Understanding clinical reasoning: A phenomenographic study with entry-level physiotherapy students

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Entry-level students’ conceptualizations of clinical reasoning can provide a starting point for program planning related to clinical reasoning development with a focus on patient-centered care

Objective

The aim of the study is to explore how physiotherapy students understand clinical reasoning midway through their education. Nine physiotherapy students were interviewed at the end of their third semester

Methods

Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted, recorded and transcribed verbatim. A phenomenographic approach to qualitative data analysis, seeking to explore variations in students’ conceptions was applied

Results

The students’ ways of understanding clinical reasoning could be described as: 1) the cognitive process of the physiotherapist; and 2) the relational process of the collaborative partnership between the physiotherapist and the patient. A contrastive analysis shows how the cognitive and relational perspectives are developed through the relationships among three dimensions of clinical reasoning: 1) problem-solving; 2) context of working; and 3) own learning

Conclusion

By identifying the critical variation in students’ conceptions of clinical reasoning, focus can be placed on pedagogical arrangements to facilitate students’ progression toward a person-centered approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical reasoning
• students
• learning
• phenomenography
• education

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the participating physiotherapy students.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.