title: Life imitating art: depictions of the hidden curriculum in medical television programs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The hidden curriculum represents influences occurring within the culture of medicine that indirectly alter medical professionals' interactions, beliefs and clinical practices throughout their training. One approach to increase medical student awareness of the hidden curriculum is to provide them with readily available examples of how it is enacted in medicine; as such the purpose of this study was to examine depictions of the hidden curriculum in popular medical television programs.
  
  
  METHODS
  One full season of ER, Grey's Anatomy and Scrubs were selected for review. A summative content analysis was performed to ascertain the presence of depictions of the hidden curriculum, as well as to record the type, frequency and quality of examples. A second reviewer also viewed a random selection of episodes from each series to establish coding reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most prevalent themes across all television programs were: the hierarchical nature of medicine; challenges during transitional stages in medicine; the importance of role modeling; patient dehumanization; faking or overstating one's capabilities; unprofessionalism; the loss of idealism; and difficulties with work-life balance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The hidden curriculum is frequently depicted in popular medical television shows. These examples of the hidden curriculum could serve as a valuable teaching resource in undergraduate medical programs.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 451 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8M5, Canada. Astan095@uottawa.ca.
authors.forename: Agatha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stanek
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. cclarkin@cheo.on.ca.
authors.forename: Chantalle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clarkin
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. dbould@cheo.on.ca.
authors.forename: M Dylan
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bould
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. hwriter@cheo.on.ca.
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Writer
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, ON, K1H 8L1, Canada. adoja@cheo.on.ca.
authors.forename: Asif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doja
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004324:Drama; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D013690:Television; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult