Assessing clinical reasoning (ASCLIRE): Instrument development and validation.
Clinical reasoning is an essential competency in medical education. This study aimed at developing and validating a test to assess diagnostic accuracy, collected information, and diagnostic decision time in clinical reasoning. A norm-referenced computer-based test for the assessment of clinical reasoning (ASCLIRE) was developed, integrating the entire clinical decision process. In a cross-sectional study participants were asked to choose as many diagnostic measures as they deemed necessary to diagnose the underlying disease of six different cases with acute or sub-acute dyspnea and provide a diagnosis. 283 students and 20 content experts participated. In addition to diagnostic accuracy, respective decision time and number of used relevant diagnostic measures were documented as distinct performance indicators. The empirical structure of the test was investigated using a structural equation modeling approach. Experts showed higher accuracy rates and lower decision times than students. In a cross-sectional comparison, the diagnostic accuracy of students improved with the year of study. Wrong diagnoses provided by our sample were comparable to wrong diagnoses in practice. We found an excellent fit for a model with three latent factors-diagnostic accuracy, decision time, and choice of relevant diagnostic information-with diagnostic accuracy showing no significant correlation with decision time. ASCLIRE considers decision time as an important performance indicator beneath diagnostic accuracy and provides evidence that clinical reasoning is a complex ability comprising diagnostic accuracy, decision time, and choice of relevant diagnostic information as three partly correlated but still distinct aspects.
Department of Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 6, 60629, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. kunina@paed.psych.uni-frankfurt.de.
Olga
O
Kunina-Habenicht
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine CVK/CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany. wolf.hautz@insel.ch.|Universitäres Notfallzentrum, Inselspital Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland. wolf.hautz@insel.ch.
Wolf E
WE
Hautz
Department Educational Science, Institute of Educational Psychology, Franckeplatz 1, 06099, Halle (Saale), Germany. michel.knigge@gmail.com.|Human Sciences Faculty, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Building 31, 14476, Potsdam, Germany. michel.knigge@gmail.com.
Michel
M
Knigge
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine CVK/CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany. claudia.spies@charite.de.
Claudia
C
Spies
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine CVK/CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany. olaf.ahlers@charite.de.|Department for Curriculum Management, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117, Berlin, Germany. olaf.ahlers@charite.de.
Olaf
O
Ahlers
D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D000066491:Clinical Decision-Making; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012985:Software Design; D013850:Thinking; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Clinical reasoning; Computer-based assessment; Decision speed; Diagnostic accuracy; Medical education; Validation