Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

Advancing Dyslexia Assessment in Children Through Computerized Testing
Published on: August 16, 2024
Effect of enhanced analytic reasoning on diagnostic accuracy: a randomized controlled study
Sun Jung Myung1, Seok Hoon Kang, Sae Ra Phyo
1Seoul National University College of Medicine, Republic of Korea.
Background:
Diagnostic error can be caused by several types of cognitive bias, which may be reversed by enhancing analytic reasoning.
Aims:
To evaluate whether enhancing analytic reasoning can increase diagnostic accuracy in objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in medical students.
Methods:
All fourth-year medical students, randomly assigned to the analytic reasoning or control groups, undertook the OSCE with four cases using standardized patients. The analytic reasoning group was requested to list differential diagnoses and findings compatible or not compatible with each diagnosis prior to providing a diagnosis, while the control group provided a diagnosis without these processes. Mean diagnostic accuracy scores (perfect score, 4.0) from four cases of OSCE were compared between the two groups.
Results:
One hundred forty-five students were randomly assigned to the analytic reasoning group (n = 65) or the control group (n = 80). The baseline characteristics, including grade point average and the scores from each patient encounter, were comparable between groups. Mean diagnostic accuracy scores were significantly higher in the analytic reasoning group than in the control group (3.40 ± 0.66 versus 3.05 ± 0.98; p = 0.011).
Conclusion:
Enhancement of analytic reasoning may improve diagnostic accuracy in novice doctors.
Related Concept Videos
Reason and Intuition
Receiver Operating Characteristic Plot
Reasoning
Inductive reasoning involves deriving generalizations from specific observations. This type of reasoning helps form beliefs about the world. For example,...
Critical Thinking II
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Patient-centered Care
