Electronic Health Record as a Knowledge Management Tool in the Scope of Health

Abstract

The concept of knowledge management, introduced by Peter Drucker at the end of the 90s and promoted by figures like Gary Hamel and Coimbatore K Prahalad, is based on the idea that companies must throw themselves into the knowledge of their professionals in order to obtain a competitive advantage in front of their direct competitors, either on costs or on differentiation, and to reach the higher value for the client. In the last years, this conception, linked to the post-capitalist society, is starting to be applied in the scope of health.

This requirement is translated on the fact that managers of health centers, regardless of if they are private or public, direct the information systems towards their healthcare professionals, essentially physicians and nurses, since they are the ones who have the knowledge to generate more added value in the patient, which is the ultimate reason of being of any healthcare organization. Electronic Healthcare Record Systems can be considered a subsystem of knowledge management.

This paper summarizes the pillars to hold up the knowledge generated within a healthcare organization using the Electronic Health Record as the core element and engine for the more advanced Knowledge Management Systems. The paper compares the most extended market solutions of the healthcare environment in the Spanish national territory.