Version 3.

0 March 30, 2010

Knowledge Management
policy for Health - Service,
Education and Research
Department of Health Research

Draft Document
 Draft Document

Knowledge Management policy for

Health - Service, Education and
Research
Department of Health Research

Preamble

“Knowledge” goes beyond “databases”. It is an understanding of a topic. It includes technical

and scientific, also refers to formal and informal sources of understanding ( for example
experience). It could be context specific and or theoretical. It will have to be converted into a
usable KM product for ultimate application.

Knowledge could be – research based knowledge, project and programme knowledge,

participating knowledge and multiple knowledges ( sources).

Knowledge Management (KM) envisages capturing, creating, sharing and managing

knowledge. KM comprises of three components (i) people who create, share and use knowledge
as part of their daily work and help shape a knowledge sharing organizational culture (ii)
Processes which include methods to acquire, create, organize, share and transfer knowledge to
fit different situations and (iii) The technology including the mechanisms to store and provide
access to data, information, and knowledge that must be integrated with the way people work,
and address their real needs.

The implementation of any KM policy in Health sector will have essential ingredients and
processes for improving the health of people by imparting benefits of various health programs
to the targeted communities and improving the quality of education and research which will
lead to evidence based policy. However, KM in health sector faces three major challenges:

1
Draft Document

 Non- availability of data for knowledge generation

Most of the data being captured may not be available for creating databses. Health
professionals should take advantage of the data, experience, and expertise available in
their own and other organizations to create and share their own knowledge with others.

 Unsatisfactory quality of data

With good quality data better policies can be framed, better decisions can be made thus
improving the implementation of Health care programs and quality of medical research.
Availability of digitized data in unified format helps in improving data quality and
developing standards for knowledge generation.

 Inadequate dissemination of knowledge

There is a serious unavailability of information and knowledge to end-users which

include health professionals, researchers, patients and students. Dissemination of
quality information and knowledge through appropriate media such as Internet,
Information Kiosks etc. can provide relevant information to the end-users.

The policy would catalyze creation of knowledge and translation of that knowledge from
research settings to real world application in order to improve the health of common
man.

The focus of this policy would be creating environment for connecting knowledge
related activities in health into a coherent action.

2
 Draft Document

Mission

To develop an efficient Health Knowledge Management System for collection, dissemination

and utilization of knowledge for improving the quality of Health Services, Education and
Research

Objectives

 To make authentic information about health services available to health professionals,

managers, policy makers and common man

 To promote sharing of health resources in health services delivery, education and

research

 To manage health aspects of disasters effectively using knowledge management tools

 To enable access to high quality health and medical education

 To contribute towards development of an efficient health research system .

Policies

Service delivery

In order to create harmony among various health service providers and to impart their
knowledge and services to the public at all times, the following essential components are
proposed:

 Empowering end user for better access to Health Service by

1. Making available updated information about the service infrastructure such as

manpower, equipment, medicines etc. available at different levels e.g. sub-centre,
Primary Health Centre, Community Health Centre, District Hospital, Zonal
Hospital, medical college and other tertiary care hospital etc.

3
Draft Document

2. Providing online information about functional status of the infrastructure i.e.

availability of doctors, medical supplies including devices, vacant beds, surgical/
medical/ diagnostics facilities etc. at a given time

3. Providing information about geographical locations and other logistics of various

health service providers

4. Promoting overall user awareness about available information sources by

training of end users

5. Promoting access to financial resources including insurance

 Enriching health professionals with knowledge about available resources around

them by standardizing and linking functional, infrastructural and logistic information
available with different healthcare service providers in Government and private sectors.

 Increasing accountability of healthcare professionals and services towards

human life by

1. Developing a well defined referral system for efficient utilization of resources

between Central, state and other public/private healthcare providing institutes.

2. Creating a mandatory forward and back referral pathway over a period of 5-10
years. Responsibilities of every individual in the pathway to be enforced to ensure
perfect accountability involving human life.

 Connecting remote areas and difficult terrains by effective use of

telemedicine. Expert opinions of specialists need to be ensured on a structured fixed
time interval basis as well as on emergency basis.

 Efficiently handling health aspects of disasters by using Data Mining and

Business Intelligence tools on available data for quickly finding information about
available resources around disaster site and mobilizing these resources.

 Establishing an user friendly but informative electronic medical record

system.

