Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Virginia Maracine et al
Which are <strong>the</strong> criteria guiding knowledge search and evaluation?
As a node <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> network we have also included <strong>the</strong> Internet, information systems and o<strong>the</strong>r IT-based
devices or channels that members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> community may use to access information inside or outside
<strong>the</strong>ir organization. For instance, it is reasonable to expect that members already access external
knowledge sources through <strong>the</strong> Internet. That’s way we also expect to find that some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> tasks <strong>the</strong>y
perform manually could be delivered in an automated way or facilitated by <strong>the</strong> knowbots.
Until now, <strong>the</strong> questionnaires were distributed through participants in <strong>the</strong> Rehabilitation Clinic no. 3
and no. 4. At clinic no. 3 data collecting is now complete; we succeed to secure an 83.34% response
rate in this unit (30 pr<strong>of</strong>essionals out <strong>of</strong> 36), and we have already started <strong>the</strong> data processing. In <strong>the</strong>
Clinic no. 4 we have so far a 59% response rate and we still have one month time until <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
data collecting stage. Data collecting starts also for <strong>the</strong> clinic no. 1 and it will start at <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> June
for <strong>the</strong> clinic no. 2.
4. Data analysis for <strong>the</strong> Rehabilitation Clinic no. 3 and 4 – first findings
A preliminary analyze <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> actual structure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> INRMFB and especially <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Rehabilitation Clinic
no. 3 and 4, based on <strong>the</strong> section 4 and 5 <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> designed survey, has conducted us, so far, to <strong>the</strong>
following findings / conclusions:
1. The Rehabilitation Clinics no. 1 and 2 are placed into a different location than <strong>the</strong> Clinics no. 3
and 4. This makes <strong>the</strong> communications among <strong>the</strong> four medical CoPs an exception instead <strong>of</strong> a
frequent habit;
2. Among <strong>the</strong> four clinics and also among <strong>the</strong>m and <strong>the</strong> management <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> INRMFB <strong>the</strong>
communication is based on <strong>the</strong> old classical methods - printed documents transfer;
3. The INRMFB has no Intranet. Due to <strong>the</strong> distances among <strong>the</strong> fourth clinics, <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Intranet makes <strong>the</strong> information/knowledge transfer very slow, and <strong>of</strong>ten produces losses <strong>of</strong>
valuable information/knowledge for some <strong>of</strong> (or all) <strong>the</strong> clinics, and also for <strong>the</strong> managerial team
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hospital;
4. The spatial separation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> INRMFB’s departments has also effects over <strong>the</strong> results from <strong>the</strong>
research activity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Institute. Within this particular hospital <strong>the</strong>re are several research team: (1)
Balneo-climatology; (2) Cellular breeding; (3) Mineral waters and <strong>the</strong>rapeutic mud testing; (4)
Immunology lab; (5) Bacteriology lab for mineral waters. In <strong>the</strong> actual organizational structure,
<strong>the</strong>se labs and scientific teams rarely communicate among <strong>the</strong>m and share <strong>the</strong>ir activity results;
5. There are no virtual libraries or repositories within <strong>the</strong> INRMFB. So, <strong>the</strong> only categories <strong>of</strong> medical
staff that can access <strong>the</strong>se knowledge resources are those doctors who are also pr<strong>of</strong>essors at <strong>the</strong>
Bucharest “Carol Davila” Medical University which has its own such library. The absence <strong>of</strong>
virtual repositories results sometime in loosing important documents, patients’ medical files, tests
results or managerial decisions transcripts.
6. There are no policy/procedures manual or guidelines nei<strong>the</strong>r within <strong>the</strong> INRMFB or within <strong>the</strong>
clinics / departments;
7. There are no real boundary spanners, <strong>the</strong> effective connection among diverse groups within <strong>the</strong>
Clinic no 3, for example, this task being (informally) on charge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> clinic. Because
<strong>of</strong> this, <strong>the</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> clinic is overloaded with her work and with administrative and information
sharing tasks;
8. In order to benefit for a second opinion (when need it), doctors within Clinic no. 3 usually contact
<strong>the</strong>y own personal connections via Internet (<strong>of</strong>ten foreign specialists) ra<strong>the</strong>r than call a fellow
colleague who works into ano<strong>the</strong>r clinic within <strong>the</strong> INRMFB;
9. One interesting aspect for <strong>the</strong> Rehabilitation Clinic no 3: each month <strong>the</strong> chief <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> clinic
organizes a so-called “essay day” when all <strong>the</strong> doctors, <strong>the</strong> residents and <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>rapists are
involved in presenting a paperwork describing <strong>the</strong> most recent events / aspects / achievements <strong>of</strong>
<strong>the</strong>ir activity in <strong>the</strong> hospital. This method is used in order to exchange knowledge, but also to
improve <strong>the</strong> communication techniques <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Medical Staff.
10. The absence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> two categories <strong>of</strong> specialists – <strong>the</strong> social workers and <strong>the</strong> occupational
<strong>the</strong>rapists – hardeners <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> medical rehabilitation for both CoPs – Medical CoP and
Patient CoP. Doctors are forced by this circumstance to involve <strong>the</strong>m selves in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong>
social reintegration <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> impaired people, both by psychologically assisting <strong>the</strong> patients, and by
dedicating a lot <strong>of</strong> time in educating and training <strong>the</strong> patients’ families for coping with <strong>the</strong>ir
disabled family member condition.
In this period, <strong>the</strong> Clinic no.3 and 4 networks are defined and prepared to be analyzed with NodeXL
based on <strong>the</strong> data collected through <strong>the</strong> first two sections <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> survey.
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