Problem solving in undergraduate medical students.

In recent years the systematic development of the skill of clinical reasoning has come to assume a high priority as an explicit aim of medical education. Clinical reasoning, it is contended, is the application of general reasoning and problem-solving skills to the specific knowledge base of medicine. The results presented in this paper constitute a preliminary study designed to investigate the ability of first-year medical undergraduates to solve abstract problems using a simple nonmedical knowledge base. Further studies are being carried out and will continue to extend this into the specific medical knowledge base area. The potential implications for medical education and the development of clinical reasoning are discussed.