A Conceptual Framework for Community Pediatrics Using Knowledge Management

Knowledge management, the management of corporate and individual knowledge, has been adopted by many organizations,including medicine. However, Knowledge management in community pediatrics, an arm of public health, has not been fullyresearched. Although, medical information systems have been developed over the past decade, they have not fully solved thecapture, retrieval and reuse of medical knowledge. This is because most of the information systems deal with informationtechnologies excluding intellectual resources, which in reality is the most important part of knowledge management. Thispaper proposes a conceptual framework for knowledge management in community pediatrics. First, it gives a high-leveloverview of medical knowledge and knowledge management. Next, it discusses knowledge in the media domain. It explainsthe conceptual framework proposed, giving details of the various knowledge management components. The paper isconcluded with a brief discussion on other application areas of the framework.Keywords: knowledge management; community pediatrics; public health; medical knowledge; medicine.

Applications of Industrial Statistics

This dissertation examines knowledge and industrial knowledge creation processes. It looks at the way knowledge is created in industrial processes based on data, which is transformed into information and finally into knowledge. In the context of this dissertation the main tool for industrial knowledge creation are different statistical methods. This dissertation strives to define industrial statistics. This is done using an expert opinion survey, which was sent to a number of industrial statisticians. The survey was conducted to create a definition for this field of applied statistics and to demonstrate the wide applicability of statistical methods to industrial problems. In this part of the dissertation, traditional methods of industrial statistics are introduced. As industrial statistics are the main tool for knowledge creation, the basics of statistical decision making and statistical modeling are also included. The widely known Data Information Knowledge Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy serves as a theoretical background for this dissertation. The way that data is transformed into information, information into knowledge and knowledge finally into wisdom is used as a theoretical frame of reference. Some scholars have, however, criticized the DIKW model. Based on these different perceptions of the knowledge creation process, a new knowledge creation process, based on statistical methods is proposed. In the context of this dissertation, the data is a source of knowledge in industrial processes. Because of this, the mathematical categorization of data into continuous and discrete types is explained. Different methods for gathering data from processes are clarified as well. There are two methods for data gathering in this dissertation: survey methods and measurements. The enclosed publications provide an example of the wide applicability of statistical methods in industry. In these publications data is gathered using surveys and measurements. Enclosed publications have been chosen so that in each publication, different statistical methods are employed in analyzing of data. There are some similarities between the analysis methods used in the publications, but mainly different methods are used. Based on this dissertation the use of statistical methods for industrial knowledge creation is strongly recommended. With statistical methods it is possible to handle large datasets and different types of statistical analysis results can easily be transformed into knowledge.Siirretty Doriast

Os sistemas de Informação, Gestão e Apoio Operacional no apoio à tomada de decisão : O Sistema de Gestão das Salas de Situação

Assistimos hodiernamente à automatização de procedimentos nas organizações, dado à inserção das novas tecnologias, e mais em concreto das ferramentas computacionais, no ambiente organizacional. Esta automatização permite a simplificação do processo de tomada de decisão, a manipulação de dados e lidar com o excesso de informação. No seu dia-a-dia, a Guarda Nacional Republicana enfrenta uma elevada diversidade e complexidade de ocorrências, que motiva a utilização de um sistema de informação que se constitua como primeira linha da Gestão das Ocorrências, permitindo ao comandante gerir criteriosamente os seus meios no processo de tomada de decisão. Este trabalho de investigação tem como objetivo descrever de que forma pode o Sistema de Gestão das Salas de Situação influenciar a tomada de decisão. Para tal foi realizado um estudo de caso, reunindo um grupo de sete Chefes de Sala de Situação, reunindo-os num painel de especialistas para aplicar o método de Delphi, visando inferir as potencialidades do sistema e as vulnerabilidades sentidas pelos operadores. Foram também aplicados inquéritos por questionário aos operadores do sistema no sentido de compreender a sua perceção de utilidade desta ferramenta na gestão de meios. A análise de resultados permitiu verificar que o Sistema de Gestão das Salas de Situação é uma importante ferramenta na gestão de ocorrências, ao fornecer informação necessária à tomada de decisão do comandante, embora possua imperfeições que necessitam de ser mitigadas, no sentido de serem exploradas as potencialidades na sua plenitude. Conclui-se com esta investigação que o Sistema de Gestão das Salas de Situação facilita a tomada de decisão ao fornecer informações acerca das ocorrências ativas na zona de ação da sua Unidade, bem como das patrulhas disponíveis. Este sistema, deve ser complementado com a utilização do Sistema de Informação de Gestão dos meios SIRESP, para que o comandante consiga percecionar a localização das patrulhas disponíveis. Desta forma, o comandante consegue tomar decisões de maneira mais sustentada, permitindo a rápida mobilização dos recursos policiais, visando a excelência operacional e o aumento de eficácia da ação policial.It is possible to see nowadays the automation of procedures in organizations, due to the arising of new technologies, and more specifically the use of computational tools in the organizational environment. This automation allows the simplification of the decision-making process, the manipulation of data and dealing with the excess of information. In its daily routine, the National Republican Guard faces highly diverse and complex occurrences, reason that motivates the usage of an information system as a first line in Incident Management, allowing the commander to carefully manage its resources in the decision-making process. This field research aims to describe in what way the Management Information System of Situational Rooms can influence the decision-making process. To do so, it was conducted a case study analysis, gathering a group of seven Situational Room Chiefs, gathering them in a panel of specialists to apply the Delphi method. The aim of this questionnaire was to assess both the system’s potential and vulnerabilities witnessed by operators. Quantitative questionnaire surveys were also applied to the system operators in order to assess their perception of usefulness in the resources management. The analysis of both Delphi and quantitative questionnaires allowed to verify that the Management Information System of Situational Rooms is an important tool in the Incident Management, by providing necessary information to the commander’s decision-making, despite its imperfections that need to be corrected, in order to explore its full potential. The main conclusion from this field research is that the Management Information System of Situational Rooms supports the decision-making process by providing information about active incidents in the jurisdiction of its Unit, as well as available patrols. This system must be complemented with the usage of the Management Information System of the SIRESP resources, so that the commander can perceive the location of the available patrols. In this way the commander can make decisions in a more sustained way, allowing a quicker mobilization of the patrols, aiming the operational excellence and the increased efficiency of the police action