Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors of Clinical Knowledge Sharing among Medical Specialists in University Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Clinical knowledge sharing (CKS) is one of the key points of knowledge management in the field of health and significantly increases the quality of care and patient safety. It also provides the achievement of an efficient system in hospitals and educational and treatment centers involved in clinical processes in order to make the best clinical decisions. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors that facilitate and inhibit CKS among medical specialists in the educational-treatment hospitals in Iran. Methods: This was an applied qualitative study with the conventional content analysis method conducted in 2022. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. The participants were 13 medical specialists and sub-specialists working in educational-treatment hospitals of the country, who were selected by purposeful and snowball sampling. The method of data analysis was based on Graneheim and Lundman's five-step method, which was followed by codes, sub-categories, main categories, and classifications. Results: After conducting the interviews and assessing their content, finally, 193 codes were extracted, which were identified in two general classification of facilitating and inhibiting factors with 92 and 101 concepts, respectively. Facilitating factors in the three main categories of "education in the context of culture, society and university", "planning and implementation management", and "behavioral-motivational factors" and inhibiting factors in the four main categories of "infrastructural, policy-making and cultural challenges", "technological and scientific infrastructural challenges", "personality-behavioral challenges", and "financial and non-financial motivations" were classified. Conclusions: The participants of the research pointed out the effective role of CKS in keeping them up-to-date in the use of diagnostic, therapeutic, and even drug prescribing methods. According to their belief, knowledge sharing (KS) in the clinical setting will reduce diagnostic errors and cause the primordial prevention of diseases as well as increase the knowledge and awareness of the society members.