Effectiveness of Knowledge Acquisition in Medical Education: An argumentative literature review of the resources’s requirements

Abstract

Background: The economic foundation and competitive advantage of medical organizations depend on their reliance on knowledge and its effective management. Knowledge Management (KM) consists of interconnected processes developed for acquiring, organizing, transferring, applying, and reproducing knowledge. Knowledge acquisition is a fundamental issue in educational organizations, especially in those responsible for medical education development. Knowledge resources and users are two major factors affecting the acquisition of medical knowledge. Methods: Argumentative literature review is used in this study.The Search sources include PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The keywords for the search terms included "Knowledge management and medical education, healthcare and medicine. Inclusion criteria were: English and Persian language papers, Original published papers, Medical-focused articles and Articles published in the last fifty years. Exclusion criteria were: Articles written in languages other than English and Persian, Articles not related to the medical sciences and Conference and non-original papers. The study questions focuses on three components: repositories, content and ICT, including: 1) What are the requirements of medical “knowledge repositories” for optimal knowledge acquisition?, 2) What are the requirements of medical “knowledge content” for optimal knowledge acquisition,? And 3) what are the” ICT” requirements for optimal knowledge acquisition?. Results: Argumentative review of literature describe and summarize the principles of knowledge acquisition in medical education, focusing on knowledge resources and its components including: repositories, content, and Information and Communication Technology. Conclusion: Considering the fundamental role of medical universities in the development of medical knowledge and practice on one hand, and the importance of innovative and knowledge-based activities on the other hand, these universities should constantly benefit from the findings of different areas of medical science in training medical students. The acquisition and management of modern medical knowledge and techniques can help medical professors and students examine curriculum contents with respect to modern technological developments and medical education approaches. These processes would also lead to constructive developments and changes in medical education.