Douglas Wong¹
Breanna Wright¹
1 Victoria University

Educators encounter common challenges when designing meaningful assessments of clinical reasoning. Assessing competence in students with limited real-life exposure to patients from diverse backgrounds is a familiar issue, and the recent rise of artificial intelligence presents an additional complication. 

The Clinical Reasoning Task (CRT) is an oral assessment strategy designed to foster clinical reasoning and build patient centered communication skills across a range of clinical domains. It is currently being implemented within a suite of six post-graduate units in the Victoria University osteopathy program. Students complete this course via intensive delivery. This assessment engages students with scenarios that they are not guaranteed to encounter whilst on clinical placement – including complex pain presentations and the management of diverse patient populations, including First Nations Peoples. 

Results
Evaluation of the CRT is ongoing. Initial qualitative feedback suggests learners appreciate being exposed to patient interactions that might not be encountered until after graduation. Informal feedback from staff members has also indicated heightened student in-class engagement and attendance. 

Discussion
The CRT offers a viable solution in resource-constrained settings and an alternative to the challenges posed by long-form case studies, which can be problematic to implement within an intensive delivery mode. Our approach engages students in clinical reasoning at regular checkpoints and is complementary to clinical placements. 

Successful completion of the CRT requires the integration of theoretical knowledge with critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving prowess within authentic patient scenarios. The CRT confers an added benefit through its capacity to uphold academic integrity, owing to the task's in-class modality and adherence to closed-book parameters. 

Conclusion
The CRT embodies a novel approach for evaluating clinical reasoning and patient-centered communication proficiencies, with applicability extending to various health disciplines and clinical contexts. Prospective expansion of the CRT includes group-based learning exercises in the setting of interprofessional education. 

References (maximum three) 

Pearce, J. & Chiavaroli, N. (2023). Rethinking assessment in response to generative artificial intelligence. Medical Educator, 2023, 1-3. doi: 10.1111/medu.15092. Online ahead of print. 

Young, M. E., Thomas, A., Lubarsky, S., Gordon, D., Gruppen, L. D., Rencic, J., ... & Durning, S. J. (2020). Mapping clinical reasoning literature across the health professions: a scoping review. BMC Medical Education, 20, 1-11.