Undergraduate medical education is a process of socialization and professionalization, 1-3 a transition from "outsider" to "insider" status that involves rigorous formal training as well as an inculturation of norms via a "hidden curriculum." 4,5 Within medical education literature, the well-established concept of a hidden curriculum describes the "values, attitudes, beliefs, and related behaviors" 6 that students learn are expected of them and that they therefore come to embody as they develop their professional identities. [6][7][8][9][10] Students are evaluated on their ability to navigate expectations of the hidden curriculum, 11 though these expectations may not be explicitly described. In this Article, we reframe the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency (Core EPAs), 12 which describe the tasks that graduates should be prepared to perform under indirect supervision at the start of residency, to demonstrate their focus on language practices, and propose that the role language plays within the hidden curriculum exacerbates and perpetuates existing inequities in medical education.
Language Within the Hidden CurriculumLanguage is a crucial component of medical practice, 13,14 and therefore a crucial component of medical education. Here, we begin by exploring the role of language within the hidden curriculum, which mediates socialization into professional worlds, and exploring the term "patterns of medical language" as a framework for a more expansive understanding of language in professional communities.A student who doesn't "get it" knows what a scalpel is but may not know operating
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