Evaluating Factors that affect knowledge sharing among health care professionals in the medical imaging department in two cancer centres: A Concurrent Mixed Methods Approach (Preprint)

Abstract

Knowledge sharing is a crucial part of any knowledge management implementation. It refers to sharing skills and experience among team members in an organisation. In a healthcare setting, sharing knowledge, whether tacit or explicit is important and can lead to better healthcare services. In medical imaging departments, knowledge sharing can be of particular importance. There are several factors that affects knowledge sharing practices in the medical imaging departments: individual, departmental, and technological. Evaluating the importance of these factors and understanding their use can help with improving knowledge sharing practices in medical imaging departments.

We aimed to assess the level of motivation, identify current knowledge sharing tools, and to evaluate factors affecting knowledge sharing in the medical image departments of two cancer centres, The Christie Hospital, UK and the Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC).

A concurrent mixed methods study was conducted through non-probability sampling techniques between February 1, 2023, and July 30, 2023. Semi-structured interviews were used to validate the results of the sampling. Data was collected using an electronic questionnaire which was distributed among healthcare professionals using Qualtrics in both cancer centres. Semi-structured interviews were conducted online using Microsoft Teams. The quantitative data was analysed using Qualtrics MX software to report the results of each question, while the qualitative data was analysed using a thematic approach with codes classified through N-Vivo.

56 respondents participated from Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC), and 29 from the Christie with a 100% response rate. 17 (58.6%) healthcare professionals from the Christie Daily shared their knowledge by using emails and face- to -face communication as main tools for knowledge sharing, and 32 (57.1%) from the KCCC used face -to -face communication for knowledge sharing. The mean value scores of Likert scale of all the components that assess the factors that affect knowledge sharing behaviours fell between Somehow Agree and Strongly Agree in both centres, excepting the extrinsic motivation, which was Neither Agree nor Disagree. Those results reflected the result related to the incentives. Those results reflected the result related to the incentives. It was shown that 15 (51.7%) had no incentives to encourage knowledge sharing practices. Therefore, setting clear policies to manage the incentives is important to increase knowledge sharing practices among them.

This study offered an evaluation of knowledge sharing factors in two cancer centres. Most of healthcare professionals are aware of the importance of knowledge sharing practices in enhancing healthcare services. Several challenges were identified such as time constraints, a lack of staff, and the languages barriers that limit of knowledge sharing practices. Therefore, setting a clear policy for knowledge sharing is vital to practicing knowledge sharing behaviours and facing any challenges that limit of this practice.