EARLY INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL PROBLEM-SOLVING

This is a descriptive report of a course unit designed to introduce co ncepts of medical problem-solving during the first month of an undergr aduate MD curriculum. The unit is also used to provide an introduction to the dynamics of cooperative small group learning. The value of the unit was endorsed by the subjective opinions of faculty tutors and st udents, who recognized the relevance of the unit to the clinical pract ice of doctors. An end-of-course examination demonstrated that some no vice medical problem-solvers have difficulty with recursive hypothesis testing and tend to use linear strategies. This type of learning expe rience has the potential to identify students who may have subsequent difficulty in clinical reasoning tasks in the curriculum. Medical prob lem-solving itself is the primary focus of problem-based learning in t he unit. Experience with this unit suggests that concepts of medical p roblem-solving can be introduced into the curriculum at a very early s tage, without a prerequisite for substantial knowledge of medical scie nces.