The authors assessed the clinical thinking of medical students before,
during, and after their first extensive in-hospital learning experience and
exposure to physician role models. They found that more than 90% of the
students' requests for additional data in response to videotaped simulated
patient interviews were for biologic information; approximately 66% of all
respondents in six separate trials failed to request a single psychological
or social item concerning the patient. The authors discuss the
pervasiveness of the biomedical rather than the biopsychosocial mentality
and its implications for medical education as well as clinical teaching,
decision making, and practice.
Abstract Teaser