Understanding Clinical Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Oct 2, 2024

Clinical Reasoning vs. Critical Thinking

Introduction

  • Objective: Explore the concepts of clinical reasoning and critical thinking.
  • Relation: While related, they are not identical.

Clinical Reasoning

  • Definition: Used by therapists to make clinical decisions.
  • Challenges:
    • Can be uninformed, distorted, partial, biased, or lazy.
    • Critical for quality clinical practice.
  • Consequences of Poor Reasoning:
    • Costly in terms of money and quality of life.

Critical Thinking

  • Definition: Improves thinking quality by skillfully managing the structures in thinking and imposing intellectual standards.
  • Role in Clinical Reasoning:
    • Ensures reasoning is informed, comprehensive, and unbiased.
    • Helps examine the breadth, depth, and biases in thinking.
  • Characteristics:
    • Asking right questions.
    • Identifying relevant problems including patient factors like culture, history, and psychosocial factors.
    • Gathering relevant information and performing tests.
    • Analyzing movement and applying abstract ideas, theories, and frameworks.

Application

  • In Practice:
    • Collaborate with patients, caregivers, and other practitioners.
    • Consider alternative systems of thought and assess assumptions and implications.
    • Communicate effectively to solve complex problems.
  • Iterative Nature: Constantly evolve thinking with experience, while applying critical thinking standards.

Metacognition

  • Definition: Awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes.
  • Importance: Drives improvement in clinical reasoning.

Distinction in Terminology

  • Critical Thinking vs. Clinical Reasoning:
    • Clinical reasoning is specific to physical therapy with unique perspectives like patient-centered care and movement analysis.
    • Important to use clinical reasoning in context of patient-client management.

Further Learning

  • Resource: Visit the Clinical Reasoning and Curricula Assessment Consortium of the American Academy of Medicine and the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy for more information.