Clinical Judgment Article - How to Teach Clinical Judgment

Of course, if you decide to complete some of the case studies in groups or as a class, this will likely change how you consider assigning these cases for a grade. One option to consider is to ask your students to write a summary case report of the Clinical

Judgment case study in their own words. You can also consider incorporating the case study components and/or questions into your examinations. Another idea to consider is to wait until the end of the course to assign all the case studies. These can serve as excellent, culminating reviews for the material learned.

Regardless of how you decide to incorporate the Clinical Judgment case studies, remember that sometimes “less is more,” especially at the beginning. Often, I like feedback from my students about how a new addition is working for them before I fully commit to integrating it into my course. In this way, I may consider first incorporating a selection of the Clinical Judgment case studies as an extra credit opportunity. Not every student may complete this option, but enough do that I receive feedback about the student experience and how they see the value of this work.

Passing the Baton

In our classes, we face many choices about what we want to include. As the options available increase, so does our need to be selective. One thing that can make our decisions easier is when the inclusion of something new to our courses is so clearly beneficial to our students that we embrace the opportunity to change. The addition of Clinical Judgment in Davis Advantage is one such opportunity. As many of us have seen, an effective case study can help students synthesize patient information in ways that help them meet the expectations of clinical practice. As teachers, we delight in those moments when we pass the baton onto our students to further their education. Of course, we are still available to guide and encourage, but the focus now moves to the students and their ability to drive their own learning. Clinical Judgment in Davis Advantage is designed to help achieve this goal, and to make our passing of the baton a bit easier and more likely to be successful.

Using Davis Advantage gives you the flexibility to set up your course in a way that best meets your needs and the needs of your students. No “right” or “wrong” way exists for the use of these materials, but rather what is most important is to engage with these options in a way that best supports your abilities as an instructor and the abilities of your students to learn. We hope you see Clinical Judgment in Davis Advantage to be a part of the best you offer.

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About the author Kimberly Harding, MS, PhD is an instructor at

Colorado Mountain College where she teaches a 200-level Pathophysiology course to students online, hybrid, and in-person. She earned her MS at Ball State University in Muncie,

IN and her PhD at Indiana University School of Medicine, in Indianapolis, IN. She contributed content to Davis Advantage.