ASSESSMENT OF HIDDEN CURRICULUM DURING CLINICAL ROTATIONS OF YEAR 4 MBBS STUDENTS USING HIDDEN INFORMAL CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT TOOL (HICAT)

Introduction: 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). 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 males and 90 were female with mean age 22 ± 1.Highly valued items in the minds of students included positive doctor patients skills development inspiration, 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 the competition with peers, lack of confidence and experience of being disadvantaged due to gender. Males felt more disadvantaged.  Also students belonging to rural areas felt more disadvantaged than the students of urban areas. Conclusion: Incorporating the concepts of hidden curriculum into the explicit curriculum and training the faculty as well as students about the concepts will go a long way in producing medical professionals exhibiting highest professional standards and proper attitudes during patient and students encounter.