Validity, reliability and feasibility of a new observation rating tool and a post encounter rating tool for the assessment of clinical reasoning skills of medical students during their internal medicine clerkship: a pilot study.

Background: Systematic assessment of clinical reasoning skills of medical students in clinical practice is very difficult. This is partly caused by the lack of understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying the process of clinical reasoning.

Methods: We previously developed an observation tool to assess the clinical reasoning skills of medical students during clinical practice.

Analysis of the level of general clinical skills of physician assistant students using an objective structured clinical examination.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: The physician assistant (PA) is trained to perform clinical tasks traditionally performed by medical doctors (MDs). Previous research showed no difference in the level of clinical skills of PAs compared with MDs in a specific niche, that is the specialty in which they are employed. However, MDs as well as PAs working within a specialty have to be able to recognize medical problems in the full scope of medicine.