Knowledge Management for Health Care and Long-Term Care in the Technology-Organization-Environment Context

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to propose a framework examining the impacts of technological, organizational and environmental factors on the innovation adoption of knowledge management (KM) in long-term care context. This chapter begins with the definition, rationale and importance of KM. Secondly, KM stories, KM in long-term care, prior frameworks in long-term care and knowledge barriers in health care settings will be reviewed. Furthermore, the KM for long-term care in Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework is discussed and proposed. The technology dimension includes security, complexity and costs. Besides, organizational dimension is composed of top management support, firm size, nursing leadership and the readiness. For environmental dimensions, this chapter will focus on competitive pressure and vendor support. As KM is proven to understand performance in long-term care organizations, the proposed framework provides insight to health care organization leaders on how to enhance the effectiveness of KM system.