics of the new environment they find themselves in. Researchers in the wider field of professional identity formation in healthcare have coined the term ‘transition shock’ to describe this situation.1 Does this apply to biomedical science? Does it matter?
The stakes
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