Healthcare knowledge management - Research Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages... This paper is a critical analysis of a qualitative healthcare study titled, Healthcare Knowledge Management: The Art of the Possible by Syed Sibte Raza Abidi. It was published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg in 2008. Problem Statement Healthcare and the field of medicine are areas which are characterized by rich knowledge. However, this knowledge is often underutilized especially during times of care or need There is exponential growth, in the healthcare sector, in the understanding of diseases, procedures for treatment and measures of patient care. On the other hand, this significant growth has resulted in healthcare knowledge to tend to a flux because of the generation of new knowledge at a fast pace. It is necessary to note that the utilization of this knowledge significantly impacts healthcare delivery, health outcomes and patient care. The ability of the clinical personnel or staff is also not congruent in the appropriate dissemination, application and translation of the healthcare knowledge that is currently generated in the clinical practice (Jackson, 2000). This form of knowledge is usually available in a different medium, but occurs in large volumes thus posing a challenge to the healthcare experts to be aware and implement the pertinent and relevant parts to the decisions of patient care. These decisions need to rely on the most relevant, appropriate and current knowledge available, and implement alongside the available data on point-of-care patient as well as in line with the therapeutic references of the patients. Recent studies have also proven that healthcare professionals have limited access and implementation of the current healthcare knowledge, and this ultimately affects the most sensitive part which is the optimal healthcare delivery to patients. Several surveys and studies have reported over 98,000 deaths of patients each year due to preventable errors. Another study revealed that 11% patients admitted to hospitals experienced or encountered adverse events, 48% of the occurrences would have been prevented if the right and relevant knowledge is applicable (Bates et al, 2003). These evidences show the under utilization of the continuously generated healthcare knowledge, which results to wrong clinical decisions, under utilization of resources, medical errors and high costs of healthcare delivery. Purpose and Research Questions Healthcare knowledge is highly critical in decision making, in clinical situations involving the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Implementation of this knowledge in the correct way ensures effective diagnostic decisions and subsequent working therapeutic regimes. Decision making by clinical experts occurs in a cyclic way characterized by application of the healthcare knowledge in validating the initial hypotheses, which meets the requirements of the final decision and deals with potential challenges (Montani & Bellazzi, 2002). There is dynamic contextualization of the healthcare knowledge in interpreting the health status of a patient, and finding the right treatment interventions that suit each patient, in a specific situation or clinical condition. The key to achieving such successful and effective decisions and treatment regimes is by making the relevant, current and correct knowledge available to clinical professionals in line to their clinical context. The author believes that the timely and effective use of such knowledge can transform the potential and nature of healthcare practices. This has the sure potential of yielding high and quality levels of team care, patient care, patient centeredness, quality care, and cost effective healthcare (Bali & Dwivedi, 2006). The aims of management of healthcare knowledge are to address the gaps in knowledge applicable to the system of healthcare, ...Download file to see next pagesRead More