ABSTRACT
Background: The productivity of healthcare institutions is impacted by the nursing workforce and plays a vital role in the provision of effective and efficient patient care. Knowledge management plays a vital role in nursing practice. This study seeks to extend the frontier of knowledge by addressing the paucity of literature on knowledge management in nursing care delivery in Nigeria. Objectives: The study empirically identified crucial knowledge management enablers from extant literature and investigated their influence on patient care in clinical nursing. Method: A cross-sectional survey design using a stratified sampling method was employed. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 196 registered nurses in a selected teaching hospital in South West Nigeria. A total of 186 valid responses were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Result: The result of this study indicated that there is a direct and significant relationship between information technology (IT) and patient care. Organisational structure and organisational culture did not directly affect patient care. However, together with IT support, the knowledge management enablers were found to significantly affect patient care in clinical nursing. Conclusion: There is a need for nursing management to develop a flexible organisational structure and knowledge friendly culture including the implementation of functional technical infrastructure, to leverage knowledge management effectiveness in patient care in teaching hospitals in order to facilitate and strengthen service delivery by nurses.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This research aimed to investigate the effects of knowledge management enablers, such as organizational structure, leadership, learning, information technology systems, trust, and collaboration, on the knowledge management process of creation, storage, sharing, and application. METHODS: Using data from self-administered questionnaires in four Korean tertiary hospitals, this survey investigated the main organizational factors affecting the knowledge management process in these organizations. A total of 779 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0. RESULTS: The results showed that organizational factors affect the knowledge management process differently in each hospital organization. CONCLUSION: From a managerial perspective, the implications of these factors for developing organizational strategies that encourage and foster the knowledge management process are discussed.