Standardization of Knowledge Management - Annotated Bibliography Example

Introduction Knowledge Management is evolving to be a key tool in all sorts of organizational and process managements. The standardization of knowledge management methodologies would directly result in improvisations in the management of resources and improving the methodologies in organizational routines. Researchers across the world are continuously engaging in studies relating the standardization of Knowledge management tools. Five different research studies dealing with varied subjects are being dealt in this annotated bibliography. The five articles being included in the annotated bibliography are Bodenreider (2008, 67-79), Achour (2001, 351-360), Kashyap (2006, 418) , Abidi (2001, 5-18) and Montani & Bellazzi (2002, 79-90). All of the five research articles critically relates with the medical industry and the application of knowledge management in the same. Reference no.1 Bodenreider, O 2008, ‘Biomedical Ontologies in Action: Role in Knowledge Management, Data Integration and Decision Support’ , Yearb Med Inform; pp. 67– 79. Argument The main purpose of this research is to identify and provide critically relevant examples for the role of biomedical ontologies in the data integration, decision support and knowledge management. The author has primarily explained the importance of standardization of biomedical ontologies and their role in knowledge management with the support of a number published literatures. Methodology The methodology used in this research article is the survey and review of published literatures and operational systems. The strength of the research is that it has followed a functional perspective in the methodology. This statement is confirmed by the fact that the cases of usage of ontologies in operational systems have been included in the research. Some examples for these are the inclusion of ontologies like SNOMED CT, LOINC, FMA, the Gene Ontology, RxNorm, UMLS etc. On the other side, adding to the strength of the research, recent research articles are referred as well. This provides relevant scientific support to the survey findings. Summary The finding of the research confirms the importance of ontologies in biomedical research. The use of ontologies as a key input towards knowledge management is reiterated in the survey. This indicates the local application of the survey findings with relevance to knowledge management. The conclusions have provided scope for further research on the application of standardized oncologies in knowledge management. Weakness However, one weakness that pertains to the research is that the inclusion criteria for the literatures included in the survey has not been mentioned. However, the wide range of references included justifies this. Reference 2 Soumeya, L A; Micheal ,D; Clarie, R; Phillipie & Eric L 2001, ‘A UMLS-based Knowledge Acquisition Tool for Rule based Clinical Decision Support System Development’, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Vol. 8, No.4, pp.351-360 Argument The main purpose of the article is to explain a knowledge acquisition tool called ULMS designed by the authors basically aiding knowledge management in the medical field. The creation of a knowledgebase by a medical expert resultantly helping other experts to use it as further reference is the practical level application of this research. Thus the article has direct implications with reference to knowledge management and is a scientific contribution to the field of knowledge management. Methodology The methodology followed by the authors followed two clearly defined steps. First of which is the creation of the domain oncology using UMLS and the second is the formation of domain knowledge. The clear definition and explanation of the methodology is the key strength of the article. Illustrations of the methodology through flowcharts and screenshots add to the clarity of the article. The article has referred to a case study in the area of blood transfusion so as to prove the efficacy of the research. Summary The summary of the article suggests that UMLS is an ideal platform for knowledge sharing and reuse and also represent specific knowledge. Weakness One weakness of this article is that it fails to include references which contradict the hypothesis of the authors. The counter arguments on the methodology followed by the authors have not been included in the article. However, with reference to the implication of the conclusion of the study in the knowledge management in medical field, the efforts and cost of the research is justified. Reference 3 Kashyapa,V; Moralesb, A; Hongsermeiera,T; On Implementing Clinical Decision Support: Achieving Scalability and Maintainability by Combining Business Rules and Ontologies, Proceedings of the AMIA Symposium, 2006 Argument The authors, through the paper propose a design and approach for implementing a measurable and maintainable decision support system in Partners Health Care System, Wellesley. The argument of the authors is that this Clinical decision support architecture will improve the efficacy of decision making and the health care process in general. Methodology The authors have referred to a number of literatures which suggested models for the automation of clinical practices. Tu SW& Musen ,( 1999,pp. 420-424), Sugden; Purves; Booth & Sowerby (1999,pp. 359-363), Fox & Rahmanzadeh (1998, pp.157-181) are few of the literatures quoted by the author in this context. The authors have used the guidelines of American Diabetes Association