4
 Draft Document

Education

In order to improve the quality of medical education uniformly across the country with help of
knowledge network, following policy guidelines are proposed:

 Sharing knowledge by

1. Establishing an efficient physical network, connecting all medical/dental/

nursing/ other health related professional colleges

2. Creating tele-education portal to house resources which can be accessed online

3. Creating and networking digital / resource libraries for educational materials

such as lectures, slides, video clippings etc. which can be accessed online as well
as offline

4. Organizing prescheduled interactive lectures and practical sessions by prominent

teachers through teleeducation through national and international networks..

 Developing unified high quality standards in health education across the country

 Updating knowledge of health professionals by conducting online continued medical

education/ special training programmes.

 Evaluating quality of in-service health personnel by conducting online examinations

 Training in-service health personnel by organizing localized interactive training courses

 Enforcing regulations for tele-education applications by following existing guidelines of

regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India, Medical Universities, Dental Council of
India, Nursing Council , Pharmacy Council, various councils for alternate medical
systems, other relevant bodies for Physiotherapy and other disciplines.

5
Draft Document

Research

Knowledge is both a key input and output of health research. For increasing use of knowledge in
medical research following measures are proposed:

 Creating information culture by adopting recent advances in Information and

Communication Technologies

 Improving interaction between National and International researchers and stakeholders

working in different subject areas by developing collaborative networks and alliances

 Enhancing research to policy through collaborations and exchange of information

between researchers and health professionals ; between researchers and other stake
holders involved in policy making ( political leadership, planners and civil servants etc)

 Enhancing public-private partnership in health

 Preparing national information system of research funding by different funding agencies

 Developing database of research resources such as manpower, equipment etc. available

with different laboratories/medical / dental colleges/ universities etc.

 Developing disease database including clinical, epidemiological, genetic, biological and

social parameters

 Achieving high impact of research by effectively communicating research outcomes

 Balancing between responsibility to share information for betterment of health of people

and protecting intellectual property generated through research

 Empowering health research institutions to use tools of Knowledge Management for

improving quality research as per the guidelines of Medical Council/ Dental Council of
India.

 Providing access to research data to other scientists and students for secondary analysis
by taking care of ethical , copyright and IPR issues

6
 Draft Document

 Managing research priorities based on periodical in-depth analysis of existing research

data

 Creating a National Health Knowledge Repository for free access to all researchers.

 Encouraging the use of knowledge management for creation of different application

groups and development of various disciplines like biomedical engineering.

Strategy for implementing Knowledge Management Policy

Broad strategy for implementing knowledge management policy for health is given below:

 There will be three important components/ tiers : policy framing, strategy planning and
monitoring.

 An expert advisory group should be constituted under the chairmanship of the Secretary,
Department of Health Research with following mandate:

1. To examine the policy document and modify it if necessary

2. To decide the priority areas

3. To classify the priority areas into short term, midterm and long term goals for
implementation

4. To constitute three technical sub committees in the areas Service Delivery,

Education and Research to manage knowledge network for help with following
mandate:

 To carry out feasibility study/ studies , pilot study/ studies, model

projects and preparing proposal

 To define parameters to be included in feasibility study

7
Draft Document

 To liaison between the study group and other stakeholders of the

proposed knowledge network to facilitate preparation of feasibility report

 To examine the feasibility study report and present it to the Secretary,

Department of Health Research

 To devise a strategy for implementation along with other stake holders

 Monitor implementation of work

Funding of the different components of Knowledge

Management Network

i) The responsibility of different stakeholders in providing infrastructure,

manpower and other resources needs to be defined by consultative process
among centre, state, other public and private stakeholders.

ii) While the network connectivity may be provided by central systems,

department of information technology, UGC etc, the local supplementary
support could be provided by State systems.

iii) A dedicated system will be required for keeping it functional all the times.
For this IT connectivity will have to be ensured along with funds allocated
for this purpose.

8
 Draft Document

iv) A strategic plan for providing financial support for development of

modules, appropriate softwares, professionals for data analysis on specific
areas, mechanisms of review will have to be drawn for estimating the
financial inputs.

 Establishment of an Appropriate Authority

For developing and implementing a comprehensive plan for utilization of

knowledge network for health service delivery, medical education and research,
an Appropriate Authority in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. Of
India may be desirable. Such an authority will be responsible for strategic
planning, for implementation and review of the progress from time to time. This
authority/cell may establish units in the states for action at the local level.

9