Future prospects for knowledge management in the field of health

Abstract

The health care systems in the western democracies face today problems that relate to the implementation systems in the field of health policies. Knowledge management is important since it is the prerequisite for planning and implementing more intelligent health policies and practices. Updated conceptualization of knowledge management theory is a precondition for successful health care reform in modern welfare states. This paper is conceptual and theoretically oriented paper. The purpose of this article is to define key drivers of new knowledge management theory and use the health care service system as a case example. Nonaka's classical spiral of knowledge (and SECI model with knowledge dimensions) is a foundation for thinking on the future developments of knowledge management. What Nonaka's "dynamic ba" actually includes, is a key question and a big challenge. In this paper, we have outlined a concrete proposal for this critical concept. Key issues of "dynamic ba" will be Big Data management (and associated skills), new crowdsourcing techniques, new forms of customer behaviour, systemic KM integration (service needs, service design and orchestration, service architecture, and service science) and the on-going 3rd wave of digitalization (Internet of Things and robotics).