Common practice vs best practice
Is there a distinction to be made between “common practice” and “best practice”?
Yes, there is a distinction to be made between “common practice” and “best practice.”
Common practice refers to the methods, procedures, or techniques that are frequently used or accepted by a particular group or community. These practices may be based on tradition, convenience, or simply what people are used to doing, rather than on a rigorous analysis of what is most effective or efficient.
On the other hand, best practice refers to the methods, procedures, or techniques that have been proven to be the most effective and efficient based on research, analysis, and experience. Best practices are often developed and refined over time and are based on evidence-based approaches and standards.
While common practices may be useful in some situations, they may not always be the most effective or efficient way of achieving a desired outcome. Best practices, on the other hand, are designed to provide optimal results and are often used as a benchmark for quality and excellence.
Common practice vs best practice assignment area
When you first went to work for your current organization, experienced colleagues may have shared with you details about processes and procedures. Perhaps you even attended an orientation session to brief you on these matters. As a “rookie,” you likely kept the nature of your questions to those with answers that would best help you perform your new role.
Over time and with experience, perhaps you recognized aspects of these processes and procedures that you wanted to question further. This is the realm of clinical inquiry.
Clinical inquiry is the practice of asking questions about clinical practice. To continuously improve patient care, all nurses should consistently use clinical inquiry to question why they are doing something the way they are doing it. Do they know why it is done this way, or is it just because we have always done it this way? Is it a common practice or a best practice?
In this Assignment, you will identify clinical areas of interest and inquiry and practice searching for research in support of maintaining or changing these practices. You will also analyze this research to compare the research methodologies employed.
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and identify a clinical issue of interest that can form the basis of a clinical inquiry. Keep in mind that the clinical issue you identify for your research will stay the same for the entire course.
- Based on the clinical issue of interest and using keywords related to the clinical issue of interest, search at least four different databases in the Walden Library to identify at least four relevant peer-reviewed articles related to your clinical issue of interest. You should not be using systematic reviews for this assignment, select original research articles.
- Review the results of your peer-reviewed research and reflect on the process of using an unfiltered database to search for peer-reviewed research.
- Reflect on the types of research methodologies contained in the four relevant peer-reviewed articles you selected.
Part 1: Identifying Research Methodologies
After reading each of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected, use the Matrix Worksheet template to analyze the methodologies applied in each of the four peer-reviewed articles. Your analysis should include the following:
- The full citation of each peer-reviewed article in APA format.
- A brief (1-paragraph) statement explaining why you chose this peer-reviewed article and/or how it relates to your clinical issue of interest, including a brief explanation of the ethics of research related to your clinical issue of interest.
- A brief (1-2 paragraph) description of the aims of the research of each peer-reviewed article.
- A brief (1-2 paragraph) description of the research methodology used. Be sure to identify if the methodology used was qualitative, quantitative, or a mixed-methods approach. Be specific.
- A brief (1- to 2-paragraph) description of the strengths of each of the research methodologies used, including reliability and validity of how the methodology was applied in each of the peer-reviewed articles you selected.