Teaching clinical thinking

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Cognitive Science
• Clinical Reasoning

Background:

• Clinical thinking and scientific reasoning are distinct cognitive processes.
• Educators observe difficulties in students transferring scientific reasoning skills to clinical practice.
• Existing literature provides limited practical strategies for teaching this skill transfer.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a pedagogical technique aimed at improving the transfer of scientific reasoning to clinical thinking.
• To offer educators a concrete method to address a common student learning challenge.

Main Methods:

• Literature review on clinical reasoning and skill transfer.
• Development and application of a specific teaching technique with medical interns.
• Qualitative assessment of the technique's success with a subset of interns.

Main Results:

• The proposed technique demonstrated success in aiding interns with difficulties in transferring skills.
• The method provides a practical approach where literature was previously lacking.
• Further research is suggested to validate and expand the technique's applicability.

Conclusions:

• Effective pedagogical strategies are crucial for developing clinical thinking in medical education.
• The presented technique offers a viable solution for enhancing the integration of scientific reasoning into clinical practice.
• Addressing this educational gap can improve future healthcare professionals' diagnostic and problem-solving abilities.