Roundtable RT06. Clinical Reasoning skills: Something that can be taught or just a matter of seeing lots of patients?

Hammond, Anna; Henderson, Janine

Abstract

There is considerable literature regarding the complex nature of clinical reasoning for clinicians. Norman (2005) stated “there is no such thing as clinical reasoning - there is no best way through a problem. The more one studies the clinical expert, the more
one marvels at the complex and multidimensional components of knowledge and skill that he brings to bear on the problem, and the amazing adaptability he must possess to achieve the goals of effective care”.
For novices to become experts they need extensive deliberate practice to facilitate the availability of conceptual knowledge and add to their storehouse of already solved problems (Norman 2005).
The authors are aware that previously students learnt how to reason clinically by clerking lots of patients and constructing lists of likely differential diagnoses. Students were repeatedly interrogated by doctors to justify their differential diagnoses. Changes in working
time directives and increased shift working mean that students are less likely to have to justify their thinking on several occasions to the same doctor who then helps them develop their reasoning skills.
Today’s students face further challenges, as modern medical curricula generally focus on delivering clinical experience in system-specific rotations leaving students unable to organise information effectively
when patients present with complex, multisystem illnesses. A limitation of systems based curricula is that it does not encourage the development of clinical reasoning skills.
There is now extensive literature regarding the need to explicitly teach clinical reasoning skills to students in addition to them having lots of practice in clerking patients and then constructing lists of the most likely differential diagnoses.
Delegates at this round table discussion will be encouraged to debate whether they believe that students can be explicitly taught clinical reasoning skills or whether it is just a case of ‘seeing lots of patients’.

Citation

Hammond, A., & Henderson, J. (2015, May). Roundtable RT06. Clinical Reasoning skills: Something that can be taught or just a matter of seeing lots of patients?. Presented at Sixth International Clinical Skills Conference: Creativity & Diversity in Clinical Skills Education and Research, Prato, Italy

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Sixth International Clinical Skills Conference: Creativity & Diversity in Clinical Skills Education and Research
• Start Date: May 17, 2015
• End Date: May 20, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 29, 2024
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4491271
• Publisher URL: https://internationalclinicalskillsconference.com/past-conferences