How Can I Facilitate Clinical Reasoning With Students?

 UBC School of Audiology and Speech Sciences suggest the following ideas:

• model reflective practice/clinical reasoning/mindfulness by explicitly talking through your thought process as you assess and treat clients

(examples of questions - Why did you select particular goals, teaching strategies, test etc.? What was successful about your session & why? What will you change for the next time & why?)

• tell client stories (past and present, successful /unsuccessful) and your decision-making process
• ask students to tell you their thinking process as you plan sessions together
• ask students how you can help their learning as you observe their sessions (e.g. What objective data would the student like you to record?)
• in following sessions, ask students to reflect on what succeeded and why, what they would change and why, what professional skills have improved as a result of this session and why and how they will use these reflections in planning future sessions. Allow students time to reflect, for example, give the student 15 minutes after the sessions to write notes or questions about the session to then bring to the post-session discussion, encourage the student to keep a journal and / or to keep a list of things learned
• continue to provide students opportunities to observe you (and other clinicians) throughout the placement and continue to share your reflections of your own work with the student

At all times, it is important to consider that the students are at the beginning of their career/their learning in this field. Pathways or ways of thinking which are everyday for you are unlikely to be simple for the student. They will require the process to be broken down into multiple steps to assist.

Development of Clinical Reasoning/Reflection Sheets to guide the student through the process can be valuable. It is essential that they are relevant/individual to your profession and the practice context. They can be used as a tool to prompt the student to think about the process in a step by step way.