The major barriers and facilitators for the adoption and implementation of knowledge management in healthcare operations

Abstract

The importance of Knowledge Management (KM) to organisations in today's competitive environment is being recognised as paramount and significant. This is particularly evident for healthcare both globally and in the USA. The US healthcare system is facing numerous challenges in trying to deliver cost effective, high quality treatments and is turning to KM techniques and technologies for solutions in an attempt to achieve this goal. We examine this by outlining the primary barriers encountered in the adoption and implementation of specific KM technologies in healthcare settings and then examine these in the context of an orthopaedic case vignette. In doing so, we show the benefit of KM tools and techniques for enhancing healthcare delivery.