Is there a difference between common practice? and best practice??

Is there a difference between “common practice” and “best practice”?

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 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.

Resources

• Schmidt, N. A. & Brown, J. M. (2025). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning
  • Chapter 4, “Identifying Research Questions” (pp. 90-119)
    • Chapter 4 will help students understand how research problems are identified, research questions are developed and appraised based on the evidence. 
      Examines how clinical problems guide research questions and the PICOT mnemonic:
      
      • P: Patient or Problem
      • I: Intervention
      • C: Comparison
      • O: Outcome
      • T: Time
  • Chapter 7, “Key Concepts and Principles of Quantitative Designs" (pp. 178-209)
    • Chapter 7 will help students understand the study purpose, literature review and process for developing research questions/ hypotheses. 
  • Chapter 10, “Qualitative Designs: Using Words to Provide Evidence” (pp. 270- 311)
    
    • Chapter 10 will help students understand qualitative research, focusing on words instead of numbers as well as giving meaning to a phenomenon or an event. In addition, this chapter will help students understand the Mixed Methods approach consisting of combining both qualitative and quantitative methods. 
• Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries JournalLinks to an external site., 26, 91–108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
• Hoare, Z., & Hoe, J. (2013). Understanding quantitative research: Part 2. Nursing StandardLinks to an external site., 27(18), 48–55. doi:10.7748/ns2013.01.27.18.48.c9488
• Hoe, J., & Hoare, Z. (2012). Understanding quantitative research: Part 1. Nursing StandardLinks to an external site., 27(15), 52–57. doi:10.7748/ns2012.12.27.15.52.c9485
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-a). Databases A-Z: Health & nursingLinks to an external site.. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/az/databases?s=251010
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-b). Evaluating resources: Primary & secondary sourcesLinks to an external site..Links to an external site. https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/library/evaluating/sources
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-f). Keyword searching: Finding articles on your topic: Boolean terms.Links to an external site. http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/library/keyword/boolean
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-g).Keyword searching: Finding articles on your topic: Introduction to keyword searchingLinks to an external site.. http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/library/keyword/searching-basics
• Walden University Library. (n.d.-i). Quick Answers: What are filtered and unfiltered resources in nursing?Links to an external site.  https://academicanswers.waldenu.edu/faq/73299

Tips on the Upcoming Matrix assignment for Week 3: MOD 2 Assignment: An Introduction to Clinical Inquiry and Research Methodologies

Hi class. Here are a few reminders on the Week 3/MOD 2 assignment, which is due by Sunday. You will critique/discuss the methodology of 4 articles.

• Your work must be completed using the Matrix Worksheet Template. The Matrix Worksheet is located in the Module 2 Learning Resources under Required Readings. A title page is not required. You may use a separate Reference page if you would like or add your four outside refs (which are in addition to your 4 articles) on the Matrix Worksheet at the end formatted as a Reference page APA 7th edition.
• You will identify a clinical area of interest/inquiry, then research your selected topic and search for the research articles you will need to complete the assignment. You will also analyze this research to compare research methodologies. The topic you select will be the topic you will work with for the rest of the 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.
• You will be placing your full references of the articles in the designated area of the worksheet (which is found at the top of the matrix worksheet). *****Single spacing the matrix looks better and takes up less space versus double spacing the matrix. You will, however, double space the ref page.
• In addition to the four research articles related to your topic of interest, you will have additional resources/references that you will also use to answer the responses on the worksheet (textbook, other journal topics related to EBP/Research, etc.). This information is found on the rubric. These additional references will help support your information regarding research and your articles. To get full credit for this portion of the rubric, please review, apply, and ensure you have the extra resources/references for this assignment. 
• Remember to place in-text citations throughout the matrix worksheet as you answer the questions about the four articles you selected. If you are discussing data from your articles, then you would cite the actual research article. If you are discussing the outside resources related to “research” in general (such as your textbook), then you would cite your textbook on the matrix worksheet. Please do not submit any work in this course without giving scholarly credit, support and intext citations. If you do not cite or give scholarly support, then it is considered a form of plagiarism and can result in the grade of a 0. Also, do not turn in any assignments in PDF format (unless asked to do so).

Thank you,