Kay, you've asked a very good question here. (at least I attributed this one correctly, eh?) (-;
The short answer to your question is that systems haven't been put in place yet to make the sharing practical and effective. The entire hospital may not be ready to change (yet), but at least the neo-natal clinic may need to transform itself to realize an effective way of sharing knowledge. In the case of nursing, and medical care in general, there have been some tremendous strides to develop recognized team practices which encourages collaborative contributions from each member of the team. Culturally, though, I suspect that the medical profession, like most other professions, is still an individual contributor culture. The performance drivers are usually ones that encourage individual contribution. Knowledge management practices are based on 4 unnatural acts--sharing my knowledge with others; using (knowledge created by someone else); creating (knowledge that I'll share with someone else); and improving (the knowledge that "we've" created). Without developing the capacity for team (collaborative) practices, the knowledge sharing that does happen will always be driven through sub-systemic practices (like the community of practice). I can go on at length...but thought it might be more worthwhile to point people who are interested towards a few resources (on and off-line). Here are 2 sites that provide some information resources about different aspects of KM: http://www.cio.com/sponsors/091599_km_1.html http://www.outsights.com Some interesting books on the topic include: Anne Brooking, Corporate Memory Thomas Stewart, Intellectual Capital Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company and one I haven't gotten to yet (which I hope is as good as these other 3) Carla O'Dell, et al., If Only We Knew What We Know ------------------ "I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education." --Thomas Jefferson Richard Charles Holloway - P.O. Box 2361, Olympia, WA 98507 USA Telephone 253.539.4014 or 206.568.7730 Thresholds <http://www.thresholds.com> Meeting Masters <http://www.thresholds.com/masters.html>