Self-assessment of problem-solving skills and Clinical Reasoning among sixth-year medical students University of Baghdad / College of medicine

Objectives To assess the level of problem solving skills of Sixth grade medical students of College of Medicine/ University of Baghdad using self-assessment tool. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study to assess Problem Solving Disposition in Sixth year Medical Students in College of Medicine/ University of Baghdad. A printed survey of the questionnaire was distributed to sixth year medical students in august 2022. A sample of 151 students participated in the study by filling of the printed questionnaire which was validated by a previous study in a medical school in Mexico. Results The number of sixth Grade medical students in University of Baghdad/ College of medicine that participated in the study was 151 of whom 70 (46.35 %) were males and 81 (53.65 %) were females. The mean score of the “knowledge of discipline” was 2.973± 0.999, as for the “pattern recognition” component the mean was 2.198 ±0.559, and the mean for the “application of general strategies” component was 2.158± 0.492. The independent sample T-test results for the “Knowledge of discipline” category showed a mean score for females of 3.137 and a mean score for males of 2.778 with a p value >0.05. For correlations between the categories one of the items of the “Pattern Recognition” category had a positive correlation with a statistical significance with 2 items from “Application of general strategies for problem solving” category. Conclusion Sixth year medical students in University of Baghdad/ college of medicine are better self-perceived in the pattern recognition and application of general strategies for problem-solving categories than the knowledge of discipline, males assess themselves in remembering concepts as better than their female counterparts.