Professional Identity Development in EMS

Professional identity development is the process of enculturation into the actions, values, and norms of the profession. It's how one begins to “see” themselves as a member of the EMS profession. As the EMS industry experiences challenges recruiting and retaining workers, we might consider whether formal professional identity development activities in our education and onboarding programs could better help newcomers to the profession see themselves as "one of us" for a lifetime of service to their patients and communities in the career we all have found so rewarding.