ICICKM. International Conference on Intellectual Capital & Knowledge Management 1-2 October 2009. Montreal, Canada

1. The challenge of incorporating Knowledge Management
as a structural element in a public organization devoted
to healthcare quality in Andalusia: first steps carried out.
Authors: Reyes-Alcazar V., Sotillos-Gonzalez B., Torres-Olivera A.
Knowledge Management (KM) acquires its full meaning and potential in organizations
whose members are structured to achieve certain objectives, and is in that context where
organizational knowledge transformed into value gets importance.
The Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality is a regional institution in Spain that since
2003 is developing their work in the field of accreditation, running several accreditation
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
1-2 October 2009
programs besides a Patient Safety Observatory. These initiatives are a unique
opportunity to make progress towards evidence-based policies, both in terms of
knowledge creation & sharing and organization & management. Therefore, since 2008 a
department of Knowledge Management has been explicitly established within the
Agency, with a strategic scope. However, such formal choice cannot be considered the
only milestone related to KM in our organization.
The main steps that have so far been taken to integrate these themes in the
organization were:
1 ›
2 ›
Generation of a corporate related definition of knowledge management that is
useful, understandable and comprehensive for the staff of the Agency.
4 ›
Design and implementation of a specific section in the corporate website, which
contents are linked to Knowledge Management.
5 ›
Broadening of the work approach used till now, both internally -recognizing the
convenience of analyzing more deeply data generated by the organization- and
externally -improving the knowledge about worldwide healthcare quality initiatives-.
6 ›
Improving staff awareness in order to banish some "myths" misconceptions about
Knowledge Management.
7 ›
Research on healthcare quality as a critical source of evidence. As a result of this
initiative: design and implementation of a self-assessment tool about surveyors´
research skills.
8 ›
In brief, the implementation of a specific structure related to KM within an organization
where previously there had been no initiatives of this type requires, above all, significant
efforts to provide information, awareness and visibility from the beginning, so that their
contributions can be properly understood by the rest of the institution.
Promoting collaborative work with the accreditation departments of the Agency:
Healthcare Facilities, Professional Skills, Continuous Training, and also support
units, such as Information Systems and Corporate Communication.
3 ›
6th International Conference on Intellectual Capital,
Knowledge Management & Organisational Learning
Specific objectives assignment and annual monitoring report.
Improvement of scientific productivity and dissemination of outcomes as two critical
success factors to complete the process of Knowledge Management.
Moreover, the wide variety of topics that can be framed within the paradigm of
Knowledge Management makes necessary to establish priorities to ensure effectiveness.
In any case, as a general conclusion, organizations devoted to accreditation generate lot
of valuable knowledge, and what is needed is a scheduled strategy for processing all that
information.
DESIGN: habdes.es
www.juntadeandalucia.es/agenciadecalidadsanitaria