P06. Clinical Reasoning in Medicine: Developing Students' metacognitive skills

This poster outlines the introduction of formal Clinical Reasoning Skills sessions - initially a Student Selected Component (SSC) - as compulsory sessions in the core second year curriculum. Observations of 4th and 5th Year students’ performances in live examinations and student feedback indicated that, despite having excellent core communication skills, students struggled with the skills needed for effective analytical thinking when faced with complex diagnostic challenges.A three week SSC was designed around current research introducing students to the concepts underpinning the process of clinical reasoning. This SSC is founded on experiential practice where students analyse their thought processes and hypothetico-deductive reasoning governing the choices and conclusions reached whilst interviewing patients. All sessions are conducted in small interactive groups with experienced simulated patients and academic clinician tutors. Student feedback was extremely positive; all students felt these sessions must become part of the core undergraduate curriculum. The iterative processes required for developing higher order thinking skills in students are described