Differences between medical students and doctors in memory for clinical cases

Abstract

Many studies dealing with differences between students' and doctors' memory for clinical cases have yielded puzzling results. In this paper it is claimed that these are due to the use of inadequate techniques for isolating chunks inherent in the stimuli and the data. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the techniques of propositional analysis yield a clearer picture. Using this technique, the analysis of two sets of data is presented. The results show a clear difference between doctors and students when relevant clinical information is isolated from irrelevant information. This supports the notion that the process involved in the memory for clinical cases is far more complex and involves the ability to make inferences from a highly developed knowledge base.