A second look at consequences for medical education of problem solving in science and medicine

This article reports that most freshman and senior medical students in one medical school were not able to solve a written problem case, concerning back pain, that required the examinee to recognize that foot drop was a key physical finding. The students' responses were not influenced by the fact that half of the examinations listed the foot drop finding first and the other half listed it seventh in a list of eight physical findings. The authors conclude that the outcome of this sample problem hints at a fault in medical education: the failure of medical students to learn the skill of formulating overall hypotheses and subhypotheses before choosing treatment options.