Knowledge Management for Healthcare 337Copyright © 2005, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without writtento meet the challenges described above and reiterates that this challenge cannot be met
by an ICT-led solution.
KM initiatives should be incorporated within the technological revolution that is
speeding across healthcare industry. There has to be balance between organizational
and technological aspects of the healthcare process, that is, one cannot exist without the
other (Dwivedi et al., 2001a). The report emphasized the importance of clinicians taking
a holistic view of their organization. Clinicians therefore need to have an understanding
of ICT in a healthcare context and a shared vision of the organization. Clinicians and
healthcare administrators thus need to acquire both organizational and technological
insights if they are to have a holistic view of their organization.
The KM paradigm can enable the healthcare sector to successfully overcome the
information and knowledge explosion, made possible by adopting a KM framework that
is specially customized for HIs in light of their ICT implementation level. Adoption of KM
is essential for HIs as it would enable them to identify, preserve, and disseminate “best
context” healthcare practices to different HSs.
The report additionally identified four elements (Figure 2) that would be integral to
any such KM framework for the healthcare industry. It is emphasized that when an
attempt is made to formalize knowledge in an institutional framework, the multidisciplinary
nature of healthcare knowledge in an organizational context emerges.
Report No. 2: Creation of a template for clinical knowledge management (CKM)
solutions for the healthcare sector
Based on empirical data from the healthcare sector, Company X was presented with
a four-layer KM framework, the Organization Current Knowledge Design (OCKD) model,
which could serve as a generic toolkit for HIs who are interested in developing an
understanding on how to develop a KM strategy (see Figures 3 and 4). As one goes on
Figure 2. Requirements for a KM framework