[Beyond empathy]

For years, or rather decades, most educators have found it challenging to impart psychological knowledge to medical students. Although international protocols as well as the educational and outcome requirements for Hungarian medical education include that psychological knowledge and skills have important roles of in the process of becoming a doctor, implementation does not seem to be easy either abroad or domestically. Some of the difficulties are related to the 21st century transformation of higher education, and are not specific to psychology or medical education. At the same time, positive changes can also be observed: like people in general, medical students are more open to psychological topics, and many feel that acquiring psychological knowledge can make them better doctors and more balanced people. The effect of the hidden curriculum, which has been the subject of numerous foreign and Hungarian studies, cannot be ignored in the possible negative attitude towards psychology education. In this study, we review the aforementioned topics based on the relevant literature and our own experiences with medical students. Orv Hetil. 2026; 167(24): 937-942.