Clinical Reasoning – an introduction

Hello to those who make it to this blog. I teach a post graduate paper in clinical reasoning and have set this blog up primarily for the occupational therapy students in Otago, New Zealand. However, I am happy to have comments from anyone interested – the more the better. This is intended to be an informal dialogue about clinical reasoning.  The various pages provide some information about specific topics – they are not intended to cover all the information about these topics – rather to stimulate discussion.

Although not a requirement, I suggest that you make an attempt to purchase / read this book: Clinical Reasoning: Forms of Inquiry in a Therapeutic Practice by Cheryl Mattingly & Maureen Hayes Fleming (available from Amazon)

Just been having a few thoughts after the teleconference tonight.  One group brought up the idea of reasoning related to working as a consultant in a work assessment situation. The outcome being that the work environment is modifed suitably in order that the client can get back to do their job. Is this conditional reasoning though? It had a very procedural feeling ie. the alternations were made in response to deficits which is the heart of prccedural reasoning. Now, if you were looking at issues in the life of the person beyond the immediate work environment and were taking into account how they viewed their situation – their hopes and aspirations, then you may well be moving into both interactive and conditional reasoning.

Another confusing aspect can be the client who is seen to have little ‘insight’ – if they seem unable to imagine their future in some realistic way does this mean that conditional reasoning is abandoned in favour of a more procedural approach_ ie. where the therapist who is aware of the potential risks in the situation makes decision on their behalf.