The Essential Elements of the Clinical Reasoning Process

Background: Clinical reasoning is an important skill that enables health care professionals to identify and evaluate patients' real or potential problems, implement appropriate interventions, solve clinical problems, and improve the quality of health care and patient outcomes. Purpose: The goal of this study was to go beyond individual professions and seek consensus across health care professions on the essential elements of the clinical reasoning process. Methods: This study used a traditional Delphi methodology to seek consensus from clinical reasoning experts from the fields of nursing, medicine, and physical and occupational health. Results: The experts reached a consensus on 56 essential elements identified from the clinical reasoning literature. This is the first time health care professions have reached a consensus on the essential elements of the clinical reasoning process using a Delphi study. Conclusions: Achieving consensus on the essential elements of the clinical reasoning process is essential to better understanding, improved teaching, and evaluation of clinical reasoning skills.