Knowledge Management Factors as Building Blocks of Quality of Care in Healthcare Systems

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to review national and international professional literature on the impact of knowledge management factors on the quality of care in healthcare systems.
Methodology: A review of national and international professional literature was conducted using Scopus, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest databases to search for freely accessible scientific articles and doctoral dissertations. We searched for doctoral dissertations in the Slovenian language of the University of Primorska, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Maribor, and the electronic library of the Faculty of Organizational Studies in Novo Mesto. We further searched for doctoral dissertations in English in the PQDT Open database. We identified 201 articles and 9 doctoral dissertations. After the screening phase, we included 19 full-text articles in the study.
Results: We identified the following key knowledge management factors that impact the quality of patient care in the healthcare system: knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge application, knowledge storage, and leadership.
Conclusion: The literature review showed that the application of knowledge management factors contributes to more productive and efficient work within the healthcare system. Additionally, these knowledge management factors have a positive impact on the implementation of improvements, job performance, job satisfaction, and the quality of healthcare services.

Keywords: Knowledge acquisition, Knowledge sharing, Knowledge application, Knowledge storage, Leadership