From Vision to Image: Visualizing Professional Identity in a Health Professions Educator Curriculum

Although health care professionals develop a professional identity through intensive education and training programs in their fields, there is not the same formal process for developing a parallel identity as a teacher. Many educational programs include arts-based activities in their curriculum to promote professional identity formation, as art can foster reflection and self-discovery. This project explores the use of a capstone art assignment to offer an immersive and emotionally resonant method for identity development, drawing on creativity to access a more personal sense of self.

The Developing Expertise in Clinical Education curriculum connects educator skill development with professional identity formation, using a final drawing project to explore participants' emerging identities as teachers. Grounded in the ACGME Clinician Educator Milestones, early career health professions educators engaged in 6 months of professional development and coaching. Participants created visual representations and written descriptions of their envisioned roles as educators.

Quantitative survey responses showed significant improvement ( P ≤ .0001) across all domains-role, milestones, feedback, didactics, bias, and teaching-with large effect sizes (|r| > .8). Thematic analysis of visual and written reflections revealed three key themes: curriculum influence on identity, reflections on identity, and influence of identity on practice, illustrating how the drawing activity supported self-perception and integration of the educator role.

Visual reflection can serve as a powerful tool to support identity formation among health professions educators. Arts-based methods may enhance professional development by fostering self-awareness, strengthening commitment to teaching, and supporting retention in academic medicine.