[halfpint123]

In terms of medicine, what is the difference between the standard of care and the standard of practice?

[trainer0226]

To be honest I don't really see a diffreence. I think that they both mean what the baseline is and what treatment is done to everyone everywhere. That would be the standard of care.

[woe]

Standard of care is a legal concept related to negligence and used in the Court system. In health it is defined as the reasonable and prudent practitioner in like circumstance.

Standard of practice is a regulatory concept related to professional conduct and is used by the statutorily authorized regulator for that particular profession. It can be defined as the minimum level of knowledge, skill and judgement acceptable for a certatin procedure or conduct.

[DrBill100]

Every board certified medical specialty publishes clinical practice guidelines. These range from diagnosis to treatment. Further there may be guidelines that emanate from several sources, specialty boards, regulatory agencies, and particularly the National Institutes of Health.

These practice guidelines advise, educate and direct physicians of methods and practices proven effective, substantiated by medical consensus and current research.

You name the condition and there will be a plethora of corresponding practice guidelines.

Therefore practice (what the physician does) could be at variance with care (what the patient receives).

My apologies for the dissertation and remain uncertain if this addresses the distinction you advanced.