Psychometric characteristics of Clinical Reasoning Problems (CRPs) and its correlation with routine multiple choice question (MCQ) in Cardiology department

Introduction Clinical reasoning is one of the most important skills in the process of training a medical student to become an efficient physician. Assessment of the reasoning skills in a medical school program is important to direct students' learning. One of the tests for measuring the clinical reasoning ability is Clinical Reasoning Problems (CRPs). The major aim of this study is to measure psychometric qualities of CRPs and define correlation between this test and routine MCQ in cardiology department of Shiraz medical school. Methods This study was a descriptive study conducted on total cardiology residents of Shiraz Medical School. The study population consists of 40 residents in 2014. The routine CRPs and the MCQ tests was designed based on similar objectives and were carried out simultaneously. Reliability, item difficulty, item discrimination, and correlation between each item and the total score of CRPs were all measured by Excel and SPSS software for checking psycometeric CRPs test. Furthermore, we calculated the correlation between CRPs test and MCQ test. The mean differences of CRPs test score between residents' academic year [second, third and fourth year] were also evaluated by Analysis of variances test (One Way ANOVA) using SPSS software (version 20)(α=0.05). Results The mean and standard deviation of score in CRPs was 10.19 ±3.39 out of 20; in MCQ, it was 13.15±3.81 out of 20. Item difficulty was in the range of 0.27-0.72; item discrimination was 0.30-0.75 with question No.3 being the exception (that was 0.24). The correlation between each item and the total score of CRP was 0.26-0.87; the correlation between CRPs test and MCQ test was 0.68 (p<0.001). The reliability of the CRPs was 0.72 as calculated by using Cronbach's alpha. The mean score of CRPs was different among residents based on their academic year and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion The results of this present investigation revealed that CRPs could be reliable test for measuring clinical reasoning in residents. It can be included in cardiology residency assessment programs.