The effect of clinical reasoning training workshop on clinical problem-solving skills of medical students

Abstract:

Introduction:

Clinical reasoning is an important skill in practice and is considered one of the most important skills for clinicians. The clinical reasoning process leads clinicians to get wise and purposeful steps from signs and symptoms toward diagnosis and treatment of patients. With an Approach to pediatric medicine, this research intends to investigate the effect of teaching clinical reasoning on the problem-solving skills of medical students.

 Material and Method:

This research is a semi-experimental study. 19 Medical students of the pediatric ward as the case group, participated in a two-day workshop in Nov. 2011 for training clinical reasoning. Before the workshop, they filled out Diagnostic Thinking Inventory-DTI questionnaires. 15 days after the workshop the DTI questionnaire was completed and “key feature” test and “clinical reasoning problem” test was held. 23 Medical students as the control group, without passing the clinical reasoning workshop DTI questionnaire completed, and KF test and CRP test was held. Comparing of two groups was analyzed in SPSS software.

Results:

The average score of the DTI questionnaire in the control group was 162.04 and in case group before the workshop was 153.26 and after the workshop was 181.68. Compare the average score of the DTI questionnaire before and after the workshop there is a significant difference. Average score of KF test was calculated 48.23 in the control group and 50.47 in case group. Compare the difference between average KF test scores in the control and the case group is not significant. Average score of CRP test was calculated 54.60 in the control group and 60.50 in case group.  Compare the difference between average CRP test scores in the control and the case group is significant.

 Conclusion:         

Satisfaction of participants of the workshop has been good. A significant difference in the average score of the DTI questionnaire and CRP test between 2 groups indicate the effectiveness of clinical reasoning workshop in promoting problem-solving skills of students.

Key words:

Clinical reasoning, student, problem-solving  

Final Report of Research Project

Effect of clinical reasoning workshop on problem-solving skills of medical students 

Number: 652   

Researchers

Dr. Farshad Jafari

Dr. Parsa Yousefi

Dr. Manizheh Kahbazi