The exploration of challenges in clinical knowledge management in nurses: a qualitative study

Background and Clinical knowledge management (CKM) is considered as a dominant approach for information management and expansion of knowledge in clinical settings. Health care executives have recently begun to focus on CKM. Therefore, identification of challenges against proper CKM planning is of paramount importance. The aim of this study was to explore challenges in clinical knowledge management in nurses. This qualitative study was conducted at four teaching hospitals in Tehran, Saqqez and Mahabad, Iran through 24 semi-structured interviews with 18 nurses, head nurses and nursing supervisors. Data analysis was performed using conventional content analysis. In this study, three main themes emerged from data analysis. The main theme was “organizational culture of less attention to the creation and dissemination of knowledge in nurses”, which was due to poor scientific interactions between clinical and academic settings. Other factors involved in this theme were disregard of research in job description of nurses, authoritarian management in research centers, inadequate support and reward from medical officials, and non observance of research in the evaluation of nurses. Another theme was “poor scientific documentation in nursing”, which was due to lack of awareness on the significance of clinical ideas, and proper dissemination of nursing knowledge. Finally, the main theme of “hardness of working conditions” represented high work pressure and lack of opportunity for research among nurses. It is suggested that nursing managers consider the improvement of organizational culture in strategic plans proposed by the Ministry of Health, in addition to reducing work pressure for nurses. Furthermore, scientific promotion of nursing practice should be taken into account through implementation and documentation of useful and relevant workshops.