Digital Tools to Support Knowledge Sharing and Cooperation in High-Investment Product-Services

Mobilizing health district management teams through digital tools: lessons from the District.team Initiative in Benin and Guinea using an action research methodology (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.13193 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Basile Keugoung ◽

Kéfilath Latoyossi Akankè Bello ◽

Tamba Mina Millimouno ◽

Sidikiba Sidibé ◽

Jean Paul Dossou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Information System ◽

Action Research ◽

Knowledge Sharing ◽

Health Information ◽

Health Information System ◽

Digital Tools ◽

Operational Level ◽

Health Authorities ◽

District Management

BACKGROUND Improving capacities of health systems to quickly respond to emerging health issues, requires a health information system (HIS) that facilitates evidence-informed decision-making at the operational level. In many sub-Saharan African countries, HIS are mostly designed to feed decision-making purposes at the central level with limited feedbacks and capabilities to take action from data at the operational level. OBJECTIVE This paper presents the case of an e-health innovation designed to capacitate health district management teams (HDMTs) through participatory evidence production and peer-to-peer exchange. METHODS With an action-research design, we developed District.team, a web-based and facilitated platform targeting HDMTs. On District.team, knowledge sharing processes are organized in cycles. Each cycle has fundamentally five steps: i) identification of a health issue to investigate together; ii) development of the online questionnaire by the facilitation team; iii) completion of the questionnaire by the HDMTs; iv) data analysis, production and publication of results; and v) discussion of results on the online discussion forum. This initiative was tested in Benin and Guinea from January 2016 to September 2017. The action-research methodology allowed us to progressively improve the approach. The evaluation rests on mixed methods data collection techniques including data extraction from intermediary reports, web analytics, nine focus groups and 18 semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders. Besides the documentation of the level of participation on the platform, we have collected data on the barriers and enablers affecting the participation of the district medical teams. RESULTS Participation on the platform was good. District.team improved explicit (data) and tacit (experience and exchange) knowledge exchange among HDMT members in Benin and Guinea. Five groups of factors affect participation: characteristics of the digital tools, the facilitation effort, profile of participants, shared content and data and support by the leadership from health authorities. CONCLUSIONS District.team has shown that there is room for knowledge management platforms and processes valuing horizontal knowledge sharing among peers active at the decentralized levels of health systems in poor resource settings. We recommend health authorities to promote the integration of such initiatives in existing health information system platforms.

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ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT IN THE VIDEO CONFERENCING ‘SPACE'

AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research ◽

10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12188 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Naomi Jane Jacobs ◽

Joseph Lindley

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Sharing ◽

Work Environment ◽

Video Conferencing ◽

Digital Tools ◽

Sense Of Presence ◽

Dramatic Shift ◽

Physical Spaces ◽

Experimental Use ◽

Ways Of Being ◽

Initial Results

The Covid-19 pandemic led to a dramatic shift in the nature of work and collaboration for our design-led research group. In this paper, we describe the experimental use of the Gather Town platform for a variety of communication and collaboration activities. This alternative to standard video conferencing software uses spatial metaphors and attempts to regain some of the affordances of physical co-location such as serendipity and a sense of presence. In creating custom Gather spaces for our team, we found that it brought positive benefits to informal collaboration in work environment. For teaching and workshop facilitation, it created additional opportunities for flexible small-group working with affordances not available with traditional break-out rooms. We also report initial results of Gather being used in a conference setting not just to recreate the liminal, informal social spaces, but as a novel form of interactive paper presentation. While each of these experimental contexts showed benefits of a spatial digital context, we also highlight some of the challenges identified. Through this work, we question future implications for workplaces, knowledge sharing and the post-pandemic world. We ask whether digital tools and technologies should be used not only to attempt replication of physical spaces and practices, but also to explore new opportunities to work in profoundly different ways, that offer independent ways of being.

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Knowledge Sharing: Wissen für den Pflegealltag

PADUA ◽

10.1024/1861-6186/a000326 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 265-267

Author(s):

Sabine Bohnet-Joschko

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Sharing

Zusammenfassung. Gesundheits- und Pflegeberufe gehören zu den wissensintensiven Dienstleistungsberufen, in denen einmal Erlerntes schnell an Aktualität verliert. So können klassische Fort- und Weiterbildungskonzepte die Dynamik der Wissensentwicklung in der Pflege kaum noch abbilden. Insbesondere für Führungskräfte gilt es, trotz zunehmender Arbeitsverdichtung eine Kultur des lebenslangen Lernens für Pflegende zu fördern. Das in den USA durchaus verbreitete, im deutschsprachigen Raum dagegen nahezu unbekannte Konzept «Lunch and Learn» soll hier vorgestellt werden.

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