The hidden curriculum in medical teaching

Medical education must ascribe to a curriculum but clinical teaching poses special difficulties that go beyond any programming attempt. Attitudes and skills learned during tutored clinical practice are called the hidden curriculum. The figure and personal features of the teacher, his environment and the atmosphere that projects every particular medical school, are essential to shape the characteristics of the student. Paradoxically, it is almost impossible to measure the impact of this hidden curriculum. This article is a reflection on an issue that is acquiring special relevance in medical education. (Rev Med Chile 2012; 140: 1213-1217).