Medical teacher
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Intellectual curiosity can be defined as a desire for knowledge that leads to exploratory behavior and consists of an inherent and stable trait (i.e. trait curiosity) and a variable context-dependent state (i.e. state curiosity). Although intellectual curiosity has been considered an important aspect of medical education and practice, its relationship to medical education has not been empirically investigated. The purpose of this exploratory study was to describe medical students' intellectual curiosity across a four-year undergraduate program. ⋯ This study is the first to describe state and trait intellectual curiosity in undergraduate medical education. Findings suggest that medical students' state curiosity may not be optimally supported and highlight avenues for further research.