Using High-fidelity Medical Simulation to Assess Critical Thinking in Medical Students
type: CreativeWork
description: Problem Graduating competent physicians is an imperative societal need. The development of critical thinking skills during medical school is important to meet this societal need and for the care of ill patients. Research shows this skill is key in decreasing medical errors, which in turn decreases cost. (Norman and Eva, 2010) Missing from the literature is a method to assess critical thinking in the setting of caring for the critically ill patient. This instrumental case study tests medical simulation as a method of assessing critical thinking, which incorporates all six competency domains, by looking at the assessment environment, summative patient experience, and participant's reflection on the case and environment. Method A qualitative instrumental case study design was used to evaluate twelve senior medical students' critical thinking skills in the setting of identified competency domains. A single simulation patient encounter was administered to each student and data collected from the videotape of the encounter, their written documentation, and oral presentation of the case, mimicking the real-life scenario. The participants were also asked five questions regarding this case. These data were analyzed and presented in narrative format. Results The analysis revealed six major themes: assessment environment, coalescence of knowledge and skills, decision-making and deep thinking/reasoning, integrative experience, lack of depth in thought process, and safe environment. This research identified gaps in the students' knowledge, skill, and behaviors of competency domains as they apply to critical thinking. Despite all students successfully completing medical school, errors were made in their individual care of the simulated patient. Four cases ended in "death" of the patient. The documentation of their patient encounter also lacked sufficient detail to allow other medical professionals to understand the issues during the case. The students' opinion of the patient enco…
abstract: Problem Graduating competent physicians is an imperative societal need. The development of critical thinking skills during medical school is important to meet this societal need and for the care of ill patients. Research shows this skill is key in decreasing medical errors, which in turn decreases cost. (Norman and Eva, 2010) Missing from the literature is a method to assess critical thinking in the setting of caring for the critically ill patient. This instrumental case study tests medical simulation as a method of assessing critical thinking, which incorporates all six competency domains, by looking at the assessment environment, summative patient experience, and participant's reflection on the case and environment. Method A qualitative instrumental case study design was used to evaluate twelve senior medical students' critical thinking skills in the setting of identified competency domains. A single simulation patient encounter was administered to each student and data collected from the videotape of the encounter, their written documentation, and oral presentation of the case, mimicking the real-life scenario. The participants were also asked five questions regarding this case. These data were analyzed and presented in narrative format. Results The analysis revealed six major themes: assessment environment, coalescence of knowledge and skills, decision-making and deep thinking/reasoning, integrative experience, lack of depth in thought process, and safe environment. This research identified gaps in the students' knowledge, skill, and behaviors of competency domains as they apply to critical thinking. Despite all students successfully completing medical school, errors were made in their individual care of the simulated patient. Four cases ended in "death" of the patient. The documentation of their patient encounter also lacked sufficient detail to allow other medical professionals to understand the issues during the case. The students' opinion of the patient enco…
author: Daniel-Underwood, Lynda
keywords: Medical Simulation, Critical Thinking, Medical Students, Educational Psychology, Higher Education
date published: 2016-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:53:14Z
provider: Andrews University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Andrews University