Identity in lockdown: supporting primary care professional identity development in the COVID-19 generation

The current COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted undergraduate medical studies. Whilst challenges for knowledge and clinical skills are being actively addressed, wider considerations such as the impact on professional identity development have been mostly neglected thus far. A robust professional identity is linked to professional behaviour and has been shown to reduce burnout and be an important factor for general practice career choice amongst medical students. The Communities of Practice Model is a sociocultural approach that conceptualises the formation of professional identity through student engagement within a community. We argue the current suspension of clinical placements holds the potential to negatively influence such identity acquisition. In this commentary we explore how the Communities of Practice Model may inform professional identity development of medical students within the COVID-19 environment, considering digital communities and volunteering roles within primary care. We further encourage educators and institutions to consider professional identity in future planning to address the challenges posed by the current situation, both in terms of placement loss but also changes in the way primary care is delivered. Such considerations will be essential if we are to avoid problems relating to poor medical student professional identity development in future.