Clinical reasoning pattern used in oral health problem solving – A case study in Indonesian undergraduate dental student

Abstract Background: Health professionals in carrying out clinical practice are known to use various combinations of knowledge and skills, such as critical thinking, clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, problem-solving, and decision-making. Most of these skills are acquired during undergraduate education, clinical training and honed through professional practice. Aims: This study aims to observe the clinical reasoning patterns of undergraduate dental students when solving oral health problems from hypothetical cases. Furthermore, assessing their structure of knowledge through a concept map defined by a SOLO taxonomy. Material and method: This qualitative study employed the think-aloud method and the result was assessed through verbal protocol analyses. Five respondents from the final year dental undergraduate student were agreed to participate. A unique hypothetical clinical scenario was used as a trigger. The audio data were transcribed, interpreted, and categorized as a clinical reasoning pattern; and the concept maps created were assessed by SOLO Taxonomy as knowledge structures. Result: A hypothetico-deductive, an elaborated hypothetico-deductive, and an inductive or deductive reasoning model were found to be applied by the participants when solving problems. The reasoning used reflects the knowledge possessed. The variability of the structure of knowledge assessed by the concept map reflected the acquired knowledge during the pedagogical stage, which in turn have an effect on clinical reasoning patterns.Conclusion: It concluded that undergraduate dental student applies clinical reasoning patterns according to their level of knowledge structure. It is suggested to improve dental education, whether curriculum, teaching and learning methods, instructional methods, or dental environment, which emphasize critical thinking and clinical reasoning in order to provide optimal dental health services.