Safety First! Rank and Sort Case for Clinical Reasoning Skills

By Cathy Roy, Dawson College

At a Glance

Discipline

  • Health science

Instructional Level

  • College & CEGEP
  • University

Course

  • Interventions in cardiovascular and respiratory conditions

Tasks in Workflow

Social Plane(s)

  • Individual
  • Group
  • Whole Class

Type of Tasks

  • Collecting & seeking information
  • Discussing
  • Analyzing

Technical Details

Useful Technologies

  • Google Suite

Class size

  • Small (20-49)

Time

  • Multiple class periods (2-3 classes)

Inclusivity & Accessibility

  • Variety of action & expression

Instructional Purpose

  • Application & knowledge building

Overview

The aim of this activity is to develop early clinical reasoning skills. Students learn to approach a case in a methodical way, by attempting to pick out the most important information from a case with extraneous information included, but also recognize what is missing.

Once they have completed this preliminary task on their own, they are asked to compare and rank the various answers compiled from the whole class in small groups. They need to come to a consensus in their small groups, encouraging them to argue their rationale with their colleagues as to what is most important in relation to teacher determined questions and variables related to the case.

The case allows students to interact with a relatively complex case because of the amount of support and feedback provided throughout the various steps. The activity is based on the cognitive apprenticeship approach, where students benefit from peer modeling and instruction. The activity takes about one hour of in-class time. The pre-class quiz takes approximately 30 minutes.

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Recognize missing elements required for case analysis
  • Make correct links between case data and underlying pathophysiology
  • Prioritize elements as they relate to specific clinical variables
  • Effectively defend their positions to colleagues.

Workflow & Materials

Workflow

Activity Workflow

View on CourseFlow
Document

Case Study

Cathy Roy

Document

Ranking and Sorting Activities PPT

Cathy Roy

Document

Response Form Cardiac Case Study: Prep Activity

Cathy Roy

Contributor's Notes

Benefits
Challenges
Tips
Benefits

Very good way to introduce more complex cases without overwhelming students, because stakes are low, and scaffolding is high. Students enjoy the drag and drop tasks, it adds a concrete element to their discussions that forces them to try to arrive at a consensus. Ensuring discussions are rich, and students model rationale-building if groups are well formed.

Challenges

Students can become frustrated with ambiguity in ranking tasks, and the non-existence of a single right answer.

Tips
  • Explain to students the goals of the activity to reduce frustration with ambiguity and help them move forward with their clinical reasoning skills.
  • For groups to move at a relatively even pace and benefit most from peer modeling, groups must be balanced.
  • Note that the activity can be used in a high tech active learning classroom (ideally) or students can complete the drag and drop elements on laptops in their small groups.

Applied Strategies

Case-based Learning

Real-life scenarios

Group Categorization and Sorting

Collaboration and deep learning

Peer Instruction & Think-pair-share

Communication, conceptual reasoning and reflection

Just in Time Teaching (JiTT)

Feedback based instruction