Assessment of hidden curriculum during clinical rotations of year 4 mbbs students using hidden informal curriculum assessment tool (Hicat)

Abstract

Objective: This study was aimed to assess the hidden curriculum for year-4 undergraduate medical students during one of their clinical rotation using Hidden Informal Curriculum Assessment Tool (HICAT). Material and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst two hundred, year 4 medical students (using HICAT questionnaire) who had undergone clinical rotation in the department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar over a period of three months (January to march 2020). Results: Two hundred students participated in the survey. Out of those 110 were male and 90 were female with mean age 22 ± 1. Highly valued items in the minds of students included positive doctor patients relaitionship, exhibiting high professional standards and exhibiting positive role modeling. The negative experience which was the commonest and also had a significant influence on the students was competition with peers, lack of confidence and experience of being disadvantaged due to gender. Males felt more disadvantaged as compared to females. Also, students belonging to rural areas felt more disadvantaged than the students of urban areas. Conclusion: Positive doctor patient relationship, exhibiting high professional standards and positive role modelling are con-sidered significant parts of hidden curriculum. Negative experiences included competition with peers, lack of confidence and gender discrimination.