Writing Is Thinking: Implementation and Evaluation of an Internal Medicine Residency Clinical Reasoning and Documentation Curriculum

With increasingly complicated patients and faster throughput, time for thorough critical thinking and thoughtful clinical documentation is limited, especially in the training environment. Advocating for the value of clinical documentation as a robust opportunity for critical thinking, we describe the implementation and evaluation of a clinical reasoning and documentation curriculum for internal medicine residents. Our curriculum employed facilitated discussion, practical application, and a resident-as-teacher model. Resident surveys showed improved perceptions of the clinical and educational value of clinical documentation. Residents reported increased feedback to interns about their documentation and more appreciation of documentation as a venue for critical thinking.