Clinical Reasoning in Medicine: Developing Students' meta-cognitive skills

Hammond, Anna; Henderson, Janine

Abstract

This poster outlines the progress of the authors’ project in introducing formal Clinical Reasoning Skills sessions.

This project was instituted on the basis of observations of students’ performances in live examinations in years 4 / 5 of our five year course and from feedback from students. Despite having excellent core communication skills students struggled with effective analytical thinking when faced with complex diagnostic challenges.

Using research evidence a three week SSC was designed introducing concepts underpinning the clinical reasoning process. This is founded on experiential practice in practical sessions where students analyse their thought processes and hypotheticodeductive reasoning governing the choices and conclusions reached whilst interviewing patients. All sessions are conducted in small interactive groups with experienced simulated patients and academic clinician tutors.

Feedback from students was overwhelmingly positive: ‚These sessions were very useful and could benefit all students, particularly if they were incorporated into the curriculum at the start of the year, rather than as an optional SSC‛ ‚I have learnt a lot which I can use in future to make a more thorough and educated diagnosis‛ All students felt that sessions such as these should become a core part of the undergraduate curriculum rather than an SSC.

The second year curriculum has now been altered to include two formal sessions that focus on Clinical Reasoning for all students. The SSC continues to be offered and is oversubscribed each time.

We are now conducting a pilot research project recording these sessions to analyse as an initial exploration of how diagnostic reasoning and meta-cognitive skills develop in undergraduate students.

Citation

Hammond, A., & Henderson, J. (2012, May). Clinical Reasoning in Medicine: Developing Students' meta-cognitive skills. Poster presented at University of York Teaching and Learning Conference, York

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: University of York Teaching and Learning Conference
• Start Date: May 16, 2012
• End Date: May 16, 2012
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 31, 2024
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4491605
• Publisher URL: https://www.york.ac.uk/media/staffhome/learningandteaching/documents/poster_abstracts.pdf