Realising the knowledge spiral in healthcare: The role of data mining and knowledge management

Nilmini Wickramasinghe, Rajeev K. Bali, M. Chris Gibbons, Jonathan Schaffer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Knowledge Management (KM) is an emerging business approach aimed at solving current problems such as competitiveness and the need to innovate which are faced by businesses today. The premise for the need for KM is based on a paradigm shift in the business environment where knowledge is central to organizational performance [1]. Organizations trying to embrace KM have many tools, techniques and strategies at their disposal. A vital technique in KM is data mining which enables critical knowledge to be gained from the analysis of large amounts of data and information. The healthcare industry is a very information rich industry. The collecting of data and information permeate most, if not all areas of this industry; however, the healthcare industry has yet to fully embrace KM, let alone the new evolving techniques of data mining. In this paper, we demonstrate the ubiquitous benefits of data mining and KM to healthcare by highlighting their potential to enable and facilitate superior clinical practice and administrative management to ensue. Specifically, we show how data mining can realize the knowledge spiral by effecting the four key transformations identified by Nonaka [2] of turning: (1) existing explicit knowledge to new explicit knowledge, (2) existing explicit knowledge to new tacit knowledge, (3) existing tacit knowledge to new explicit knowledge and (4) existing tacit knowledge to new tacit knowledge. This is done through the establishment of theoretical models that respectively identify the function of the knowledge spiral and the powers of data mining, both exploratory and predictive, in the knowledge discovery process. Our models are then applied to a healthcare data set to demonstrate the potential of this approach as well as the implications of such an approach to the clinical and administrative aspects of healthcare. Further, we demonstrate how these techniques can facilitate hospitals to address the six healthcare quality dimensions identified by the Committee for Quality Healthcare [3].

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedical and Care Compunetics 5
PublisherIOS Press
Pages147-162
Number of pages16
ISBN (Print)9781586038687
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes
Event5th Annual ICMCC event on Medical Care and Compunetics: Patient Empowerment - The Power of Information, ICMCC 2008 - London, United Kingdom
Duration: Jun 9 2008Jun 11 2008

Publication series

NameStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume137
ISSN (Print)0926-9630
ISSN (Electronic)1879-8365

Other

Other5th Annual ICMCC event on Medical Care and Compunetics: Patient Empowerment - The Power of Information, ICMCC 2008
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLondon
Period6/9/086/11/08

Keywords

  • Data mining
  • Explicit knowledge
  • Healthcare
  • Knowledge management
  • Knowledge spiral
  • Tacit knowledge

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Health Informatics
  • Health Information Management

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