What is commitment?

Commitment is an important part of professionalism in pharmacy; however, we have no standardized definition. Commitment, like any other relationship between two parties, must be perceived strongly by both parties involved. In the setting of pharmacy residency training, commitment seems relatively easy to define. Current trends posed by Boehmer show that there must be unexplored complexity that remains in this concept under the surface. There is a need to truly identify the motivations of both residency candidates and residency programs during the interview process. Additional research should aim to identify preceptor perceptions of “good” motivations to pursue residency training. There is a paucity of literature on the factors affecting residency decommitment. To begin discerning these factors and their influence, more data should be collected and made available to researchers regarding decommitment at all stages of the match and residency training.