Clinical Reasoning

Today in Foundations class, we started talking about clinical reasoning and the importance of it in occupational therapy. Before today’s class, I had never really thought about just how much goes into clinical reasoning, but now the process of making scientific, ethical, and artistic decisions are much clearer. To determine the scientific element, it is similar to using the scientific method like what I used for my science projects in grade school. We first have to determine what we know, then think of all of the possibilities for that client. To think of the different possibilities and outcomes for a client, OTs must think back to previous cases and academic material, such as textbooks, to help them better understand what could be effective for the client.  The questions we think to ask the client comes from careful assessments and analysis from what we as OTs know. When looking at the ethical element of clinical reasoning, we must weigh things to decide what should be done in that ethical dilemma. We must use our gut instinct to realize the urgency of the client and if it could be detrimental to his or her recovery process or overall health. How you decide what to do when you meet a challenge is determined by the artistic element of clinical reasoning.  You have to be able to read the situation and determine if humor or silliness is appropriate. There is no clear-cut answer for any of these, so to have better clinical reasoning we must embrace the gray area!