A Study of Knowledge Management (KM) Practices of Health Information Management Practitioners in Tertiary Hospitals in Nigeria

The right to quality health care is one of the fundamental human rights for all people regardless of religion, culture or social class. Lack of quality health care in Nigeria has led to poor quality of life for the citizens. This study was undertaken to assess the extent of knowledge management practices among Health Information Management Practitioners in Nigeria teaching hospitals. The study employed a survey research design. The population for the study was 95 Health Information Management practitioners from the nine selected federal tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. Total enumeration technique was used and data were collected using structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics such as percentage distribution, mean and standard deviation. The respondents demonstrated a mean score of 3.03 on the scale of 5 points for knowledge capturing/creation practices, knowledge sharing practices was 3.20 while knowledge dissemination practices had the mean of 3.0, knowledge acquisition practices had the mean of 3.56 and the mean of knowledge application practices 3.38 on the scale of 5 points. Overall, the findings revealed that the respondent demonstrated a high level of knowledge management practices in the nine selected teaching hospitals in Nigeria. The study concluded that knowledge management practices were regularly carried out among Health Information Management Practitioners and hence the current practice should be sustained for sustainable health information management practices in teaching Hospitals in Nigeria.