Professor Croskerry’s article 1 argues for training of medical students in critical thinking to reduce medical error. Although this is a reasonable argument, there is scant evidence to support it as not much relevant research has been published to date. A notable exception is the training of medical students in philosophy of medicine, which focuses to a large extent on general methodology of medicine and has demonstrated success and satisfaction. 2 It may be beneficial to develop, implement and study various ways of training medical students and practitioners in the philosophy of medicine, and to study whether such training enhances their critical thinking and reduces medical error.
Footnotes
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For the full letter, go to: www.cmaj.ca/cgi/eletters/182/5/524#313438