A comprehensive test of clinical reasoning for medical students: An olympiad experience in Iran

Although some tests for clinical reasoning assessment are now available, the theories of medical expertise have not played a major role in this filed. In this paper, illness script theory was chose as a theoretical framework and contemporary clinical reasoning tests were put together based on this theoretical model. Based on this model, we concluded that no single test could thoroughly assess clinical reasoning competency, and therefore a battery of clinical reasoning tests is needed. This battery should cover all three parts of clinical reasoning process: Script activation, selection and verification. In addition, not only both analytical and non-analytical reasoning, but also both diagnostic and management reasoning should evenly take into consideration in this battery. This paper explains the process of designing and implementing the battery of clinical reasoning in the Olympiad for medical sciences students through an action research.