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Objectives: The objectives of this scoping review were to (a) explore how pharmacists perceive their professional roles and identities and (b) describe factors impacting which professional roles or identities pharmacists embody in different pharmacy practice settings. Methods: A scoping review using a deductive approach was undertaken for this study. Systematic searches were conducted in five databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid PsycINFO, EBSCO Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health and Scopus (Elsevier). Key words searched included pharmacist, identity, professional role and one variations of these. Results were double-blind screened for relevance by two authors. Data extraction was facilitated by the web-based software platform COVIDENCE. Foucauldian critical discourse analysis was used to deconstruct how pharmacists perceive their professional roles and identities. Key findings: In total, 21 701 articles were retrieved in the search. Following de-duplication and screening, 23 studies from 11 different countries were included. Five major identity themes were identified: Clinician, Dispenser, Business Person, Patient Counsellor and Physician Supporter. The dispenser identity was the most widespread, but it was viewed by many pharmacists as undesirable. The clinician identity also had a strong presence but was viewed as an identity that pharmacists aspire to embody. Conclusions: This scoping review illustrates that pharmacists do not uniformly perceive themselves to be clinicians. A significant gap exists between the profession's desired identity and that embodied by practicing pharmacists. The resulting dissonance may be a contributing factor to the lack of wide-scale practice change that the profession has been seeking for decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AimTo determine whether analysis of unsolicited healthcare complaints specifically focusing on unprofessional behaviour can provide additional information from the patients'' perspective.MethodsA qualitative study with content analysis of healthcare complaints and associated judgements using complaints filed from 2004 to 2009 at the complaints committee of a tertiary-referral centre. Subsequent comparison of the resulting categories of poor professionalism to categories perceived relevant by physicians in a previous study was performed.Results137 complaints (98%) yielded 46 different unprofessional behaviours grouped into 18 categories. The element ‘perceived medical complications and error’ occurred most commonly (n=77), followed by ‘having to wait for care’ and ‘insufficient or unclear clarification’ (n=52, n=48, respectively). The combined non-cognitive elements of professionalism (especially aspects of communication) were far more prominently discussed than cognitive issues (knowledge/skills) related to medical error. Most categories of professionalism elements were considered important by physicians but, nevertheless, were identified in patient complaints analysis. Some issues (eg, ‘altruism’, ‘appearance’, ‘keeping distance/respecting boundaries with patients’) were not perceived as problematic by patients and/or relatives, while mentioned by physicians. Conversely, eight categories of poor professionalism revealed from complaint analysis (eg, ‘having to wait for care’, ‘lack of continuity of care’ and ‘lack of shared decision making’) were not considered essential by physicians.ConclusionsThe vast majority of unprofessional behaviour identified related to non-cognitive, professionalism aspects of care. Complaints pertaining to unsatisfactory communication were especially noticeable. Incongruence is noted between the physicians'' and the patients'' perception of actual care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]