Clinical reasoning in traditional medicine exemplified by the clinical encounter of Korean medicine

Abstract

Background: Clinical reasoning is generally defined as a way of thinking about diagnostic or therapeutic decision making in clinical practice. Different cognitive models have been proposed for the clinical reasoning process which takes place during the clinical encounter with a patient. This may have similarities with similar approaches used in Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM). Jinchal, the clinical encounter, has specific features in TKM and different Jinchal processes are closely related to several underlying cognitive models in clinical reasoning. It is a necessary process to see the patient, but in TKM, the method has characteristic aspects which should be evaluated based on the principle of clinical reasoning. Methods: To obtain a narrative description and explanation of the concept of the Jinchal process, literature from with four authentic KM schools was explored first and expert panel discussion was conducted. Results: This article analyses the Jinchal process using theoretical concepts from four authentic KM schools of clinical reasoning which are currently used in contemporary practice. Conclusion: Future research should focus on the similarities and differences in understanding clinical reasoning in KM as well as the broader field of traditional East Asian Medicine.

Keywords

• Clinical reasoning
• Clinical encounter
• Theoretical models
• Jinchal
• Traditional Korean medicine and narrative review