Andrew Linn1, Carole Khaw, Hugh Kildea, Anne Tonkin. 1. Clinical Education, Medicine Learning and Teaching Unit, The University of Adelaide, South Australia. andrew.linn@adelaide.edu.au
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The process of clinical reasoning is undertaken by all clinicians, often automatically, and is the cognitive process that underlies diagnosis and management of a patient's presenting problem. The teaching of clinical reasoning can pose a challenge to the clinical teacher. OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the process of clinical reasoning and provides the teacher with a framework to teach clinical reasoning to students and junior doctors. DISCUSSION: By considering clinical reasoning as a skill to be learnt rather than a concept to be understood, a framework for teaching this skill can be developed. The learner initially observes a consultation by the teaching clinician, followed by the teacher explaining the reasoning processes used including hypothesising, hypothesis testing, re-analysis and differential diagnosis. The student then comments on the reasoning of the teacher in a subsequent consultation, followed by feedback from the teacher on the student's reasoning in a third consultation.
BACKGROUND: The process of clinical reasoning is undertaken by all clinicians, often automatically, and is the cognitive process that underlies diagnosis and management of a patient's presenting problem. The teaching of clinical reasoning can pose a challenge to the clinical teacher. OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the process of clinical reasoning and provides the teacher with a framework to teach clinical reasoning to students and junior doctors. DISCUSSION: By considering clinical reasoning as a skill to be learnt rather than a concept to be understood, a framework for teaching this skill can be developed. The learner initially observes a consultation by the teaching clinician, followed by the teacher explaining the reasoning processes used including hypothesising, hypothesis testing, re-analysis and differential diagnosis. The student then comments on the reasoning of the teacher in a subsequent consultation, followed by feedback from the teacher on the student's reasoning in a third consultation.
Authors: Andrew Bonney; Patricia Knight-Billington; Judy Mullan; Michelle Moscova; Stephen Barnett; Don Iverson; Daniel Saffioti; Elisabeth Eastland; Michelle Guppy; Kathryn Weston; Ian Wilson; Judith Nicky Hudson; Dimity Pond; Gerard Gill; Charlotte Hespe Journal: JMIR Res Protoc Date: 2015-01-07