Healthcare knowledge management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthcare knowledge management - Research Paper Example 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 d issemination,  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 patient s 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 val idating 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 eff ective healthcare (Bali &  Dwivedi, 2006). The aims of management of healthcare  knowledge  are to address the gaps in knowledge applicable to the system of healthcare,