"Not for the Faint of Heart": First-year Military Medical Students' Professional Identity Formation During the Innovative Patient Experience at Operation Bushmaster.

The Patient Experience provided first-year medical students with a unique opportunity to formulate their professional identity as they portrayed patients during Operation Bushmaster. This study's results hold implications for both military and civilian medical schools regarding the benefits of innovative military MFPs for professional identity formation in junior medical students, preparing them early on in medical school for their first deployment.