Operational Summary
Definition of key characteristics
Type	Defines the processes of metacognitive regulation as self-observation, self-judgment, andself-reaction
Timing	Defines when metacognitive regulation takes place in relation to the task, i.e. concurrent orretrospective, and specifies whether it is pre-task, during-task, or post-task.
Task	Defines the particular nature of clinical reasoning task on which metacognitive regulation isperformed: cognitive, psychomotor, emotional, communicational, or global management
Focal	Defines the analysis grid with which metacognitive regulation is achieved: clinical, ethical,epistemological or ontological
Interaction	Defines the persons in interaction during the PT's metacognitive regulation: themselves, the patient, the family, other professionals and peers.
Application of key characteristics
Example 1	Just after the end of a session with a patient (timing), the PT wonders whether their diagnosticcategorization (interaction / task) has not been biased (type) by a premature closure of reasoning, and whether this has globally altered the session (focal).
Example 2	One week after the end of their placement (timing), during an analysis of professional practices workshop with two other students (interaction), a PT student remembers the gestures (task) he performed (type) during his treatment of the patient (timing), asking himself if he had paid attention to the patient's reactions (interaction) in order to adjust the intensity of his gestures (focal).

Int J Med Educ. 2026; 17:61-76; doi: 10.5116/ijme.6a0c.4c0b