Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of Iranian medical and dental students in thinking critically and to assess their ability in using definite components of critical thinking (CT).
Methods: Multistage cluster sampling was utilized to recruit 125 preclinical (1(st), 2(nd) and 3(rd) year of study) students in Yazd Shaheed Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences in Yazd, Iran. The Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) was applied to collect data. The statistical analysis of the data included One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), t-test and bivariate correlations.
Results: The mean total score for this sample was 45.33±5.4. Significant differences were found in total critical thinking score by gender (p= 0.022), residency (p= 0.026) and the year of education (p= 0.01). A significant correlation was found between the total CT score and the student's number of passed credits (r= 0.297, p= 0.003). Also, a significant difference was found in the students' scores on the WGCTA evaluation subtest by passing any research method courses (p= 0.04).
Conclusion: The CT ability in medical and dental students in the present study was weak overall. Medical educators and clinical instructors should try to develop the ability of CT by teaching methods and techniques like purposeful planning and problem-based teaching to promote the components of CT in their students. The improving of CT in medical students has implications for medical education and promotion of medical profession.
Keywords: Higher education; Medical and dental students; Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.