The relationship between critical thinking, personality type, and performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination of senior medical students at Meharry Medical College

The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to investigate the relationship between critical thinking, personality style, and performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination of senior medical students at Meharry Medical College. Demographic information was gathered from the Admissions and Records Department at Meharry Medical College. The results of Myers Briggs Personality Evaluation were utilized to identify student personality styles. The results of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Assessment were used to assess critical thinking. Student clinical performance was evaluated by the Objective Structured Clinical Examination. Data analysis was performed using StatView software package. Measures of central tendency was used to compile a profile of the participants based on demographic data. A Correlation Coefficient was used to test the research null hypothesis, which states that there is no association between critical thinking, personality style, and performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination of senior medical school students at Meharry Medical College (MMC). The Fisher\u27s r to z was used to test whether the Correlation Coefficient is significantly different from zero. Separate unpaired t-tests for independent groups were calculated to test for differences in mean scores and attribute variables. The intent of this study was to explore relationships and significant differences only. No attempt was made to establish cause and effect. The results of this study found no relationship between critical thinking, personality style, and performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination of senior medical students at Meharry Medical College. There was no significant difference between male and female senior medical students performance on the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal or their clinical performance on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination. Further study is needed to identify factors that positively influence clinical performance than can be accurately, and reliably measured. Another consideration is the need to develop valid and reliable tools to specifically assess critical thinking skills of medical students as they matriculate through medical school. Further research is needed to identify how critical thinking is being integrated throughout the curriculum and evaluated through specific learning outcomes. Medical educators must also investigate teaching methods and didactics that may assist students\u27 ability to inter knowledge and act upon it while utilizing their critical thinking skills. Few studies have focused on how medical schools have systematically identified and measured attributes of critical thinking in the curriculum using problem-based learning. Therefore, further study is needed to document the utilization and improvement of critical thinking in the curriculum and clinically using problem-based learning. Further research is needed to identify medical students\u27 preferred personality styles as it related to their psychological reasoning. Additionally, research is needed to determine how these factors influence their learning process, academic achievement, and the performance of the clinical skills