Factors Affecting IT-Based Knowledge Management Strategy in UK Healthcare System

The technological development by the beginning of the 21st century is making it humanly impossible for unaided healthcare professionals to possess all the knowledge needed to deliver medical care with the efficacy and safety made possible by current scientific knowledge. Several healthcare organizations are adopting rigorous methods and technologies for KM as a potential solution to the knowledge predicament. However, awareness and understanding of such methods are not widespread with critics claiming that these technologies are not designed to be compatible with others neither are they interoperable. This paper describes an effort by the NHS for individuals, organizations and partners (commercial companies supplying services to the NHS) to demonstrate their belief in the importance of improving KM in medicine and show that this can be best achieved through collaboration and consensus. It looks at National Knowledge Service, set up to provide a range of services, through one or more open-access web sites. There is an asymmetry in most of the discussion of the field. KM, in this paper, is primarily discussed from the point of view of the user of medical knowledge. The motivation is seen to be the enhancement capabilities, and the utilization of knowledge to increase healthcare effectiveness.

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