1. Case representation by medical experts, intermediates and novices for laboratory data presented with or without a clinical context.
- Author
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Verkoeijen, Peter P J L, Rikers, Remy M J P, Schmidt, Henk G, Van De Wiel, Margje W J, and Kooman, Jeroen P
- Subjects
MEDICAL students ,STUDY & teaching of medicine ,MEDICAL education ,CLINICAL medicine ,MEDICAL history taking ,DIAGNOSIS - Abstract
Based on cognitive psychological research, a number of theoretical frameworks have been put forward to describe the structure of experts’ medical knowledge and to explain experts’ case-processing. To provide evidence for the theory of knowledge encapsulation, which states that medical knowledge constitutes of interlinked biomedical and clinical knowledge. Fourth-year medical students, clerks and medical experts evaluated six case descriptions, consisting of laboratory data either with or without a clinical context. For each case description, the participants were required to study the case, to formulate a diagnosis, and to write down everything they could remember of the case. When the laboratory data were not embedded within a clinical context, medical experts’ case-processing increased and their diagnostic accuracy became worse. Furthermore, laboratory data recall of medical experts was more elaborate in cases where the laboratory data were presented without a clinical context. Similar results were obtained for students and clerks. The findings are only partially consistent with a prediction made by the theory of knowledge encapsulation. Further research, using a different paradigm than the traditionally used method of free recall, is required to unearth whether medical experts use qualitatively different knowledge structures than novices while solving cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
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