for lipid management to define the business object model design and the rule base design. Summary Using this base information the authors have suggested the Clinical decision support architecture. The strength of the article is that the objective and the methodology of the research are very much focused. As the experimental area is confined to a particular Health Care System, the precision of the conclusion is ensured. Weakness The limited experimental space proves to be a weakness of the experiment as well. The main weakness of the architecture as concluded by the authors is that it has been designed with reference to have implications specifically in Partners Health Care System. This limits the possibility of local application of the results of the study generically in knowledge management. Another major disadvantage is the low number of cross references used for the study. The authors have used merely 17 references as suggested by the bibliography. The relevance of the references used is also a major concern. Only one peer reviewed reference has been used of the year 2004 and all the others dare backs to dates before 1999. However, the study can be used a relevant reference for further research in the area of knowledge management in heath care industry. Reference 4 Abidi, S S R, 2001, ‘Knowledge management in healthcare: towards ‘knowledge-driven’ decision-support services’, International Journal of Medical Informatics Vol. 63, pp. 5– 18 Argument The objective of the article is to highlight the role of knowledge management in enhancing the strategic decision making, planning and management of health care enterprises. Methodology The methodology followed by the authors is to primarily explain a Knowledge Management environment which is further used as reference in the article. Thereon the authors explain the functional and architectural specifications of such a knowledge management system. Summary The article finding suggests practical possibilities for improving the capacities of health care enterprises on strategic decision making, planning and management .The paper is of high relevance to the field of knowledge management especially in health care industry as it reiterates the positive ways in which a knowledge management system synergizes knowledge replication, storage, decision making and healthcare precision. Thus the article can be considered of high local implication. The authors have referred to an explicit range of literatures to support their argument. For instance, more than 12 references have been made to confirm the relevance of knowledge management in health care. The argument made by the authors is that the healthcare enterprise memory as suggested by the authors serves as a resource for strategic planning and management for the healthcare policy makers. Another important strength of the article is the explanatory nature of the architecture involved. Weakness The inclusion criteria of the literatures referred to is not mentioned in the article. This serves as a weakness of the article. However, the findings of the study are locally applicable in knowledge management field and also form a good reference material for further research in the area. Reference No. 5 Montani, S & Bellazzi, R, 2002, ‘Supporting decisions in medical applications: the knowledge management perspective’, International Journal of Medical Informatics . Vol. 68 ,pp. 79_/90 Argument The main purpose of the article is to prove that that the decision support system should be integrated with knowledge management task. Methodology The methodology followed by the authors to propose such a model is through the integration of Case Based Reasoning and Rule Based Reasoning. The strength of the article is that the methodology proposed by the authors has been successfully tested on a practical basis in diabetes patient management. Summary The article has provided detailed references on the management of medical knowledge. The author has explained the methodologies in knowledge management including Rule Based Reasoning and Case Based Reasoning. The key strength of the article is that it provides a good background research in the field of medical knowledge management. The case study on diabetes management has been explained in detail so as to substantiate the practical application of the conclusions of the article. Thus the article has local implications in the context of knowledge management. Weakness The lack of statement on reliability of the references included serves as a weakness of the article. Adding to this point, it must be noted that out of 37 references used, only four references are new and many others dates back to more than a decade. The finding of the article is that to make use of all the advantages of the available sources of information, MMR technology is ideal which integrates the benefits of CBR and RBR. Conclusion All the five articles cited above clearly refer to knowledge management and its implications in the medical field. The articles are complimentary to each other as in combination they deal with both specific and generic contexts in medical knowledge management. All of the five articles confirm the role of knowledge management in improving the efficacy of healthcare. A range of methodologies to improve the knowledge management process has been suggested by all the five articles. In general all the five articles argue on the benefits of knowledge management with relevance to healthcare industry and suggest models and architectures to improve the process of knowledge management. Read More