Knowledge Management For Medical Research Projects

With human beings entering the knowledge era, knowledge has become an important strategic resource, knowledge management has therefore gradually formed and developed into an advanced management concept, tool and mechanism. As an interdisciplinary and intelligent activity, medical research enables people to acquire and create knowledge and then put it into the real work to achieve its value. With the competition for science and technology getting more and more fierce, medical research has become increasingly complex, project management has become increasingly difficult, and knowledge has been accumulated at an increasing rate. Knowledge management is not only important for improving the capacity of project management and ensuring the effectiveness of project implementation, but also for enhancing the competitiveness and innovative capabilities of the project teams and research institutions.Based on the achievements of domestic and foreign research, combining project management theory, knowledge management theory and information technologies, the study summarizes the characteristics and demands of medical research projects, analyzes the objectives, environment, procedures, methods and techniques of the implementation of knowledge management, and presents some strategies and suggestions to implement knowledge management in medical research projects.The thesis is divided into six parts.The first part is the research on the theory and development of project management and knowledge management. Through literature investigation, the study systematically summarizes the basic concepts, development history, knowledge structure and processes of project management and knowledge management. The study concludes that the essence of project management is the use of limited time, manpower and cost to maximize the benefits of the project, while the essence of knowledge management is the triple management of the knowledge, the people and the environment. The ultimate goal of knowledge management is knowledge sharing and knowledge innovation.The second part is the analysis of the medical research project management. The study mainly analyzes the types of medical research and proposes that medical research has six features, including exploration, creativity, uncertainty, inheritance, security and complexity. With regards to medical research and process management, the study points out the current problems in project management: the traditional approach of project management did not fully mobilize the researchers and the attention paid to the exchange, sharing and accumulation of knowledge was not sufficient. Our research explains that medical research is the process of application and innovation of knowledge. Medical research project management must borrow the ideas, methods, techniques and procedures from knowledge management to improve the quality of the project and to enhance the research capacity and competitiveness of the project team.The third part is the investigation on knowledge management for medical research projects. The study analyzes the demands, principles, characteristics and difficulties of knowledge management for medical research projects, with the emphasis on the target, environment, procedures for the implementation of knowledge management, as well as the impact of knowledge management on scientific research management. The implementation of knowledge management should adhere to five principles, namely, full participation, knowledge accumulation, sharing and communication, and people-oriented approach. The goal is information technology, knowledge data, people-oriented management, expert governance and scientific decision-making. In order to ensure the effect of knowledge management, the project team should create a favorable environment for the organizational structure, organizational culture, organizational system and information technology for knowledge management. Based on the characteristics of medical research, we conclude that the implementation of knowledge management should include six steps: the identification of objectives, knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge application, knowledge evaluation and knowledge protection. The study also sums up the new requirements for current scientific research management, which include six aspects: the shift of management focus, adjustment of organizational structure, establishment of organizational culture, building of technology infrastructure, improvement of management quality and adjustment of the management policies.The fourth part is the research on application analysis. We evaluate the characteristics, scope and methods of knowledge integration involved in the medical research processes, such as the start, planning, implementation and the end of the project. Through research analysis, we introduce three knowledge management tools suitable for medical research projects: knowledge map, community of practice and knowledge portal. Using knowledge map, the project team can reveal the organizational knowledge resources, the relationship between knowledge items and the existing problems in the project. Through the physical and virtual communities of practice, the project team can convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge to enhance the organization cohesion and performance. With the knowledge portals, the project team can achieve collaboration and knowledge sharing and exchange by which to improve the quality and effectiveness of scientific research. Taking the typical case of SARS cooperative research as an example, the study summarizes the methods and successful experience of the World Health Organization in knowledge management.The fifth part is the research on strategies and suggestions. In order to implement knowledge management in medical research projects, the study proposes some strategies and suggestions from four levels. First, on the organization level, we can set up knowledge management positions and establish the communities of practice. Secondly, on the culture level, we can create an atmosphere characterized by open sharing, continuous learning and innovation. Thirdly, on the system level, we can build a system of knowledge categorization, standardization, update and accumulation, as well as incentive compensation. Finally, on the technical level, we can establish the knowledge database, teamwork platform and knowledge map.The sixth part is the main conclusion and discussion of the study. This part briefly summarizes the results of this study, and the next phase of future study. The innovation of this study is the application of the advanced theory of knowledge management to medical research projects, the systematic discussion of the issues related to the implementation of knowledge management in the medical research projects, the selection and recommendation of the methods, techniques and tools, the summarization of the strategies and suggestions. The results are highly operable and have the guiding significance for the implementation of knowledge management in the medical research projects.