Background: Critical thinking is the ability to raise discriminating questions in an attempt to search for better ideas, a deeper understanding and better solutions relating to a given issue.
Objective: This systematic review provides a summary of efforts that have been made to enhance and assess critical thinking in medical education.
Design: Nine databases [Ovid MEDLINE(R), AMED, Academic Search Premier, ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, JSTOR, SCOPUS and PsycINFO] were searched to identify journal articles published from the start of each database to October 2012.
Results: A total of 41 articles published from 1981 to 2012 were categorised into two main themes: (i) evaluation of current education on critical thinking and (ii) development of new strategies about critical thinking. Under each theme, the teaching strategies, assessment tools, uses of multimedia and stakeholders were analysed.
Discussion: While a majority of studies developed teaching strategies and multimedia tools, a further examination of their quality and variety could yield some insights. The articles on assessment placed a greater focus on learning outcomes than on learning processes. It is expected that more research will be conducted on teacher development and students' voices.
Keywords: critical thinking; learning outcomes; medication education; teacher development.