Medical education
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At the Faculty of Medicine at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, we have developed a final examination that consists of extended matching multiple-choice questions. Extended matching questions (EMQs) originate from a case and have 1 correct answer within a list of at least 7 alternatives. If EMQs assess clinical reasoning, we can assume there will be a difference between the ways students and experienced doctors solve the problems within the questions. This study compared students' and residents' processes of solving EMQs. ⋯ In accordance with the literature, medical expertise was characterised by forward reasoning, whereas outside their area of expertise, the subjects switched over to backward reasoning. It is possible to assess processes of clinical reasoning using EMQs.
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The clinical teaching of medical students is essential to medicine; however, medical students often may not inform patients of their inexperience. Hence patients do not have the opportunity to consent specifically to the procedures being performed by medical students. ⋯ Most patients will allow medical students to perform minor procedures, even when informed of the student's inexperience.