ABSTRACT
Huge numbers of people work in healthcare, each of whom has expertise and experience that is rarely made explicit; it is thus tacit knowledge. Patients also have a large amount of tacit knowledge that can be made explicit and useful. Healthcare organisations manage money, human resources and their buildings with care and responsibility, but knowledge is not managed to this standard. Although healthcare is based on knowledge and uses large amounts of resources, it is an activity delivered by people for people, and personal development is of central importance in improving knowledge management. The adoption of the new healthcare paradigms offers a different way of organising healthcare compared with the patient-centred traditional model that is based on discrete organisations such as hospitals or primary care. Professionals and patients are highly motivated to manage knowledge to best effect but they face significant barriers in doing so, such as difficulties getting hold of knowledge.
