title: Varieties of clinical reasoning.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Clinical reasoning comprises a variety of different modes of inference. The modes that are practiced will be influenced by the sociological characteristics of the clinical settings and the tasks to be performed by the clinician.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article presents C.S. Peirce's typology of modes of inference: deduction, induction and abduction. It describes their differences and their roles as stages in scientific argument. The article applies the typology to reasoning in clinical settings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The article describes their differences, and their roles as stages in scientific argument. It then applies the typology to reasoning in typical clinical settings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Abduction is less commonly taught or discussed than induction and deduction. However, it is a common mode of inference in clinical settings, especially when the clinician must try to make sense of a surprising phenomenon. Whether abduction is followed up with deductive and inductive verification is strongly influenced by situational constraints and the cognitive and psychological stamina of the clinician. Recognizing the inevitability of abduction in clinical practice and its value to discovery is important to an accurate understanding of clinical reasoning.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
authors: Jonathan W
authors: JW
authors: Bolton
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological
keywords: evaluation; medical error; person-centred medicine