Logical Thinking and the Diagnostic Process

Abstract

A questionnaire was administered to 224 medical students and 16 expert clinicians. The questions were designed to test some elementary thinking processes and basic clinical knowledge.The results indicated that the students and the experts had similar difficulties in solving logical problems. There was no significant change through, the years of the medical course. All had problems in thinking in terms of negative attributes and of prior probability. Students did not understand the significance of so-called specific features of a condition, but experts were good at this.Experts were very good at generating new data from early hypothesis formation. This capacity developed slowly through the medical course. More emphasis on the principles of information processing techniques may be a useful contribution to teaching.Even if logical methods are not necessary for the every day work of the clinician, an understanding of rational thinking may help to improve the accuracy of decision-making.