Teaching Clinical Judgment: a Review with Consideration of Applications for Health Professions

This review explores the concept of clinical judgment and its relationship to critical thinking. A systematic review of the literature was performed in PubMed, using the key words “clinical judgment,” and limiting the search to papers published in English. A hand search located additional pertinent documents. While papers on clinical judgment specifically in nutrition and dietetics are scarce, literature from other disciplines can inform this discussion. How these essential skills are taught and learned in the health professions, and some theoretical views of this area are examined. Following this, the underlying philosophy and educational models are discussed. Lastly, specific educational methods and strategies are described as illustrative examples of how these theoretical concepts can be applied in training health professionals.