Just-in-Time Delivery Comes to Knowledge Management

In this article, it speaks about the constantly changing medical field and the knowledge about 10,000 diseases and syndromes, 3,000 medications, 1,100 lab tests and additions to biomedical literature which equals about 400,000. The article discusses the amount of knowledge Dr. Goldszer must have. By showing all of these shocking dynamics it illustrate of the knowledge-intensive character of knowledge management. Of the reactions that were preventable, more than half were caused by inappropriate drug prescriptions. I found this statement to be frightening, but this problem of knowledge management is not only in the medical field, but it can be found in almost every other occupation as well.

The author points out the fact that the earlier generations of knowledge management required some additional work even after the initial work was complete. The key to success is to bake specialized knowledge into the jobs of highly skilled workers. Partners HealthCare has started to embed knowledge into the technology that doctors use in their jobs so that consulting it is no longer a separate activity.Knowledge-based order entry, referral, computerized medical-record, and event-detection systems operate in real-time, at least in the case examined here. The authors offer six suggestions ranging from technical to managerial and cultural factors to help executives get started implementing their new system.

By tailoring just-in-time knowledge management system to deliver the right supporting information for the job at hand could benefit other knowledge workers in their specific fields.