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.
• 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: An Introduction to Clinical Inquiry

Create a 4- to 5-slide PowerPoint presentation in which you do the following:

• Identify and briefly describe your chosen clinical issue of interest.
• Describe how you used keywords to search on your chosen clinical issue of interest.
• Identify the four research databases that you used to conduct your search for the peer-reviewed articles you selected.
• Provide APA citations of the four peer-reviewed articles you selected.

Part 2: 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.

Assignment:

• What is it important for a nurse leader to understand variance reporting? How does this reporting become a valuable tool?
• Because staffing is usually the most expensive resource in the provision of care, what reports would provide you with valuable information for this expense?
• Contract labor is usually the most expensive man-hours. Why?
• What is a cost-to-charge ratio? Why should a nurse manager understand this ratio, and how would he or she use it?
• Finance departments regard nursing units as not being revenue generators. Why do you believe they are inaccurate in their assessment?
• In the new value-based reimbursement environment, what other measures can a nurse manager take to enhance reimbursement and prevent revenue loss?

This APA essay will have 1200-1500 words with 4 supporting references. Make certain to include an introduction and conclusion paragraph, along a title and reference page.

Addie, age 15 was brought to the school nurse after fainting during gym class. She was grossly underweight, wears baggy clothes and has dry skin. She complains of feeling cold despite wearing two sweaters. As the nurse examines her perfunctorily, she noticed that Addie’s skin seems slightly yellow and a gentle scrape of her skin shows signs of dehydration.

1. Based on the findings, what is the likely diagnosis?

2. What are contributing factors?

3. What would be an appropriate treatment plan? ( Include possible medications, interventions, etc)

4. List one short term and one long term goal for this client.

 Create a possible ethical dilemma relating to your chosen field. (which is Healthcare Administration) For example: You are a Medical Assistant and your supervising physician consistently asks you to perform procedures that you are not trained for. Or, you are a Medical Biller and your supervisor has asked you to overbill certain procedures because the clinic that you work for is in financial trouble. Using the 7 Step Decision Making Model, apply the facts of your dilemma. 

Assignment Guidelines and Rubric

Topic: Physician Assisted Suicide

Overview: Persuasion is a constant in each of our lives. No matter where we look, what we read, what we see, or who we interact with, we are inevitably going to encounter some form of persuasion. Advertisements want us to buy things. Newspapers and television want to convince us of how we should feel about events. We are put into positions where we must defend our thoughts and beliefs to others, and the process we apply is typically some form of persuasion.

Persuasive writing is one of the most powerful forms of writing—it has the ability to influence one’s thoughts, and also the ability to change one’s mind about a particular issue. The persuasive essay is an ideal tool for supporting an opinion on an issue using researched facts and information. It also gives you the chance to recognize an opposing viewpoint and refute it, noting that those who hold the opposing viewpoint are the intended audience of the piece.

Prompt: For this assignment, you will use a guided prompt to write notes that will help you better understand how to approach the persuasive essay. As you follow the guide, remember to use feedback from Module One when discussing your issue. These writing notes will help you address the critical elements below, which will ultimately inform your final submission of the persuasive essay. In this assignment, you’ll take the first step in this process by writing some notes about your issue. Each response should be one fully developed paragraph in length.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Writing Plan: Use this writing plan as a way to gather your thoughts and determine your strategy for writing your persuasive essay. This process will allow you to develop a potential structure for effectively persuading readers to agree with your argument. This plan will be helpful in keeping your thought process on track when you begin writing and revising your essay.
   1. Your argument is the main point that you are trying to make in your essay. It should clearly state your opinion on your issue. Describe the argument to be addressed in your persuasive essay, and include how the argument is connected to your major, the major you are considering pursuing, or your field of work.
   2. Key points are pieces of evidence that support an author’s main argument. What are three possible key points for your selected issue? How do they support your main argument?
   3. Your audience is the person or people you are addressing in your essay. Who is the audience that will be reading your essay? What potential challenges will you encounter in supporting your argument with this audience?
   4. Your goal is the end result that you wish to achieve in writing this essay. What goal do you hope to accomplish? What will this essay need to be successful?
   5. Potential resources are pieces of evidence that could be used to support your argument. List potential resources that could be used as supporting evidence for your argument, and provide a brief description of each and how it will reinforce your argument.
   6. Using the supporting resources you identified above, list each of the points of your argument with the resources that support them. This process will help you begin to form an effective essay structure.
   7. Determine aspects of your argument that would be effectively supported with evidence. Defend your choices.

Guidelines for Submission: Save your work in a Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.