title: Critical thinking versus clinical reasoning versus clinical judgment: differential diagnosis.
abstract: Concepts of critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and clinical judgment are often used interchangeably. However, they are not one and the same, and understanding subtle difference among them is important. Following a review of the literature for definitions and uses of the terms, the author provides a summary focused on similarities and differences in the processes of critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and clinical judgment and notes suggested methods of measuring each.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Nursing Simulation Center, School of Nursing, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18766, USA. joyce.chmil@wilkes.edu
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Victor-Chmil
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D011340:Problem Solving; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D013850:Thinking