Demonstration of how to work through clinical reasoning exercises

Clinical reasoning is the culmination of knowledge of anatomy, physiology, & pathology being applied in a logical process, taking into consideration the current context.  To achieve clinical reasoning one must consider:

1. The current context.  Usually thought of as, “Why this change, now?” To answer this question, one must do a logical process starting with… of all things… recall
2. Recall what you DO know.  This will involve knowledge of the normal anatomy & physiology to identify what has gone wrong.  Once identifying the part that is wrong, one must use logic and critical thinking
3. Critical thinking is when one can problem solve why there is a sudden change from normal physiology to abnormal  pathophysiology (or normal anatomy to abnormal pathology).  When one can critically think of the sudden change, this lays the groundwork for interventions.
4. Interventions, or treatment, must take the current context into precedence.  If the current context demands immediate attention because airway, breathing, circulation, and/or cognition is in danger – then the intervention must address these life saving functions first.  If the current context allows for time to treat, then contextual factors (albeit, less immediate) need to be considered. For example, how invasive is the intervention (e.g. do I have to make the patient bleed where they weren’t bleeding before?)  or accessible a treatment (e.g. an easily accessible X-ray with instantaneous results vs a lengthy wait for an  MRI scan that takes time to interpret)

Watch this demonstration video of how to approach a clinical reasoning question. After watching, consider practicing on the clinical reasoning exercises following this chapter.