The Promise of Peace Leadership for Physician Professional Identity Formation

Abstract

The authors demonstrate how the goals and values of medicine may be better reached if a peace leadership mindset serves as the foundation for physician professional identity formation. And because much of the professional identity of new physicians, residents, and fellows comes through role-modelling, any educational intervention that intends to influence professional identity formation must also include robust faculty and continuing professional development. Peace leadership is urgently attractive to the medical educator and faculty and continuing professional education developer because it provides concepts and tools to address a pervasive and growing aspect of the profession of medicine beneficially and directly, from education to practice, that remains intractable: adversarial attitudes and conflict. These make an impact on much of medical care and exact a heavy toll on all involved.