Utilization and Perceived Benefit for Diverse Users of Communities of Practice in a Healthcare Organization

Communities of practice have been heralded as a powerful knowledge management tool, especially for geographically disparate workgroups. Research into knowledge management (KM) in healthcare organizations is a needed research focus, given that differences exist in knowledge and knowledge management processes between healthcare and other organization types. The research presented in this paper examines the effectiveness of communities of practice as a knowledge sharing tool in a large and geographically disparate healthcare organization. Findings suggest that job role affects community members’ perceptions of the benefit and impact of communities of practice as well as their participation in such communities

Aged care informatics: exploring the role of information, knowledge and aged care management

Aged care is projected to be the fastest-growing sector within health and community care industries. Strengthening the care-giving workforce, compliance, delivery and technology is not only vital to our social infrastructure and improving the quality of care, but also has the potential to drive long-term economic growth and contribute to the GDP. This paper examines the role of knowledge management (KM) in aged care organizations to assist in the delivery of aged care. With limited research related to KM in aged care, this paper advances knowledge and offers a unique view of KM from the perspective of 22 aged care stakeholders. Using indepth interviewing, this paper explores the definition of knowledge in aged care facilities, the importance of knowledge planning, capture and diffusion for accreditation purposes and offers recommendations for the development of sustainable knowledge management practice and development. The paper culminates in an offering a checklist for aged care facilities and advances the discourse in this sector