How Knowledge Management (KM) can be applied to healthcare organizations?

Abstract Information and its increasing effective use in decision making has caused the emergence of KM. The core reasons leading to emergence of KM are: (1) The shift from the dominancy of tangible assets era to intellectual capital era, (2) The dramatic increases in the volume of information, its electronic storage and increased access to information in general, and (3) The demographical changes accompanied with the danger of losing people through retirements. Initially, information technology departments were the focus of KM initiatives, however, as the focus moved to people's expertise, other departments became increasingly involved. Six strategies have been offered as KM strategies. These are the Knowledge Strategy as Business Strategy, the Intellectual Asset Management Strategy, the Personal Knowledge Asset Responsibility Strategy, the Knowledge Creation Strategy, the Knowledge Transfer Strategy, and the Customer-Focused Knowledge Strategy. To find theoretical concepts of KM and its applicability in healthcare organizations, different knowledge management-associated journals such as the Information Research and the Knowledge Management Practice journals, published since 1990, were examined. Search engines such as the Science Direct and the Emerald were also used for hunting internet sources.