The current state of knowledge management activities in health facilities in Slovakia

Abstract

The research article compares opinions of domestic and foreign authors concerning the most important knowledge management aspects through the application of which a certain model of KM implementation in a health facility is affected. Knowledge management is a discipline with a high potential for development because of highly qualified work in the health care sector, and because of changes that occur in the science itself, as well as in the surrounding social environment, requiring creation and constant sharing of knowledge. The main goal of the article is to evaluate the current state of knowledge management activities in the health facilities in Slovakia. The attention is focused on knowledge management process and its dynamics. A questionnaire distributed to the management representatives of 89 health facilities in Slovakia was used for data collection. To evaluate the questionnaire, descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were applied, and statistical significance was examined at the significance level of α=0.05 using t-test. The health facilities in Slovakia that were surveyed use codification strategy, which assumes the utilization of database information. Explicit knowledge is utilized, and knowledge workers’ priorities are not given emphasis in this strategy. Personalization strategy where knowledge is very closely linked to an individual and can only be disseminated by means of personal contact and the creation of a favorable culture is used very little and mostly in small-sized organizations. In the current health facility environment, the static model of knowledge management prevails, where the focus is primarily on existing knowledge, and on its ongoing use and replenishment using classic methods of acquisition and storage.