WORKSHOP: Addressing the Hidden Curriculum in Residency Training: Making the Implicit Explicit

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the concept of the Hidden Curriculum and its role in resident education;
2. Reflect of how they contribute to the Hidden Curriculum, with consideration for how this may impact them at faculty or resident trainees; and
3. Exposed to our framework as a tool for identifying and better understanding the Hidden Curriculum in different elements of training, enabling strategies to support Professional Identity Development which reflects the goals of postgraduate training.

Abstract

The term hidden curriculum (HC) defines the learning occurring implicitly in any course of training. Beyond explicit curriculum design, the HC exists in the broader context of the educational experience and is often "hidden in plain sight” through mechanisms such as the anthropological paradox, which posits that we struggle to question the norms in our culture as we are embedded within those normative structures. The impact of the HC is increasingly relevant to examine as we experience medical cultural change at a rapid pace, largely due to advancements in technology. 

Psychiatric residency training is mandated to support the graduation of psychiatrists who fulfill the CanMEDS rolls and who are personally equipped to provide psychiatric care for our population. To achieve the required outcomes of training, the impact of the HC must be considered alongside the "what" and "how" of traditional training elements. 

The University of Calgary Psychiatry Residency Training Program has created a Hidden Curriculum Framework (HCF) supporting curriculum examination, personal reflection, and the impact of the HC on teaching faculty and residents; utilizing this framework to support the goals of training by making the implicit increasingly explicit. 

This workshop will explore common scenarios in medical education and "unmask" the hidden curriculum. Participants will explore how our HCF can be used to develop insight into the impact of the HC in professional identity development in their context. Finally, we will share specific training strategies which we employ to uncover the HC and support the development of professional identity in trainees.

Literature References

1. Sarikhani, Y., Shojaei, P., Rafiee, M. et al. Analyzing the interaction of main components of hidden curriculum in medical education using interpretive structural modeling method. BMC Med Educ 20, 176 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02094-5 
2. Lawrence C, Mhlaba T, Stewart KA, Moletsane R, Gaede B, Moshabela M. The Hidden Curricula of Medical Education: A Scoping Review. Acad Med. 2018 Apr;93(4):648-656. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002004. PMID: 29116981; PMCID: PMC5938158.