CLINICAL REASONING: WHY IT MATTERS

G.M. Musolino¹, G. Jensen²

Background: Clinical Reasoning (CR) is an essential non-negotiable element for all health professionals. The ability to demonstrate professional competence, compassion, and accountability depend on a foundation of sound CR. The CR process needs to bring together knowledge, experience, and understanding of people, the environment, and organizations along with a strong moral compass in making sound decisions and taking necessary actions. There is a critical need to have a broader, in-depth look at how educators across academic and clinical settings intentionally facilitate the development of CR skills across one’s career.

Purpose: The CR process needs to bring together knowledge, experience, and understanding of people, the environment, and organizations along with a strong moral compass in making sound decisions and taking necessary actions. There is a critical need to have a broader, in-depth look at how educators across academic and clinical settings intentionally facilitate the development of CR skills across one’s career. The commitment for educators is to promote healthcare providers who serve as leaders in their CR capacities.

Methods: Theoretical examination of the various CR frameworks within the health professions and common bias errors, along with leading to avoid bias. Following a focused CR symposium, a critical review of the literature was conducted with keywords, CR, errors, and health professions of nursing, medicine and physical therapy. Theoretical constructs were examined along with common CR errors in the health professions. A conceptual model of CR in physical therapy was developed.

Results: Theoretical examination of CR methods and influences from medicine, nursing and physical therapy professions were evident, with similarities and differences, along with considerations of challenges and support for CR. The models of CR are presented. Implications for educators are discovered considering CR reasoning errors, from within the health professions  e.g. zebra principle, Occam's razor, Sutton's law, anchoring bias, extrapolation error, et al.

Conclusion(s): CR is an important component for all health professions, yet many would comment that despite many years of research across disciplines, it is poorly understood. Yet common awareness of CR theoretical concepts and common errors in CR may assist educators and developing professionals in the complexities of CR for patient-centered care. Health professionals are morally obligated to reflect on CR practices while working to avoid errors in clinical judgment through examination and re-examination and being present with their patients.

Implications: CR cannot be seen merely as a generic skill or trait, but it is complex and tightly connected to the development of clinical knowledge as practitioners interact with patients in the context of care. CR remains key for appropriate clinical management and best practice for continued professional formation. Educators' awareness may impact teaching and learning methods to develop those that are leaders in CR for interprofessional health care. Further study of CR methods is warranted, especially within the specialty areas of physical therapist practice.

Funding, acknowledgements: N/A

Keywords: clinical reasoning, professional formation, interprofessional leaderhip

Topic: Education

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: N/A theoretical investigation

Committee: N/A theoretical investigation

Reason: N/A theoretical investigation