A development and evaluation of nursing KMS using QFD in outpatient departments

Purpose: This study was done to develop and implement the Nursing KMS (knowledge management system) in order to improve knowledge sharing and creation among clinical nurses in outpatient departments. Methods: This study was a methodological research using the 'System Development Life Cycle': consisting of planning, analyzing, design, implementation, and evaluation. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was applied to establish nurse requirements and to identify important design requirements. Participants were 32 nurses and for evaluation data were collected pre and post intervention at K Hospital in Seoul, a tertiary hospital with over 1,000 beds. Results: The Nursing KMS was built using a Linux-based operating system, Oracle DBMS, and Java 1.6 web programming tools. The system was implemented as a sub-system of the hospital information system. There was statistically significant differences in the sharing of knowledge but creating of knowledge was no statistically meaningful difference observed. In terms of satisfaction with the system, system efficiency ranked first followed by system convenience, information suitability and information usefulness. Conclusion: The results indicate that the use of Nursing KMS increases nurses' knowledge sharing and can contribute to increased quality of nursing knowledge and provide more opportunities for nurses to gain expertise from knowledge shared among nurses.