There are a number of ways to evaluate problems we face on a daily basis, but in the medical field no two are more important than clinical reasoning and critical thinking. Here’s everything you need to know about the two, why they are used, and how they are interconnected.
Clinical reasoning is a cognitive process applied by nurses, clinicians, and other health professionals to analyze a clinical case, evaluate data, and prescribe a treatment plan. Critical thinking is the capability to analyze data and form a judgement on the basis of that information.
As you might recognize, clinical reasoning and critical thinking go hand in hand when evaluating information and creating treatment plans based on the available data. The depth of these two thinking methods goes far beyond mere analysis, however, and the rest of this article will define the two and dive into how clinical reasoning and critical thinking are used.
What Is Clinical Reasoning?
Believe it or not, there’s no agreed-upon definition for the term clinical reasoning, yet it’s widely used and well understood in the medical field. This phenomenon is likely due to the fact that clinical thinking is an offshoot of critical thinking that is applied to the treatment of patients.
The role of nurses, doctors, clinicians, and health professionals is often multifaceted, taking into account numerous sources of information in order to evaluate the patient’s condition, develop a course of treatment, and monitor that course of treatment for success.
Of course, clinical reasoning also relies heavily on prior cases, which themselves probably relied on some degree of clinical reasoning. That data is evaluated, and the patient’s health care professionals will assess whether more data needs to be gathered before making a decision about the treatment plan.
This process can be broken up into three general steps, although it’s important to reiterate that “clinical reasoning” doesn’t have a definite process that clinicians must follow; rather, it’s a mindset that is part and parcel of a patient-centric mentality.
Evaluating Data
Applying clinical reasoning starts with a fairly simple premise. If the patient comes in complaining of a headache, then some of the most logical causes a nurse or clinician might consider would be stress, a migraine, or certain infections.
This prompts them to ask more questions to evaluate the data further. Where is the headache located? Does the headache occur in relation to a particular event? Are there any other symptoms the patient is experiencing?
The answers to these questions can help narrow down the patient’s condition thanks to the historical precedents for and research on headaches and their underlying causes. At the very least, evaluating the data that the patient provides in light of prior cases is beneficial to eliminating the possibility of certain conditions.
Gathering More Data
Based on this initial information provided by the patient and gathered by physician tools, the physician can use this representation of the problem to guide the process.
Based on that initial information, the physician might be confident enough to prescribe a course of treatment based on a wealth of prior knowledge and information.
In other cases, however, more data needs to be gathered, and the physician will use clinical reasoning to repeat the information gathering process until they obtain a level of confidence that allows them to move forward with treatment.
Based on the information, the physician might issue a final diagnosis or suggest management actions to help the patient recover.
Taking Action
After the clinician has evaluated the information to the degree that they are confident making a diagnosis of the patient’s ailment, they can then evaluate the right course of treatment.
Is this an illness that can be treated with rest and an OTC medicine? Will surgery be required? Does the intensity of the illness warrant a higher dosage?
These questions, broad as they may be, are informed by the information gathering process to create an accurate picture of the problem and develop a solution. Again, that solution can be behavior modification, treatment, or a combination of both.
At this point, a physician should also manage the recovery process. Is the treatment working as expected? Are there any complications? How might we manage any complications that do arise?
If clinical reasoning as a whole seems particularly broad, it’s probably because it is. At its core, clinical reasoning is just the judgement of a healthcare professional to make accurate diagnoses, initiate treatment, and improve the patient’s condition.
How Are Clinical Reasoning and Critical Thinking Linked?
Clinical reasoning is a form of critical thinking that is applied to the medical field. Critical thinking skills help physicians evaluate credible information and assess alternative solutions, all of which is geared towards the question: how can I help the patient recover?
Critical thinking is an important skill for making judgement based on a rational, objective, and impartial thought process. It’s important in research, academic pursuits, and, obviously, clinical reasoning.
Physicians and clinicians, for example, apply their clinical reasoning skills to evaluate what treatments have the best success rate, how different factors of the patient’s condition can affect their recovery, and how alternative treatment methods might be used to improve the patient’s recovery process.
In particular, these health care professionals are evaluating the relevancy of information, the source of that information, and how that information can be used to better the treatment of patients in the future.
A systematic approach to clinical reasoning is a core aspect of critical thinking and crucial to the success of clinical judgement. A lapse in judgement or poor clinical reasoning can be harmful, costly, and extremely impactful on the patient’s wellbeing, which is likely why solid clinical reasoning is such a valuable skill in the world of medicine.
Final Thoughts
Clinical reasoning is a skill that you will develop in your years of schooling when entering the medical field, and the process of gathering information, evaluating information, and developing a course of treatment is strongly linked to the skill of critical thinking.
