Author: David Garne
Garne, David, 2024 Learning to Think Like a Doctor: The Development of Clinical Reasoning in Medical Students During Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships, Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health
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Longitudinal integrated clerkships are becoming increasingly accepted worldwide as an alternative pedagogical approach to undergraduate training in medical schools. Anecdotal evidence suggests that students engaged in longitudinal models develop good clinical reasoning, but there is an almost complete lack of robust evidence to support this observation. This research investigated how and why students in these longitudinal models develop a solid foundation in clinical reasoning.
Findings from the research showed that there are strong ontological similarities between clinical reasoning and longitudinal integrated clerkships, and this provides a logical explanation for this development. The unique affordances found in longitudinal clerkships combine in complex adaptive ways, and immersing students in these settings has a direct impact on the development of good clinical reasoning, which is also a complex adaptive construct. The research makes an original contribution to this important topic and provides important implications for the future of medical education.
Keywords: Clinical reasoning, longitudinal integrated clerkships, medical education, workplace-based learning, complexity
Subject: Medicine thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2024
School: College of Medicine and Public Health
Supervisor: Prof Lambert Schuwirth