Strategies to improve hidden curriculum in nursing and medical education: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: The importance of hidden curriculum cannot be neglected in education. Despite much research in the field, there have been limited studies on HC improvement in nursing and medical education. This scoping review aimed to determine the scope of strategies to improve HC in nursing and medical education. METHOD: PubMed, EBSCO/Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, Proquest and Persian-language databases of Magiran and SID were searched in January 2023 without a time filter. According to the PRISMA flow diagram, two independent reviewers selected the records that fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria via title and abstract screening. Next, the reviewers studied the full texts of the related articles. The data extracted from the selected articles were tabulated and ultimately synthesized. FINDINGS: Out of the eight examined studies, published from 2017 to 2022, only one was in the field of nursing and seven were in medicine. The central strategies were implementing new curricula to replace the previous ones, utilizing team-based clinical clerkship, proposing a HC improvement model, implementation a case-based faculty development workshop, implementation longitudinal and comprehensive educational courses, and incorporating an educational activity into a small group program. CONCLUSION: Students and faculty members familiarization on the topic of HC, implementing new curricula, utilizing team-based clerkship, and using comprehensive models were among the HC improvement strategies. Focusing on upgrading the learning environment, particularly the clinical settings, can also be helpful in HC improvement.