Reflection and Evidence-Based Practice in Action: A Case Based Application

Reflective practice and evidence-based practice are essential to clinical practice. The former provides a retrospective look at current practice and questions the reason for doing so. The latter provides the means by which best evidence can be used to make foundationally sound and clinically relevant decisions. This article demonstrates the utility of and the dynamics between reflective practice and evidence-based practice in the clinical setting using the first-hand experience of a physical therapist in home health care who worked with an elderly patient diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. The outcomes of the clinical case serve as the basis for critical reflection by the clinician, and the springboard for the clinician's retrospective search for evidence. The employment of the principles of reflective practice and evidence-based practice has led the clinician to an awareness of habituated practices, the need for a more proactive approach to providing effective interventions, and the use of current best evidence to advocate for patient welfare. In order to maintain the first-hand clinician perspective and the integrity of the reflective process, the clinical case and the subsequent critical reflection were written in first-person language.