This lecture was recently given at the 2026 American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. A version of the lecture is now available on my YouTube channel @Bronchoscopy Academy.

The Hidden Curriculum: Safety, Stress, and Strength in Training

Much of medical education focuses on what can be taught explicitly: knowledge, technique, procedural skill, and clinical decision-making. But trainees also learn from what is modeled around them—the ways experienced physicians respond to uncertainty, error, stress, responsibility, and one another.

In this lecture, Henri Colt explores the “hidden curriculum” of medical training and the ways professional character is formed implicitly through observation, culture, and example. Using bronchoscopy and interventional pulmonology as the setting, the discussion examines psychological safety, the pressures placed on trainees, the importance of asking for help, and the role of judgment in knowing when to proceed—and when not to.

The central question is not simply what we are teaching, but what kind of physicians our teaching environments are helping people become.

Topics:
Hidden curriculum in medicine
Bronchoscopy education and training
Psychological safety
Stress and performance
Professional character
Judgment and responsibility
Mentorship and role modeling
Interventional pulmonology education

#Bronchoscopy #PulmonaryMedicine #MedicalEducation #BronchoscopyAcademy #InterventionalPulmonology

An article relevant to the subject can be found on my Substack: What We Teach Without Knowing It at The Art of Being Human.