Should there be more teaching of critical thinking in Australian general practice?

Abstract

For clinicians such as GPs, critical thinking includes critical appraisal of scientific evidence and the context of their clinical practice, and critical introspection. Largely due to a lack of rigorous research, there is no evidence that teaching critical thinking or appraisal, at undergraduate or postgraduate levels, improves GPs' clinical performance or their patients' health. Before conducting such research, a systematic review of the available literature (largely in education and psychology) is warranted to assess the efficacy of teaching critical thinking in non-medical environments. Critical thinking is being taught in Australian medical schools and will be introduced in the RACGP Training Program. However, it will be a while before this will have an impact in GPs' surgeries. The challenge will be to design an attractive CME program relevant to GPs while simultaneously evaluating its efficacy.