Towards a Holistic Knowledge Management Framework for Healthcare Institutions

Despite substantial investments in information technology (IT), organizations have not been able to exploit the advantages of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution to the desired extent. This is also true for the healthcare sector. Twenty first century healthcare practitioners face the challenge of transforming large amounts of data into information, which then has to be converted into contextual knowledge. This process of knowledge creation and conversion is further accentuated as transformation of information into knowledge calls for: (1) contextual recognition of information and (2) a mechanism to support effective transfer of knowledge. Also reinforced is the recognition that it is essential to have a framework that supports the dissemination of the contextual knowledge acquired. We argue the Knowledge Management (KM) paradigm is aptly suited for this purpose. However, the lack of an explicit and generic framework for adopting KM has hindered its rapid acceptance in the healthcare sector. Using data inputs from a collaborating organization, we then present the Organization Current Knowledge Design (OCKD) model a holistic and generic KM framework that could help healthcare organizations to navigate this difficult change process.