A course in clinical decision making adaptable to diverse audiences

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Clinical Decision Making

Background:

• A prototype course in clinical decision making was developed at the University of Pennsylvania.
• The course aimed to be adaptable to diverse medical audiences with varying backgrounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness and adaptability of a clinical decision-making course.
• To assess learning outcomes across different medical professional levels.

Main Methods:

• The course was delivered in full to medical students and in abbreviated forms to postgraduate physicians.
• Evaluation included content, process, and outcome assessments, with pretest and posttest written examinations.
• Ninety-four participants attended one or more course sessions.

Main Results:

• All courses received favorable reviews, though postgraduate physicians noted less clinical relevance (p<0.05).
• Medical students initially outperformed physicians on pretests (p<0.01), but all groups showed significant improvement on posttests (p<0.001).
• The extent of improvement did not differ significantly among the groups (p>0.29).

Conclusions:

• The clinical decision-making course concepts and skills are effectively adaptable and assimilable by physicians at all training and experience levels.
• The findings support the broad utility of the developed course in enhancing clinical decision-making abilities across the medical profession.